This presentation is about child centered approach.

1. Child centered approach in Curriculum
Curriculum must have a purpose. Its purpose is to provide students with experiences that will
lead them to attain certain desired end states. Pre-specification of these end states provides a
guide for the direction of the instructional process as well as a basis for determining If the
instructional process has been a success. Thus, a curriculum must be defined in terms of the
educational goals of students.
Learner Centered curriculum / Actively learning educational approach
In this approach the center of interest is the learner. The students are given more importance in
this type of curriculum design. Most of the education experts and educational psychologists are
in favor of this learner centered curriculum. First of all Rousseau emphasized that education
should be according to the interests of the child. He should be provided a free and democratic
environment. The interest of the child should be a base for the curriculum design. Learner
centered design emphasizes individual development and their approach to organizing the
curriculum merges from the needs, interests and purposes of students. Dewey's contribution in
this respect is an important one. He organized so many child centered activity programmes.
These programmes were based on the scientific study of child's mental, physical, social and
spiritual characteristics and needs.
Purpose
Designed to develop the individual and social qualities of a student rather than provide a
generalized information or training by way of prescribed subject matter —used of elementary or
secondary education or schools.
Meaning
Child-Centered Curriculum means children take command of their own learning. Teachers are
there to provide support and facilitate the child’s learning but children determine the direction of
their own learning following their natural curiosities, interests and passions.
Comenius View.
"Whatever has to be learnt must be learnt by doing."

2. Rousseau's View:
"Instead of making the child stick to his books I keep him busy in the workshop, where his hands
will work to the profit of his head."
Pestalozzi's View:
"Verbal system of teaching neither suits neither the faculties of the child nor the circumstances of
life."
The importance of 'learning by doing' has been stressed by all other educationists and
psychologists like John Dewey, Piaget, Tagore, Gandhi, and Aurobindo and so on. The
importance of activity principle led to the evolution of various modern methods of teaching like
Project Method, Dalton Plan, and Problem-Solving Method.
Principles of Students Centered Curriculum
The following are the principles of learner centered curriculum
 Freedom to develop naturally
 The teacher role is that of a guide
 Interest is the motive of all work
 Scientific study of pupil development
 Co-operation between the school and home to meet the needs of child-life
Characteristics of students centered curriculum
1. Natural approach: This type of curriculum gives importance to learner and considers
child as the centre of interest which is the most natural approach.
2. Child centred: The interest of the child is the most important factor in the process of
teaching and learning. This factor is highly emphasized in this type-of curriculum.
3. Teacher as gardener : In this curriculum the teacher's role is not that of a task-master
but that of a guide. In this curriculum, the child is treated as, plant, the teacher as
gardener and the school as a garden. Thus, and child grows and develops in a natural
atmosphere.

3. 4. Numerous options: Students centered curriculum gives several options (special
activities, exploratory courses and other experiences) to the students. The options are
based on knowledge of learner characteristics.
5. Active role of students: Students are actively involved in planning and evaluation of
the options in general and for themselves in particular.
6. Emphasize on experience: Learner centered curriculum points out that “the more
experience in life a child has the more eager he will to learn.”
Role of Teacher
 A prominent pedagogy will be teacher-as-coach, to provoke students to learn rather than
the more traditional teaching which places the teacher at its center in an active role and
students in a passive.
 Student-Centered Teaching and Learning focuses on the needs, abilities, interests, and
learning styles of the students and has many implications for the design of curriculum,
course content, and interactivity of courses.
 Not authoritative: Decisions about the details of the course of study, the use of
students’ and teachers’ time, and the choice of teaching materials and specific pedagogies
must be unreservedly placed in the hands of the staff.
 Teachers plan the types of questions and prompts at multiple entry points
throughout a lesson, which build students’ understanding of, and engagement toward,
concepts and ideas and their application to real-world scenarios.
 being clear about focuses for learning
 interacting with children
 Reflecting on responses, and identifying links to particular aspects of learning.
 Engage in sustained shared conversations with children to extend their thinking.
 Provide a balance between child led, child initiated and educator supported learning.
 Create learning environments that encourage children to explore, solve problems, create
and construct.
 Support young children through role modeling to promote positive ways to relate to
others.

4. Environment
 Low student teacher ratio
 Democratic
 It is maintained by students with a focus on internal personal responsibility and pro-social
behaviour.
Merits
 Give children and adults opportunity to invent and discover together as they
explore materials and ideas and experience events
 Help children become independent, responsible and confident
 Avoid Borden
 Minimize adult-child conflicts
 Give children the opportunity to develop skills in which to take care of their
own needs and solve problems
 Maintain children’s interest by allowing them to do what is important to them
 Help children gain knowledge and skills in content areas such as creative
representation, language and literacy, initiative and social relations, movement
and music, classification and serration, number, space and time
 Help child develop executive skills (self control)
Limitations
 Teachers sometimes ill prepared to adapt to changing concepts of child
development,
 The weaknesses of the child-centered curriculum are chiefly in the possibilities
for “misinterpretation”
 School values are ignored
 Focus is on activities rather than subject
 Selection of activities is difficult
 In this effort to free the child, many critics charged that the basic purposes in
the establishment of schools were ignore