ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF RESEARCH Copyright 2010 by THE PACIFIC

IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

2010, Vol.4, No.2, pp.57－76 ISSN 1976-1961

Designing an Integrated Curriculum for Preschool

Greg Tabios Pawilen*, Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Harris Memorial College, Taytay, Rizal

Abstract
Integrated curriculum is a popular curriculum design used in organizing preschool
curriculum. This study aims to analyze how teachers design an integrated curriculum.
Specifically, it describes: (1) how do teachers plan an integrated curriculum; (2) what
common themes are used; and (3) what factors are influential or considered in inte-
grating the curriculum. Since the study was conducted in a Christian school, it also
analyzes the influence of the Christian faith in the curriculum. Curriculum analysis
and focus-group discussion with preschool teachers and administrators were done to
gather the necessary data for the study. The results of the study show that the thematic
approach is dominantly used in integrating the curriculum. The themes usually derived
from big ideas or topics related to science, social studies, and some concepts and
activities that are interesting to the learners. Several factors are also found to be in-
fluential in designing the curriculum. The study also found out that Christianity has a
great impact or influence in designing the curriculum. Biblical stories, and Christian
values are always integrated in the selection of sub-topics and activities in the curri-
culum.
Keywords: Integrated curriculum, Christianschool, preschool, thematic approach

Introduction
Throughout the world, especially in industrialized countries, preschool education
is expanding very fast (Boocock, 1991). Consequently, there is an increasing concern

* Corresponding author, [email protected]

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Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

and a growing demand to provide quality early childhood education for young
children (Clinton, 1996; Curtis and Carter, 1996; Gardner 2000). In pursuit for quality
early childhood education, the curriculum is at the heart of scholastic discussions
among early childhood educators around the globe. The design and implementation
of the curriculum are agreed to be significant contributors to quality in childcare and
kindergartens (NAEYC, 2005). As noted by O’Connell (2006), extensive research has
consistently shown that quality preschool programs improve not only readiness to
learn, but also social skills that will help children for a lifetime.
This study was conceptualized to contribute to the pursuit for excellent curricular
practices for improving and developing the delivery of kindergarten education.
Specifically, this paper aims to analyze how teachers design an integrated curriculum
for kindergarten in a selected Christian school. This paper focuses only to the kinder-
garten level that caters to the needs of young children within the age range of four to
six. The study was conducted in the first kindergarten school in the Philippines which
is one of the first proponents of designing integrated curriculum for preschool in the
country.
The idea of integrating the curriculum is not new, yet it remains to be the most
popular way of designing many preschool curricula. More teachers are becoming
excited about designing an integrated curriculum. The excitement comes from wit-
nessing the learners become more active and interested on the learning process.
Teachers who are trying their best to design an integrated curriculum are committed
to the idea of providing a type of learning that is connected and relevant to the life of
the learners. The increasing number of new knowledge and skills discovered in every
day provides an immense challenge to make the school curriculum relevant and
responsive. There are also specific competencies and content standards that are
important to teach in every subject but with limited time, it is almost impossible to
teach everything. Through curriculum integration, several important concepts and
skills that need to be taught to the learners can be meaningfully and interestingly

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learned in the school curriculum.

What is curriculum integration?

Curriculum integration can be defined in many ways. For example, Beane (1997)
views it as an approach that uses student’s questions to generate the curriculum while
Jacobs (1997) views integration as a form of curriculum mapping that allows hori-
zontal (within one grade level) and vertical (K-12) integration of contents. Fogarty
(1993) on the other hand presented a continuum of her view of what is curriculum
integration by presenting ten various ways of integrating the curriculum.
It can be observed that many of the experts’ definition of curriculum are based on
results of various observation of the process on how teachers do curriculum integra-
tion. However, there seems to be a common understanding among the experts that
curriculum integration starts with a unifying theme －which is usually a question,
name of a place or object, an activity or important event, problems and issues,
projects, abstract concepts and other things that might be interesting to both teachers
and learners.
The product of curriculum integration is an integrated curriculum. Erickson
(2001) refers integrated curriculum as a variety of disciplines sharing a common
conceptual focus. It utilizes themes for organizing contents and activities, combines
of two related subject areas, and emphasizes on relationships and interrelatedness of
concepts and skills under a flexible time schedules. In the context of preschool
education, an integrated curriculum is a product of a learner-centred education that
emphasizes the importance of considering the learner’s interest, culture, needs and
learning styles in integrating the elements of the curriculum.

Why is curriculum integration important?

Drake (1998) said that the world requires the use of holistic, integrated skills and
competencies rather than discrete competencies and isolated skills, and the emphasis

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Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

of education should be on the ability to solve problems and apply them in an ever-
changing context. People interact with parts of the world at various times. Every
activity in man’s life is interrelated and interdependent. Integration recognizes the
interconnectedness of people’s ideas and how such connections make knowledge
more meaningful. It works to facilitate children’s ability to make connections that
represent the world as accurately as possible.
Children need help to bridge the world of the school to the larger community in
which they live. This means that school curriculum includes activities in which
learners gain knowledge that are applicable to real life. It is also important that the
curriculum is relevant and responsive to the needs of the society. Learners must find
themselves part of the process of solving a problem or issue to improve their own
community (Martinello, 1994; Nagel, 1996). Through curriculum integration, all
learners become contributing members of the community and make connections with
their work and the outside world.
Charlesworth (1997) and Lind (1997) observe positive benefits of integrating
Science and Mathematics in the preschool curriculum. Accordingly, through integra-
tion the learners are able to understand important concepts and acquire important
skills in an interdisciplinary perspective. Italso enables young children to see the
connection of science knowledge to different subjects and understand the application
of science in other disciplines. This is because curriculum integration dissolves sub-
ject boundaries to assist students in making connections between disciplines, and to
help them solve problems on their own through research and critical reasoning. It also
addresses the preferences of children with different learning styles and the various
learning conditions that they want (Fogarty, 1993).
Curriculum integration helps learners in developing skills to retrieve faster
information by organizing related concepts into themes. It helps children perceive
learning as a whole by figuring out how various ideas, issues, and skills are all can be
connected to enrich depth and breadth in learning. In a study done by Kellough

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(1996), curriculum integration is based on brain-based research by connecting knowl-

edge from the different disciplines in order for the brain to make meaningful patterns
that will enable it to understand and process knowledge. As a strategy, it uses a
variety of resources to make connections between subject areas, ideas, skills, and per-
spectives.

What factors are considered in integrating the curriculum?

In planning an integrated curriculum, there are several things that need to be
considered. Tyler (1949) includes understanding of the nature of the discipline as one
of the major sources of curriculum. Hence, teachers need to have a clear under-
standing of the nature or distinct feature of the discipline that they wish to integrate.
For example, Mathematics emphasizes on learning different skills and so with lan-
guage and Science. Social science on the other hand puts more emphasis on learning
concepts. Thus it requires a careful analysis of the scope and sequence, and what
concepts and skills should be integrated in different subject.
It is important for teachers to examine the available resources, facilities, or
instructional materials that are needed or can be used in implementing the integrated
curriculum. Some themes require specific materials like toys, simple science equip-
ments, audio-visual materials and outdoor facilities to implement. In integrating the
curriculum, team spirit among teachers is important. Since the planning involves
different subject-matter experts, their willingness to cooperate and share ideas on the
content and teaching methods that will be used in the curriculum. Teachers should be
willing to allot a regular schedule for planning the integrated curriculum.
It is also important that teachers should have understanding of the terms that are
regularly used in integrated curriculum such as standards, competencies, theme,
learning outcomes, learning experiences, instruction, and a common understanding of
what a curriculum is. The time or schedule allotted for the implementation of the
integrated curriculum is also important to consider. The planned schedule should

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allow teachers to do team-teaching and conduct outdoor activities and other learning
experiences that are required for the implementation of the integrated curriculum. The
type of evaluation and assessment tools to be use is important in designing an inte-
grated curriculum. It is necessary for teachers to have a shared philosophy and under-
standing on how to assess and evaluate the learning progress of the students.
Any curriculum innovation requires the support of parents and school admini-
strators being part of the stakeholders of the school. The parents need to know what
type of curriculum is taught to their children and they can be of help in implementing
the curriculum. Support from parents and school administrators are needed to imple-
ment successfully the integrated curriculum. Hence it is important to consider it in
designing an integrated curriculum.

What common approaches are used for integrating the curriculum?

There are several modes or approaches used by several authors in their attempt to
integrate the curriculum. This supports the idea that integration is no longer new in
the field of education, particularly in the area of instructional development. The
adventure of integrating the curriculum keeps on providing excitement and interesting
venues for teachers to explore more ways of presenting knowledge. The following
modes and approaches were used for integrating the curriculum.
Drake (1998) identifies three approaches in integrating the curriculum. The inter-
disciplinary approach, story model, and process approach. Interdisciplinary approach
is the integration of related disciplines using a single thematic unit. The story model
uses stories to connect knowledge. This model develops a personal, cultural, and
global story as the context for any topic being studied. While the process approach
concentrates on organizing themes that enable the learners to develop process skills,
communication skills, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.
Wood (1997) advocates the use of a problem-based interdisciplinary approach to
integrate the curriculum. In a problem based approach, the learners are exposed to

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different lessons in problem solving involving real-life problems. By doing problem-

solving activities, the learners are exposed to some practical situations or issues that
are important to them and to their community. Similarly, Beane (1997) develops a
collaborative planning model. Under the collaborative planning model, lessons begin
from the student’s questions and not from some predetermined topic.
Erickson (1998) develops a concept-based approach in integration. In this model,
the essential understanding is how the curriculum is connected at its highest level.
Instructional planners spend time deciding what is worth knowing and applying to the
structure of knowledge.
Almost all models mentioned use the thematic approach of integrating the curri-
culum. The only thing that is different is the main focus of the theme. Some models
give emphasis on human activities as the themes of study while others use different
topics that are interesting to students. Themes can either be a concept, guided ques-
tions, activities, or standards and skills but the purposes and goals are all intended to
provide an education that is holistic, meaningful, and relevant to the life of the
learner.
The different models presented above represents different views on how integra-
tion should be done, emphasizing different aspects of curriculum to ensure a level of
connection across different disciplines. These models may be different in nature and
in ways of implementation but one thing is common to all of them. All these models
have the same purpose of providing an education that is holistic and responsive to the
needs of the learners, and relevant to daily life experience. Through these models,
education is explored from a larger context to understand the world around and dis-
cover new ways of teaching and learning.

Purpose of the Study

This study aims to describe how teachers design an integrated curriculum for
preschool. Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:

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Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

1. How do teachers plan an integrated curriculum in preschool?

2. What are the common themes used for integrating the curriculum?
3. What factors are influential or considered in designing the curriculum?

Methodology
This study was conducted in a church-related preschool which is the first kinder-
garten school in the Philippines. This school is the training ground of many kinder-
garten teachers in various church-related preschools in the Philippines. The partici-
pants of the study include three school administrators, two former teachers, and two
teachers who are teaching in the school for more than five years. The teachers are
graduates of Bachelor’s degree in Kindergarten Education while the administrators
hold graduate degrees in Family Life and Child Development and Educational
Administration.
The study uses document or curriculum analysis to examine the curriculum plans
in order to know what type of themes are develop and how Christianity affects or
influences in the design of the curriculum especially in selecting the content and
learning experiences. Documents that were analyzed include curriculum plan of the
kindergarten and preparatory level for the whole school year. The available old curri-
culum guide for the past 10 years was also analyzed. Kindergarten includes children
with three to four years old and preparatory includes children from five to six years
old. In analyzing the curriculum documents, curriculum themes, topics, and activities
were noted.
To supplement the result of the analysis, two schedules of interview with the
teachers and school administrators were done. The first interview focuses on how
teachers plan an integrated curriculum, what common themes were used, and what
factors are considered in designing the integrated curriculum. Problems related to
their tasks of designing an integrated curriculum were also noted to support and
answer the problems of the study. The second interview focuses on the discussion of

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the results of the first interview. This allows other teachers and administrators to
validate their comments and provide additional information to what were shared by
other teachers. The interview was conducted through a round-table type discussion
using the three major research questions as guide.

Results of the Study

1. How do teachers plan an integrated curriculum?
Planning an integrated curriculum is always an exciting adventure among teachers.
As an important principle in preschool education, the child is considered as the center
of the curriculum. Hence, the child’s interest, nature and needs are carefully con-
sidered in planning the integrated curriculum. Based on the results of the study, the
common approach used to integrating the curriculum is a theme-based approach
where one broad topic or theme such as “My Family” (a study about the concept of a
family, members of the family, needs, activities and relationships) is the organizing
structure for teaching and learning for a period of time.
The result of the study shows that the design of the integrated curriculum follows
the normal procedure for a thematic approach.

－
(1) Selecting or deciding a theme or a thematic unit the first thing that teachers
do is to select the theme of the curriculum. Themes are selected from con-
cepts or topics from different subject areas that are interesting to young
children. The theme serves as the focus of teaching and learning for certain
period of time. It is also the organizing center of the thematic web.
(2) Selecting topics from different subjects that are related to the theme －
teachers will develop a curriculum web where different concepts and skills
related to the theme are selected. Topics in the curriculum web are selected
from Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, Language, and Christian Values.
It is important that topics selected should be relevant and connected to the

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Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

theme.
－
(3) Planning different activities that are related to the theme different activi-
ties are planned for each topic in the curriculum web. It is important that the
activities should be interesting and appropriate to the level of the learners.
Free-guided play, music activities, simple experiments and observations,
outdoor activities, group discussion, storytelling, and individual activities are
examples of learning experiences provided to the learners. Chapel services
and prayer time are also included in the list for activities.
－
(4) Selecting instructional materials to be used materials that are used for
actual teaching are selected. The used of authentic or real objects is en-
couraged. The school has adequate instructional materials such as print,
audio-video materials, toys, and other equipments are provided for the
children.
(5) Planning the schedule －teachers will then divide the lesson into smaller
units of study. Each topic is usually scheduled on a daily or weekly basis
depending on the scope of the topic.
－
(6) Designing assessment and evaluation tools narrative reports that include
teachers’observation on the performance and behaviour of each child in the
classroom are used in evaluating the learners. Currently, the teachers are
starting to introduce portfolios and rubrics for evaluating children’s port-
folio.

This type of planning process is highly influenced by advocates of integrated

curriculum like Fogarty (1993); Erickson (1995) and Drake (1998). This type of
approach is called a thematic approach because a theme serves as the source of topics
and activities.
The results of the interview with preschool teachers revealed that teachers decide
or choose the curriculum themes used for integrating the curriculum. The teachers

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handling the classes collaboratively design the integrated curriculum to ensure uni-
formity and standard in the lesson. This requires cooperation and creativity from
teachers. The challenge is always to design an integrated curriculum that is interesting
and meaningful to the learners. The final copy of the integrated curriculum plan is
submitted to the school principal for checking. After the final checking, the curri-
culum plan is implemented by the teachers. Teachers and young children consume
one month or more to study one curriculum theme. Since the preschool program is
structured, teachers allot specific period of time for implementing the integrated
curriculum plan.
The interview also shows several problems that teachers encountered while
planning the integrated curriculum. For example, some parents would pressure the
teachers to put emphasis on academic skills such as reading, writing and mathe-
matical skills that will prepare young children for Grade I. Another problem is with
the administrators. Several administrators would like to put emphasis on topics
related to science, reading, or activities as themes. The school requires textbooks for
teaching therefore, teachers should align their themes with the textbook topics.

2. What common themes are used for integrating the curriculum?

The study found out that most of the themes selected by teachers are related to
different subjects like Language, Science, Mathematics and Social Studies. Teachers
select broad themes that can integrate all the subjects. Themes can also emerge from
the interests or activities of young children in the classroom. This is the basis for an
－
emergent curriculum, which as the name suggests －involves the study of a topic
that emerges from the interests of the children and may involve a short- or long-term,
in-depth examination of that interest. For example, themes about animas or insects,
modes of transportation, or other themes that require students to conduct simple
experiments and observation. The following the common themes that teachers used in
integrating the curriculum:

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∙Self (emphasizing that God created human beings)

∙Family (emphasizing Christian family values)
∙Community (includes culture)
∙Transportation and Communication Tools
∙Plants (emphasizing that God created all plants)
∙Animals (emphasizing that God created all animals)
∙Heavenly Bodies in the Sky (emphasizing that God created the universe)
∙Values (love, peace, honesty, and other Christian values)
Using title of children’ stories or a book as themes for the curriculum is also
popular in the school. These stories derived from biblical stories or popular children’s
books. The main purpose of using literatures as curriculum themes is to develop the
habit of reading among young learners. Some of the stories provide rich concepts that
children could learn and explore. Since most young children love to listen to stories,
this will also provide an interesting opportunity for the children to share their favour-
ite stories to their classmates. Several topics related to Language, Science, Mathe-
matics, Social Studies and Music and Arts are selected to give contents for each
thematic unit.
As mentioned earlier, a theme is studied by young children for one month, or per
quarter. Series of activities are designed by the teachers to teach the theme to young
children. Since the school is a church-based with emphasis on Christian education,
biblical contents are always integrated in the several themes of the curriculum.

3. What factors are influential or considered in integrating the curriculum?

The results of the interview with the teachers and school administrators show that
several factors were influential in the process of designing the integrated curriculum.
These are:

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a. Children’s Interests －Most of the time, young children’s interest is the main
source of curriculum themes, contents, and activities. Topics of their interest
such as: insects, cars, toys, food, heavenly bodies, animals, sea creatures or
how their body works are included in the curriculum web or sometimes they
serve as themes for the integrated curriculum. Children’s activities like play
and art activities are also included thus making play as outstanding instruc-
tional means to capture children’s interest.
b. Children’s Textbooks －textbooks are the source of many exercises and acti-
vities for young children. The school develops textbooks for preschool. These
textbooks are recommended to be used by more than 100 church-related
schools. Thus, teachers have the strong tendency to choose the curriculum
theme and organize their lessons based on the topics from the textbooks. The
unit titles of the textbook they are using are used as curriculum themes.
Examples are the units in Science such as plants, animals, non-living things,
or Social Studies units such as family, communities, beautiful places, and
country.
－
c. Children’s Story Books Their favorite story books sometimes serve as a
springboard for the whole lesson or theme. This is similar to the literature-
based approach in integrating the curriculum. Teachers who were trained in
using this approach apply it in designing an integrated curriculum. For
example, when the story of “Creation” in the Bible is used, teachers will inte-
grate themes on land formations, bodies of water, heavenly bodies, plants, and
animals.
d. Availability of instructional materials －this delimits the teachers in designing
the curriculum. Before the start of the school year, teachers are required to
submit a list of instructional materials to be use in the school. However, there
is not enough money to purchase the materials. Sometimes the materials
needed are not readily available. However, the teachers are very creative in

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Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

improvising or utilizing indigenous materials.

－
e. Change of School Administrators for the past years, the school had four
supervisors. Often times, each of the supervisors have their own priorities and
views on what goals should be emphasized in the curriculum. Therefore, the
contents of the curriculum are affected. For example, one of the past super-
visors wanted to put emphasis on socialization skills by adding more activities
in the curriculum. Another is an emphasis on basic skills of communicating,
writing, and Math skills, therefore competencies were added for every topic in
the curriculum web.
－
f. Teachers’ Interests and Background traditional or seasoned teachers are most
of the time comfortable teaching familiar topics or themes. This will save their
time and effort in preparing activities, visual aids, and lesson planning. Some
teachers also take time to innovate and design the integrated curriculum based
on the children’s interests and needs. Since the school is a laboratory school, it
is a host to many student teachers who will have their practicum as a require-
ment for graduation. These student teachers planned their lessons in advance so
that their supervisor can check their plans and their visual aids. This practice
gives way for the lessons or themes designed by the student teachers to be the
curriculum. To make sure that there plans coincide with the school curriculum,
the teacher will check the topics they choose and the lesson plans they devel-
oped.
g. Christian Teachings －Christianity definitely influences the teachers in design-
ing the integrated curriculum. The Christian values like faith in God, for-
giving, righteousness, honesty, self-control, loving other people, generosity,
among others are taught as part of the curriculum themes. Selected biblical
stories and Bible verses are also included in the integrated curriculum. Based
on the result of the focus group discussion conducted with the teachers, the
Christian faith is always considered in planning the lessons that are taught to

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young children in school. The children are taught that there is a God that
created everything in the universe and God wants all human beings to be good
stewards of His creation. This message is always emphasized whenever teachers
plan integrated themes in science especially when they teach topics related to
the environment (like plants, animals and non-living things) and topics related
to the human body.

According to the teachers, the parents of young children sent their kids to a
Christian school because they want their children to learn in a Christian atmosphere
and they want their children to know more about the Christian teachings. Hence it is
expected that teachers should include topics about God, the Bible, and the Christian
doctrines to the learners. Having prayers is also one of the major activities that
teachers include when planning activities for the themes. Aside from these, Christian
kindergarten schools have their own mandate from the church to teach Christianity to
the learners. This is well included in the schools’ philosophy, vision and mission and
in the school curriculum.
These influential factors that were mentioned show that the persons involved in
designing the integrated curriculum have a crucial role. This is somehow related to
the idea of Print (1993) of a curriculum presage whereby the personalities, back-
ground, philosophy, and conceptions of all the curriculum workers involved influence
the process of curriculum development. Although students’ interest are considered in
designing the curriculum, the teachers and administrators who will plan and translate
these children’s needs and interests into curriculum content and learning experiences
－
play an important role. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 1872) earlier recognized
the important roles of teachers in creating experiences and opportunities to fit in the
nature of the child.
Children’s interests are somehow considered in all the aspects of planning the
integrated curriculum. This practice is very important when designing a curriculum

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Jaeson P. Arre, Eloida F. Lindo

－
for young children. Rousseau’s (1712 1778) idea in early childhood education as
mentioned by Brubacher and Seiler (1947) considers the child as the center of the
curriculum. Therefore looking at the interests and needs of the children are very
important in designing the integrated curriculum. A good preschool curriculum should
reflect the nature of the child as a learner who is naturally curious to discover and
explore the environment that surrounds him or her. On the part of the school, the use
of play as a method of instruction and the emphasis on designing a suitable learning
environment or classroom for the learners are very important.

Conclusion
Designing an integrated curriculum as mentioned in the first part of this paper is
an exciting journey in preschool education. This type of curriculum design is based
on the findings of several studies that the human brain processes information in an
integrated way. Several ways to integrate the curriculum are offered by different
authors as mention in the review of related literature in this paper. These different
ways to integrate the curriculum are united in one common purpose that is to provide
an education that is holistic, meaningful, responsive, interesting and relevant for the
young learners.
This study found out that the use of the thematic approach is the dominant
approach that is used in the school. This approach enables the teachers to select
themes are relevant and interesting to the learners. Most of the selected themes are
topics that are related to the different disciplines. These themes are carefully selected
by the teachers and administrators. However, since there are other approaches in
curriculum integration, it would also be nice to try other approaches that will provide
more learning experiences to young children.
In the process of planning the integrated curriculum, several factors like the
interest of the learners, the teachers and administrators, the availability of instruc-
tional materials and children’s textbooks are very influential. The study also found

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out that Christian teachings are also very influential in designing an integrated curri-
culum. The thematic approach provides an opportunity for teachers to integrate the
Christian faith and values to young children. Thus it includes biblical stories and
verses, and other activities that are related to different Christian practices like pray-
ing.
Finally, an integrated curriculum design is important especially in preschool.
This type of education is related in the way children learn and construct knowledge.
This design of curriculum also allows the integration of different concepts and skills
that are interesting and important for young children. In connection with church-
related kindergarten schools, an integrated curriculum design provides an excellent
opportunity for Christian values and concepts to be integrated and taught naturally in
the curriculum.

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