The design of curriculum is about determining how the parts of a curriculum interact and interrelate.  Design is about how a teacher conceives or thinks about the curriculum. This is in contrast to curriculum development which is the step-by-step process of developing what was first thought of as a design in the mind of the teacher.

There are four basic parts to a curriculum that is addressed when designing. These parts are the objectives, content, learning experiences, and evaluation. How these parts interact is what curriculum design is about.

The four components of curriculum design can also be thought of as four questions that need to be answered when designing curriculum. These questions are…

1. What should the students do? (Objectives)
2. What subjects should be included? (Content)
3. What instructional strategies should be used? (learning experiences)
4. How should we appraise the curriculum? (Evaluation)

These are the big four questions in curriculum design. Everyone will answer these questions differently because we all have different experiences and philosophies.  There is no right or wrong way to design curriculum but rather the goal is to have a well thought out conception of the curriculum that will serve the needs of the students.