Elements of a curriculum If curriculum is defined more broadly than syllabus or course of study then it needs to contain more than mere statements of content to be studied. A curriculum has at least four important elements: content; teaching and learning strategies; assessment processes; and evaluation processes. The process of defining and organising these elements into a logical pattern is known as curriculum design. Curriculum writers have tried to place some order or rationality on the process of designing a curriculum by advocating models. There are two main types: prescriptive models, which indicate what curriculum designers should do; and descriptive models, which purport to describe what curriculum designers actually do. A consideration of these models assists in understanding two additional key elements in curriculum design: statements of intent and context. Curriculum models Prescriptive models What curriculum designers should do How to create a curriculum Descriptive models What curriculum designers actually do What a curriculum covers Further reading Bligh J, Prideaux D, Parsell G . PRISMS: new educational strategies for medical education. Med Educ 2001;35:520–1 Harden R, Crosby J, Davis M . Outcome based education: part 1 an introduction to outcomes-based education. Med Teach 1991;21(1):7–14 Harden R . Curriculum mapping: a tool for transparent and authentic teaching and learning. Med Teach 2000;23(2):123–7 Prideaux D . The emperor's new clothes: from objectives to outcomes. Med Educ 2000;34:168–9 Print M . Curriculum development and design. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1993.