| Course | NUR 654 Curriculum Foundations in Nursing Education |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | paper applying and critiquing a classic curriculum model |
| Length | About 1,050 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 654 Module 2
Tyler's Four Questions Applied to an Online RN to BSN Curriculum, With Their Critics and an Adult Learning Lens
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
NUR 654: Curriculum Foundations in Nursing Education
Module Two Curriculum Model Paper
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Tyler's Four Questions Applied to an Online RN to BSN Curriculum, With Their Critics and an Adult Learning Lens
Many curriculum models used in nursing trace back to a short book published in 1949. Ralph Tyler, reflecting on years of work evaluating school programs, proposed that anyone building a curriculum must answer four questions, and his framework shaped generations of curricula, including the objectives-based approach that dominated nursing education for decades. Pine Ridge College, a composite regional college, is designing an online RN to BSN program for associate degree nurses who work full time. This paper applies Tyler's rationale to the program's early decisions, examines a major critique and adapts the model using principles of adult learning. It argues that Tyler's questions remain a valuable discipline for curriculum planning but must be used with open debate about purposes and with learners treated as partners rather than products.
Tyler's Rationale
Tyler (1949) reduced curriculum planning to four questions, which in plain terms ask: what are we trying to achieve, which learning activities will get students there, in what order and arrangement should those activities come and how will we know whether we succeeded. He proposed that purposes be drawn from three sources, studies of the learners themselves, studies of contemporary life outside school and the suggestions of subject specialists, and then filtered through the school's philosophy and what is known about the psychology of learning. He insisted that objectives be stated in terms of both the behavior expected of the learner and the content to which it applies, so that they could guide the selection of experiences and the design of evaluation. The rationale's strength is its coherence: every element connects back to the purposes.
Applying the Four Questions
Purposes. Following Tyler's three sources, the planning team examined the learners, through a survey of 180 associate degree nurses at partner hospitals; contemporary practice, through interviews with nurse leaders about what baccalaureate preparation should add; and specialist views, through the AACN Essentials. Filtered through the college's mission of serving its region, these produced purposes centered on population health, evidence-based practice, leadership, quality improvement and clinical reasoning across settings.
Experiences. For each purpose, the team asked what experiences would give students practice in the behavior intended. For population health, the answer was a community assessment in the student's own county, rather than a lecture on epidemiology; for evidence-based practice, appraising research on a question from the student's own unit.
Organization. Tyler emphasized continuity, sequence and integration. The team sequenced courses so that evidence appraisal comes first and is then used in every later course, and designed a capstone that integrates all purposes in a project at the student's workplace.
Evaluation. Each purpose has at least one assessment designed to show whether it has been attained, including a rubric-scored community assessment and a capstone project reviewed by both faculty and a practice partner.
The Critique
Tyler's rationale has been criticized as much as it has been used. Kliebard (1970) argued that the rationale's first question is largely empty: it tells planners to state purposes but offers no way to decide among competing values, so the most important choices are made before the model is applied, often without scrutiny. He also argued that treating objectives as the specification of behaviors to be produced reflects a production model of schooling, in which learners are shaped toward predetermined outcomes and learning that is unplanned or divergent has no place. These criticisms apply to nursing. Deciding whether an RN to BSN program should emphasize leadership or population health, or whether it exists mainly to meet employer requirements for baccalaureate nurses, is a value choice the rationale cannot make, and a curriculum built only on predetermined behaviors can miss the reflective judgment that experienced nurses most need to develop.
Adapting the Model for Adult Learners
The critique points to the need for a different relationship with learners. Knowles et al. (2015) describe principles of adult learning, such as the adult's wish to understand the reason for any lesson, a sense of oneself as the person in charge of one's own choices, the value of accumulated experience as material for learning, their readiness to learn what helps with real-life tasks, their orientation toward problems rather than subjects and the importance of internal motivation. For working nurses, these principles are not abstractions. They have years of practice, limited time and little patience for content that repeats what they already know.
Pine Ridge will therefore adapt Tyler's model in three ways. Purposes will be discussed openly with an advisory group of current associate degree nurses and practice partners, so that value choices are visible rather than hidden. Experiences will be built around problems from students' own workplaces, so that experience is a resource and learning is immediately useful. And each course will leave room for learning that was not specified in advance, through reflective assignments in which students identify what they learned that surprised them, which faculty will review when revising the curriculum.
What the Model Revealed in Practice
Working through the questions in order exposed two weaknesses in the team's first draft. The draft included a required course on nursing theory that no purpose called for; when asked which purpose it served, the team could not agree, and the course was folded into the leadership sequence. The draft also lacked any assessment for clinical reasoning across settings, even though it was listed as a purpose, which led to a new case-based assessment in the capstone. These discoveries illustrate the rationale's value as a coherence check: a purpose without an assessment, or a course without a purpose, is easy to spot once every element must connect to the others. They also show its limit, since the model could not tell the team whether nursing theory ought to be a purpose in the first place.
Conclusion
Tyler's four questions still give curriculum planners a coherent structure that links purposes, experiences, organization and evaluation, and they helped Pine Ridge make its early decisions systematically. Kliebard's critique shows that the model cannot choose purposes for us and can reduce learners to products. Opening the choice of purposes to debate, building experiences around learners' own practice and leaving room for unplanned learning let the college keep the rationale's discipline while respecting the adult professionals it will teach.
References
Kliebard, H. M. (1970). The Tyler rationale. The School Review, 78(2), 259-272. https://doi.org/10.1086/442905
Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III, & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (8th ed.). Routledge.
Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago Press.
What the NUR 654 Module 2 instructions ask for
Curriculum model papers in NUR 654 usually ask you to explain a classic or contemporary curriculum model, apply it to a program and evaluate its strengths and limitations. Expect to describe the model accurately, show how it would guide decisions, present at least one critique and propose adaptations. Around five pages in APA 7 is typical. Apply every element of the model to concrete decisions rather than summarizing it in the abstract, present critics fairly and connect their points to nursing, bring in a relevant theory such as adult learning to shape your adaptations and conclude with a balanced judgment about when and how the model is useful for your learners. Show what the model revealed about your own draft.
How this NUR 654 Module 2 curriculum model paper example is built
This paper applies Tyler's four questions to a composite college's online RN to BSN program. It explains the rationale's three sources of objectives, then applies each question: purposes drawn from a learner survey, leader interviews and the Essentials, experiences such as a community assessment in the student's own county, sequencing that puts evidence appraisal first and assessments for each purpose. Kliebard's critique that the rationale cannot choose purposes and treats learning as production is applied to nursing. Knowles's adult learning principles guide adaptations: an advisory group for purposes, workplace problems and reflective assignments for unplanned learning. Working through the questions exposes a course with no purpose and a purpose with no assessment.
Where the NUR 654 Module 2 rubric puts the points
Grading of curriculum model papers commonly weighs accurate description of the model, depth of application, fair presentation of critique, thoughtful adaptation, connection to learners and APA 7 writing. Top-band papers apply every component of the model to real decisions and show how the model changes those decisions. Graders reward critiques drawn from the literature rather than invented objections, clear links between critique and adaptation and attention to the specific learners, such as working nurses. A balanced conclusion that states when the model helps and when it must be modified shows the judgment that reviewers look for. Showing what the model revealed in practice strengthens the analysis.
NUR 654 Module 2 help: the mistakes that cost points
Model papers lose points when they summarize the model without applying it, when critique is missing or superficial, when adaptations do not respond to the critique or when the learners are never considered. Another gap is presenting a classic model as either perfect or obsolete. Apply each element, cite a real critic, connect critique to adaptation, bring in a relevant learning theory and conclude with balance. If you are writing about another model, perhaps backward design, a concept-based framework or competency-based education, send it with your NUR 654 prompt so the paper fits your program. Show what the model caught. Name its limits too.
Get NUR 654 Module 2 written to your instructions
Send us the NUR 654 prompt, the model you are studying and how the paper is graded. We will apply every element to real decisions, present a published critique fairly and adapt the model for your learners, within 24 to 48 hours, free the first time. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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NUR 654 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 654 Module 2 Curriculum Model Paper sample?
This page carries the full paper: Tyler's four questions applied to an online RN to BSN program, Kliebard's critique and adaptations based on adult learning.
What are Tyler's four questions?
What purposes should be sought, what experiences will attain them, how the experiences should be organized and how attainment will be evaluated.
What are Tyler's three sources of objectives?
Studies of learners, studies of contemporary life outside school and the suggestions of subject specialists, filtered through philosophy and learning psychology.
What was Kliebard's critique of the Tyler rationale?
That it offers no way to choose among competing purposes and treats learning as the production of predetermined behaviors.
Why apply adult learning principles to RN to BSN curricula?
Working nurses bring extensive experience, want immediately useful learning and are motivated by solving real problems.