Below are four different theories of learning and instruction.

Subject Centered - curriculum: specializes in information by discipline

Subject-Centered followers the view that the teacher is the expert so it does not matter what the objectives state.  The teacher is the arbitrator of what is worth knowing. Hence the objective needs only exist in the mind of the teacher, meaning the student follow the total direction of the teacher.

Objective Centered - curriculum: links to behavioral change leading to performance of specific skills, or competency display, or application of knowledge content.

Objective Centered followers advocates are behaviorists who insist on rigorously defined objectives since learning is defined through behavior. Instruction is goal-directed so results are more important that the process used to achieve them.

Experience Centered -curriculum: uses creative processes to
think outside of the box for building new knowledge through research, experimentation, best practices, and generalizing classroom learning to the real world outside of the classroom. 

Experience Centered followers are the most vehement critics of rigorously defined objectives because they view learning as a creative process for experiencing new discoveries and insights. Attitudinal change produces behavioral change implying confined objectives may interfere with the process of creative learning from the perspective of both teacher and student.

Opportunity Centered - curriculum: focuses on adaptation and transformation such as the life cycle changes, self-directed learning, contracted learning, personal interest learning 

Opportunity Centered followers view any objectives as counter-productive when defined by any person other than the learner. Followers are not opposed to objectives but see greater value when learners are empowered to establish their own learning objective. When learners design their own objectives, the process is  self-motivation and more meaningful when students used Self-directed Learning Contract, or Mentor contracts, working one-on-one with an adult other than the classroom teacher. The teacher, in this learning situation, is viewed as a facilitator rather than a traditional instructor.