Potential curriculum refers to the educational practice and results that are not clearly stipulated in the curriculum plan and school plan, but belong to the regular and effective part of school education, and can be regarded as hidden, unplanned, unclear or unrecognized courses.

For example, ordinary children's handicraft classes, making small crocodiles. In fact, it is not a simple manual operation, but contains a series of "hidden contents". Children are observing the main characteristics of crocodiles (which is also the focus of skill teaching), asking them to express their "emotions" towards crocodiles (internal emotional management in the manual process), and then completing their initial perception of crocodiles through different visual and auditory stimuli.

Course significance:

The concept of potential courses broadens the original definition of courses and breaks the boundaries between planned and purposeful courses. The concept of potential curriculum has found a new field of students' experience, which is beneficial for educators to guide students' experience; The concept of potential curriculum provides a new idea for the part of curriculum effect that explicit curriculum can't explain; The concept of potential curriculum expands the curriculum types of school education.

The concept of potential curriculum provides a strategic reference for school administrators to conceive education as "hard education" (planned curriculum) and "soft education" (potential curriculum).