Name:_______________________________________________ Score: _________________

Subject: Trends, Network and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Date: _________________
LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET 2: #TRENDS AND FADS: SPOTTING, ACCEPTING, AND
REJECTING
LEARNING COMPETENCIES
1. Differentiate a trend from a fad
2. Point out the elements that make up a trend
3. Describe the different characteristics of a trend
Learning 4. Identify parts of a whole
Competency 5. Identify emerging patterns
(MELC) HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-3
HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-4
HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-5
HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-6
HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-7
CURRICULUM GUIDE:
CONTENT
Definition of a trend
1.1 The process of identifying a trend
1.2 Differentiating a trend from a fad
1.3 Elements of a trend
1.4 The characteristics of a trend
CONTENT STANDARD
The learner understands the emergence of trends and patterns.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learner will be able to derive an idea from instances and present
this idea
through a 100-word essay, artwork, and other graphic representations.
Background
LEARNING OVERVIEW
Information for
This Chapter will present the trends and patterns of the 21st century. It
Learners
will discuss
(Discussion of
how trends are developed and thus become a pattern of lifestyle.
Topic/Lesson)
Learning Objectives:
Key Concept
After reading the Learning Activity Sheet, Learners must be able to:
1. Discover the differences between a trend and a fad.
2. Speculate the trends that will emerge in the future.
3. Apply critical thinking in spotting a fad and a trend.
INTRODUCTION
Fads and trends emerge everywhere. They occur in any given time
and context. How
do they differ? How do they impact life?
The interplay between fads and trends issues many challenges in the
21st century. It is
imperative to gain a keen analysis of this. This lesson will present the
differences between
a fad and a trend and how anyone can spot, accept, or reject them.
Let’s Recall: (you have to give an answer)
Give an example of a FAD Give an example of a TREND
1._______________ 1.________________
Exercises /
2._______________ 2.________________
Activities
3._______________ 3.________________
4._______________ 4.________________
5._______________ 5.________________

LET’S TAKE A LOOK

SPOTTING A TREND
The trend is a gradual change or development that produces a particular result.
The following are words that describe what is trend is.
- The trend towards/to: “We’ve seen a trend towards more violent film this year”
- The trend in: “The latest trends in popular music is ….”
- An upward/downward trend: “Today’s figures continue the upward trend in the
stock and market”
- Follow the trend: “Everyone seems to be following the trend for straight shiny
hairstyles”
- Buck a trend(not to be affected by a general trend): “Dell announced profits up
by 30%, bucking the trend in the troubled high –tech market”
Source: Macmillandictionary.com
ACTIVITY 1
Give at least 5 examples by providing one for each of the terms above:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVE READING
TREND DEFINED
The trend is a “recurrent phenomenon that takes place over time and gives rise to
speculation on the future” (Sanders, Soper, and Rotwell 2002). Trends analysis is “an
examination of these phenomena and speculation on the likely impact they will have in the
future. Any given phenomenon and prediction which likely to happen or any craze/fad or
trend that would likely emerge needs to be examined.
Cornish(2004) and Canton(2006) define trends as a collage of present circumstances that
extend current patterns into the future. Trends analysis grants societies “future vision”
allowing populations to be proactive in response to future events. Included in a definition of
the trend are three commonalities that trends share:
Trends are a complex synthesis of information from a wide variety of fields.
All trends use pattern identification and recognition to make predictions when talking about
the future.
Trends use time frames to evaluate their evolutions.
Trends are the best guesses for future events or patterns that are based on present
peripheral and historical information. This information can be obtained by sophisticated
methods such as computer modeling, polling, surveying, or it can be compiled through
retroactive analysis of past trends. Synthesizing many factors and considering a multitude
of variables allow humans to simplify the complexity and chaos of the interrelatedness of
events into a reality that can accommodate present modalities of thoughts (Cornish, 2004).
Fads are normally micro trends that exist under the umbrella of an actual trend. (Naisbitt
2006) Trends are often classified as short-term-one to three years, mid-terms – three to
ten years, or long-term-ten to fifty years (Cornish 2004). The ability to frame a trend in time
is what ultimately gives a trend its credibility. Thinking of trends along a linear timeline,
however, is not always correct as trends can revert on themselves becoming cyclical or
trends can fuse or converge with other trends occurring in the same time frame (Canton

2006).
Trending is an import skill in the 21s century affording those inclined a portal into the
future. Besides, trends allow for preemptive judgments and actions toward future events
and conditions. Due to the interrelatedness of all things in the universe, trends are a
complex fusion of past, present, and future information and represent human’s best guess
predictions over time.
The trends towards portable music players, on the other hand, started with the invention of
big, heavy, portable “boom boxes” and morphed into personal CD players – continuing to
grow and change into MP3 portable music phenomenon that we see today.
FAD DEFINED
Fad is something, such as an internet or fashion that is very popular for a short
time (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary). A fad is a product that has little, if any,
utility but is characterized by a quick rise in sales and popularity followed by a quick
decline in sales and popularity. This quick up and down in sales is because fad-products
usually do not satisfy a strong consumer need. Nevertheless, fads seldom completely die
out with some hardcore followers remaining loyal.
Let’s look at some classic examples of a fad:
HULA HOOP
YO-YO
VIRTUAL PETS
FRISBEE
POKEMON
HELLO KITTY
LOOMBAND
A fad is an intense but short-lived fashion. It is a widely-shared enthusiasm for something,
especially a short-lived one. It is a temporary fashion, a craze, interest, or activity that
people follow enthusiastically, but lasts for a short period.
A fad is different from a trend in that a fad always has a definite beginning and end. A
trend, on the other hand, evolves and changes as it continues to grow.
They say that to follow a trend, one must not only be conscious of what is currently
happening but be astute enough to predict what will happen in the future. Try the following
exercise. Identify if the statements in the first column are a trend or a fad then write your
prediction.

RHDA: Read, Highlights, Define, Answer

Instruction: Read the following article. Highlights the unfamiliar words List them
and find their meaning using any dictionary and used it in a sentence(at least 15
words). Answer the questions at the end of the article.
THE NOT-SO-SWEET TRUTH ABOUT HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP(HFCS)
Dr. Mark Hyman
There are five reasons we should stay away from any product containing high
fructose corn syrup.
1. Sugar in any form causes obesity and disease when consumed in pharmacologic
doses. Cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup are indeed both harmful when
consumed in pharmacologic doses of 140 pounds per person per year. When one
20-ounce HFCS sweetened soda, sports drink, or tea has 17 teaspoons of sugar
(and the average teenager often consumes two drinks a day), we are conducting a
largely uncontrolled experiment on the human species. Our hunter-gatherer
ancestors consumed the equivalent of 20 teaspoons per year, not per day. In this
sense, I would agree with the corn industry that sugar is sugar. Quantity matters.
But there are some important differences.
2. HFCS and cane sugar are NOT biochemically identical or processed the same way
by the body. High fructose corn syrup is an industrial food product and far from
“natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through
a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would report not allow
the investigative journalist Micheal Pollan to observe it for his book, “The
Omnivore’s Dilemma”. The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic
process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS.
Now back to biochemistry. Since there is no chemical bond between them,
no digestion is required, so they are more rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream.
Fructose goes right to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like
triglycerides and cholesterol). This is why it is the major cause of liver damage in
this country and causes a condition called “fatty liver”, which affects 70 million
people. The rapidly absorbed glucose triggers big spikes in insulin-our body’s
major fat-storage hormone. Both of these features of HFCS lead to increased
metabolic disturbances that drive increases in appetite, weight gain, diabetes heart
disease, cancer, dementia, and more.
High doses of free fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the
intestinal lining, allowing nasty byproducts of toxic gut bacteria and partially
digested food proteins to enter your bloodstream and trigger the inflammation that
we know is at the root of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia, and
accelerated aging. Naturally occurring fructose in fruit is part of a complex of
nutrients and fiber that does not exhibit the same biological effects as the free high
fructose doses found in corn sugar. The takeaway: Cane sugar and the industrially
produced, euphemistically named “Corn Sugar”, are not biochemically or
physiologically the same.
3. HFCS contains contaminants including mercury that are not regulated or measured
by the FDA., An FDA researcher asked corn producers to ship a barrel of high
fructose corn syrup in order to test for contaminants. Her repeated requests were
refused until she claimed she represented a newly created soft drinks company.
She was then promptly shipped a big vat of HFCS that was used as part of the
study that showed that HFCS often contains toxic levels of mercury because of
chlor-alkali products used in its manufacturing. Poisoned sugar is certainly not
“natural”.
When HFCS is run through a chemical analyzer or a chromatograph.
Strange chemical peaks show up that are not glucose or fructose. What are they?
Who knows? This certainly calls into question the purity of this processed form a
super sugar the exact nature, effects, and toxicity of these funny compounds have
not been fully explained, but shouldn’t we be protected from the presence of
untested chemical compounds in our food supply, especially when the

contaminated food products comprises up to 15 to 20 percent of the average

American daily calorie intake?
4. Many independent medical and nutrition experts DO NOT support the use of
HFCS in our diet, despite the assertions of the corn industry. The corn industry’s
happy looking websites www.cornsugar.com and www.sweetsurprise.com bolster
their position that cane sugar and corn sugar are the same by quoting experts, or
should we say misquoting.
Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Nutrition, the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has published widely on the dangers of sugar
sweetened drinks and their contribution to the obesity epidemic. In a review of
HFCS in the American Journal of clinical nutrition, he explains the mechanism by
which free fructose may contribute to obesity. He states that:
“the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of fructose differ from those of
glucose. Hepatic metabolism of fructose favors de novo lipogenesis (production of
fat in the liver.) in addition, unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin
secretion or enhance leptin production. Because insulin and leptin act as key
afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and body weight (to control
appetite), this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased energy
intake and weight gain. Furthermore, calorically sweetened beverages may
enhance caloric overconsumption.”
He states that HFCS is absorbed more rapidly than regular sugar and that it
does not stimulate insulin or leptin production. This prevents you from triggering the
body’s signal for being full and may lead to overconsumption of total calories.
He concludes by saying that:
“.. the increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to the
epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in calorically sweetened
beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.”
The corn industry takes his comments out of context to support their
position. “All sugar you eat is the same.”
True, pharmacologic doses of any kind of sugar are harmful, but the
biochemistry of different kinds of sugar and their respective effects on absorption,
appetite, and metabolism is different.
David s. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard
Medical School, and a personal friend has published extensively on the dangers
and the obesogenic properties of sugar-sweetened beverages. He was quoted as
saying that “high fructose corn syrup is one of the most misunderstood products in
the food industry.” When I asked him why he supported the corn industry, he told
me he did not and that his comments were taken totally out of context.
Misrepresenting science is one thing; misrepresenting scientists who have
been at the forefront of the fight against obesity and high fructose sugar-sweetened
beverages is quite another.
5. HFCS is almost always a marker of poor-quality, nutrient-poor disease creating
industrial food products or “food-like substances.” The last reason to avoid
products that contain HFCS is that they are a marker for poor-quality, nutritionally
depleted, processed industrial food full of empty calories and artificial ingredients. If
you find “high fructose corn syrup” on the label, you can be sure it is not a whole,
real, fresh food full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants.
Stay away if you want to stay healthy. We still must reduce our overall consumption
of sugar, but with this one simple dietary change, you can radically reduce your
health risks and improve your health.
While the debate may rage about the biochemistry and physiology of cane
sugar vs corn sugar, this is, in fact, besides the point (despite the finer points of my
scientific analysis above). The conversation has been diverted to a simple
assertion that cane sugar and corn sugar are not different.
The real issues are two only.
1. We are consuming HFCS and sugar in pharmacologic quantities never before
experienced in human history – 140 pounds a year vs 20 teaspoons a year 10,000
years ago.

2. High fructose corn syrup is almost always found in very poor-quality foods that are
nutritionally vacuous and filled with all sorts of other diseases –promoting
compounds, fats, salts, chemicals, and even mercury.
Questions:
1. What is the not-so-sweet truth about high fructose corn syrup?
2. If this becomes a trend, how will you predict the next schedule?
LET’S ANCHOR YOUR LEARNING
ACTIVITY 1
Fill up the circle of the trend:
1. On the upper right-hand corner, write one emerging trend.
2. On the lower right-hand corner, write things about the trend.
3. On the lower left-hand corner, write the things that can be done for that trend.
4. On the upper left-hand corner, write the concrete thing that you can do for that
trend.
ACTIVITY 2
 Write a 150 –word essay. You may choose from any of these two titles: “Which Fad
or trend Shall I accept or Reject” or “How Do I Accept or Reject a Trend?”
Critical Thinking Corner
1. How can I intelligently spot, accept or reject any emerging fad or trend?
2. How can I become a shrewd triage in understanding the deluge of challenging
challenges brought about by the 21st-century fads and trends?

Review and Synthesis

I. Outline your learning from this lesson.
a.
b.
c.
d.
II. Define the terms used in this lesson
1. Trend
2. Fad
III. Formulate and raise questions regarding this lesson.
1.
2.
IV. Get Organized
Use the five Ws chart to organize the information you have learned
from this
lesson.
W
Students ha
Reflection: t?
W
ho
?
W
he
re
?
W
he
n?
W
hy
?
V. Synthesize
What have you learned from this lesson? Write your answer in the box
in
paragraph form. ( at least 3 paragraph)
References Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century, First
for learners Edition
Prepared by:
ROLDAN SANTIAGO V. FERRER
SHS – Teacher / BCCHS