Learning Plans in the

Context of the 21 st

Century
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

• discuss the role of technology for teaching and learning mathematics and science
in the light of the K to 12 Curriculum Framework;
• review the K to 12 Curriculum Guide focusing on the development of 21 st Century
Skills in mathematics and science education;
• review learning plans in mathematics and science teaching from various sources
that integrate ICTs in the teaching learning process;
• Plan activities integrating ICTs that will facilitate the development of the 21 st
Century Skills required in the curriculum guide; and
• Brainstorm about digital citizenship and relate this to the development of 21 st
Century Skills among learners.
Introduction
The basic education curriculum of the country was enhanced with the
implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum. The K to 12 Program covers the
Kindergarten and the 12 years of basic education (six years elementary
education, four years of Junior High School (JHS), and two years of Senior
High School [SHS] to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and
skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education,
middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.
The implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum is expected to
contribute to the country’s development in various forms. It is believed that
the implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum is necessary to improve the
quality of our education which is critical to or progress as a nation.
 One of the features of the K to 12
curriculum is the requirement to equip
every graduate with the following skills:

• information, media, and technology

skills
• learning and innovation skills
• effective communications skills; and
• life and career skills
 The development of these skills can
be done with the aid of technologies for
teaching and learning which is the focus of this
course. It aims to present some of the
activities that will prepare pre-service teachers
to integrate ICTs in the teaching learning
processes for the various fields of
specialization. It aims to help pre-service and
in-service teachers to expand to expand the
boundaries of their creativity and the creativity
of their students beyond the four walls of the
classrooms. It aims to allow teachers to
discover the power of computer technologies
to serve as teaching tools that will motivate,
captivate and mobilize them to master their
contents and perform standards for greater
learning. But of course, it must be noted that
this online tools are meant to be
supplementary materials. These must not be
treated as substitute of teachers.
The K to 12 Curriculum
Framework

Lesson 1
Lesson Outcomes

• Discuss the salient features of the K to

12 Curriculum requiring ICT-pedagogy
integration skills
• Analyze the learning competencies of
every year level according to the field of
specialization of the pre-service
teachers
• Review some units in the curriculum
guide with focus on the development of
21st Century Skills
 The implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum of the Department of
Education paved the way to enhance the Teacher Education Curriculum of the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The salient features of the K to 12
Curriculum have been thoroughly considered to ensure that all the courses in
the teacher education program will meet the demands of the 21st Century
classrooms. One of the considerations is the need to implement the following
salient features of the curriculum by integrating technologies for teaching and
learning. The use of technologies is done in the different levels of learning in
teaching and learning the various fields of specialization.
1. Strengthening Early Childhood Education (Universal Kindergarten)

With the Universal Kindergarten program of the Department every Filipino

child is expected to have access to early childhood education. This access can
be facilitated by using technological tools that are readily available to the
school and for the teachers to use.

The use of technology in Kindergarten by various schools is very

evident in teaching them the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors through
games, songs and dances in their Mother Tongue.
2. Making the Curriculum Relevant to Learners (Contextualization and Enhancement)

Research shows that learners will value a curriculum that is relevant to their
world. Students often heard saying, “Do I need to know this to live a meaningful
life?”; “How will I use this lesson in the actual workplace?”; “What is the relevance of
this to me?”; and so on. The answer to the question of relevance is vital to help the
teachers think of some ways by which they will be able to let their students realize
that their daily lessons are of good use to their personal well-being and to their
professional preparation. Sara Bernard (2010) stressed the students need to have
personal connection to a lesson material which can be done through engaging them
emotionally or through connecting the information that they already know. This she
calls as “Give It Context, and Make it Count.”
Briggs (2014) shared some tips for making learning engaging and personally relevant as cited by Willis,
Faeth, and Immordino-Yang:
▪ Use suspense and keep it fresh – Drop hints about a new learning unit before you reveal what it
might be, leave gaping pauses in your speech, change seating arrangements and put up new and
relevant posters or displays; al these can activate emotional signals and keep student interest piqued.
▪ Make it student-directed – Give students a choice of assignments on a particular topic or ask them to
design one of their own. “When students are involved in designing the lesson, they understand
better the goal of the lesson and become more emotionally invested in and attached to the learning
outcomes.
▪ Connect lesson to their lives and what they already know – Taking time to brainstorm about what
students already know and would like to learn about a topic helps them to create goals. This also
helps teachers see the best points of departure for new ideas. Making cross-curricular connection
also helps solidify those neural loops.
▪ Provide utility value – Utility value provides relevance first by telling students that content is
important to their future goals and by showing or explaining how the content fits into their plans for
the future or to their future work. This helps students realize that the content is not just interesting
but also worth knowing.
▪ Build relatedness – Relatedness answers the question “What has this have to do with me?” It is an
inherent need that students have to feel close to the significant role in their lives, including teachers.
Relatedness is seen by many as having non-academic and academic sides.
 To be able to do the tips recommended
by various experts and to allow students to
realize the value od their curriculum,
technological tools can be engaged. 21st
Century learners are expected to demonstrate
21st Century competencies such as
collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking,
and problem solving for the to be able to thrive
in this world (Rich, 2010). Contextualizing the
curriculum of the students for meaningful
learning poses challenges on enhancing
pedagogical skills but even technological skills.
3. Building Proficiency (Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education)

To be able to promote the child’s dominant

language and to use it as a language of instruction,
technological tools should be maximized. Currently, a lot
of teachers and schools are into developing learning
materials to be able to implement the MTB-MLE program
properly especially that there is a dearth of printed and
e-materials in the mother tongue of the students.
Mother Tongue is used in instruction and learning
materials of other learning materials of other learning
areas. The learners retain their ethnic identity, culture,
heritage and values. Children learn better and are more
active in class and learn a second language even faster
when they are first taught in a language they understand.
4. Ensuring Integrated and Seamless
Learning (Spiral Progression)
Learning basic concepts that lead to
more complex and sophisticated version of the
general concepts entail TPACK; technological
knowledge, content knowledge, and
pedagogical knowledge. Rediscovering
concepts as students progress in their grade
level will be fully supported if all the areas of
specialization will be aided by technologies for
teaching and learning. This will further
strengthen retention and will enhance mastery
of topics and skills as they are revisited and
consolidated time and again. This also allows
learners to learn topics and skills appropriate to
their developmental and cognitive skills.
5. Gearing Up for the Future
The K to 12 Curriculum ensures
college readiness by aligning the core and
applied courses to the College Readiness
Standards (CRS) and new General Education
(GE) Curriculum. Hence, the K to 12
curriculum focused on developing
appropriate Specialization Subjects for the
Academic, Sports, Arts and Design, and
Technical Vocational Livelihood Tracks. All of
these specializations have to be supported
by education for better learning.
6. Nurturing the Holistically Developed Filipino
(College and Livelihood Readiness, 21 st Century
Skills)

To nurture holistically developed Filipino,

every K to 12 graduate is expected to be ready to
go into different paths – be it further education,
employment, or entrepreneurship. Every
graduate is expected to be equipped with
information, media and technology skills,
effective communication skills, and life and
career skills. This may happen with the proper
implementation of the curriculum and with the
facilitation of excellent teachers. For teachers to
maintain excellent performance, they need full
support one oof which is technological support.
Activity 1
Step 1: Introducing the Technology for Teaching and Learning 2 Course

This course, Technology for Teaching and Learning 2, helps you use the power of computer technologies in
the different fields of specialization to ignite student’s imagination to move, motivate, and support them toward
meaningful learning.
To be able to assess your prior knowledge on how students can best use computer technologies to enhance
learning, answer this question. Write your answer in the box provided:
How can technology be used most effectively in the various fields of specialization to support and assess
student learning?
Step 2: Setting My Goals for this Course

It must be noted that course objectives can be achieved with proper setting of goals. Therefore,
there is a need to ground this course on curricular and research-based goals and objectives. Throughout this
course, you will be tasked to use various technological resources and tools that can help you create your
plans and materials, improve your instruction and enhance your future students’ learning.
Collaborate with your teacher and colleagues and think about what you must to be able to make
the most out of this course. Answer the following questions:

1. How will I apply the knowledge and skills that I learned in TTL1 in teaching in my field of specialization?
2. How will I develop learning plans for my classes to make sure that available technologies or teaching and learning
will be put to use for meaningful learning?

3. How will I ensure that my goals in this course will be achieved?

 Teachers play important role not only inside the classroom as classroom teachers but also
as facilitators of student learning, designing, implementing and evaluating the curriculum. In the
Philippines, the teachers are expected to actively engage themselves in curriculum design to ensure
that the K to 12 Curriculum will be delivered at its best for students to realize full the intended
learning outcomes.
Teachers make the decisions about how they will implement the curriculum in their
specific field of specialization. They decide on how they must structure the activities of their lessons
and manage students’ responses and ideas. Teachers’ decisions have an impact on students’
learning experiences in class. The following are points to consider in identifying and understanding
teachers’ roles as curriculum designers:

• Without doubt, the most important person in the curriculum implementation process is the
teacher. With their knowledge, experiences and competencies, teachers are central to any
curriculum development effort. Better teachers support better learning because they are
most knowledgeable about the practice of teaching and are responsible for introducing the
curriculum in the classroom (Alsubaie, 2016)
• Curriculum is the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials,
resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives – Jadhav
and Patankar (2013)

• Curriculum is content, but when contextualized, it comes alive for students. The role of
teachers in the curriculum process is to help students develop an engaged relationship
with the content. Active learning will increase the focus and retention of the curriculum,
resulting in an exciting learning environment. Teachers build lessons that include
simulations, experiments, case studies and activities to deliver curriculum. This
interactive approach intertwines curriculum and practical experiences that immerse
students learning. The curriculum process provides opportunity for teachers to be
creative and put their unique stamp on their classroom (Meier, 2018)

• Teachers, on their part, have practical knowledge based on their daily work with students.
This practical knowledge is useful to curriculum committees because teachers can assess
whether the ideas being developed will work in the classroom (Young, 1988).
Step 1: Considering my Role as Curriculum Designer

With the points of reference provided about my curriculum, participate in an

online discussion (preferably through GCs) about how your field of specialization (Ex.
Physical Education, English, Filipino, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science and so on) was
designed. In the discussion, you are asked to thoughtfully consider your role as a
curriculum designer. Go over the Curriculum Guide and discuss together the essential
features, focus and the general content and performance standards of your field of
specialization or major per grade or level.
Step 2: Integrating Technologies for Teaching and Learning

After having an in-depth understanding of the general nature, focus, and non-
negotiable standards set for your field of specialization, share within the group some
technological resources and tools that can help you deliver it to facilitate learning.
Brainstorm on how these technologies can be integrated properly and how they
will meet the important learning objectives of the 21st Century Skills.
Post the screenshot of your conversation here for steps 1 and 2. Your name should be visible in the chat
Answer the following items:

1. How will the technological tools for teaching and learning promote the salient features of the K to 12
Curriculum?_________________________________________________________________________
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2. What 21st Century Skills that need to be developed by your field of specialization? Rank them in terms
of the identified standards and competencies of your curriculum guide.
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