Commission on Higher Education

REGION IX
Zamboanga Peninsula
AURORA PIONEERS MEMORIAL COLLEGE
(Formerly: Cebuano Barracks Institute)
Bonifacio St. Pob. Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur
Tel.No. : (062)331-2332

COLLEGE DEPARTMENT
TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR ELEMENTARY SCIENCE
For the School Year 2021-2022
NS 102

Instructor: HASSEL T. ABAYON – ABADILLA

Reminders:
DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING IN THE MODULE.

MODULE 2 TO 4

LESSON 5
COMPONENTS O INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING

All teachers engage in the process of planning, managing, delivering, and evaluating instruction. Planning instruction involves three
steps:(1) deciding what to teach, (2) deciding how to teach, and (3) communicating goals and expectations to the learners. Each of
these steps includes specific tasks. Examine the table below.

Instructional Planning Domain Steps

Deciding what to teach Assess the students' skills and knowledge
Analyze the instructional task
Establish a logical instructional sequence
Consider the classroom elements that may affect instruction
Identify gaps between actual and expected performance
Deciding how to teach Set instructional goals
Select instructional methods and materials
Pace instruction appropriately
Monitor performance and re-plan instruction
Communicating goals and expectations to the learners Involve the students in learning
State expectations
Maintain high standards

The Great Schools Partnership has developed the Elements of Effective Instruction framework that identifies five elements
of Institutional practice. When integrated into learning experiences, these elements promotes students engagement and academic
achievement. Provide description for each element below.
Learning Environment
Clear, Shared outcome
Varied content, materials, and method of instruction
Practice and feedback.
Complex thinking and transfer.
Robert Gagne developed Nine Events of Instruction that has guided trainers and educators in designing instruction for trainings and
classroom –based teaching.
Gaining attention (reception)
Informing learners of the objective (expectancy)
Stimulating recall of prior learning ( retrieval)
Presenting the stimulus (selective perception)
Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding )
Eliciting performance (responding)
Providing feedback (reinforcement)
Assessing performance (retrieval)
Enhancing retention and transfer (generalization)

Lesson 6:Instructional Planning Cycle

How do teachers know if learning plans are effective and if the students are learning? It is crucial that the teachers take
steps to reflect not only on their delivery of instruction but on quality of learning that is taking place in the classroom. Great
teachers reflect on their practice and keep learning. They keep building on their strengths and working on their weaknesses. They
are not afraid to learn about their weaknesses and areas for improvement .They make reflection and constant growth. A simple way
to perform the instructional planning cycle is to do these three steps.
Steps Sample Sample Output
Analysis (the process of defining what it is Needs assessment : learners ,goals
to be learned) Problem identification
Task analysis
Design (the process of specifying how it is Write objectives
to be learned) Develop test items
Plan instruction
Identify resources
Select delivery system
Development (the process of writing and Work with producers
producing the materials) Develop worksheets, materials
Implementation (the actual delivery of Teacher training
instruction) Try out
Evaluation (the process of determining Record test results
the adequacy, effectiveness, and Interpret test result
efficiency of instruction ; maybe formative Survey graduates
or summative) Revise activities

Lesson 7: Five E Mode l in Planning Science Lessons

In 1962, educators J. Myron and Robert karplus propositioned that effective learning cycles involve three elements :
exploration, concept introduction, and concept application. Exploration allowed the learners to get interested in the subject, ask
questions, and identify points of dissatisfaction with their current understanding. Introduction of new terms or concepts follows.
Finally, the concept application provided the learners with opportunities to apply their ideas and learning and apply them in a new
pieces of context. The findings of Atkin and Karplus informed the creation of the 5E model. This teaching model focuses on providing
students opportunity to understand a concept over time through a series of steps or phases: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and
Evaluate.

The 5E model was developed in 1987 by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. The model promotes collaborative,
active learning in which the students work together to solve problems and examine new concepts by asking questions, analyzing,
interpreting, evaluating, and drawing conclusions. It based on the constructivist approach to instruction. The model is effective
when:
The students are encountering new concepts for the firstime because there is an opportunity for a complete learning cycle.
It used in a unit for two to three weeks in which each phase is the basis for one or more distinct lessons.

Stage What teacher Does Sample Teaching Strategies/ Activities

Engage Determine the students prior
knowledge and knowledge gaps
Foster an interest the upcoming
concepts
Prepare the students to learn new
concepts
Introduce topic for the first time
Explore Allow the students to actively explore
the new concept through concrete
learning experiences
Guide the students in going through
the scientific method
Let the students make observations
and share findings to their peers
Explain Facilitate a discussion and synthesis of
ne knowledge
Have the students ask questions for
clarification
Have the students share their insights
and feelings about the activity in the
Explore stage
Discuss scientific terms and concepts
Utilize videos, multimedia software,
games, or other tools to boost
understanding of concepts and science
processes
Elaborate Give the students space and
opportunity to apply what they have
Asking opening questions
The students write down what they
already know about the topic
KWL(K means Know or what the
students already know W-want to learn
or what the students want to learn
KWL(K means KNOW or what the
students already know
W-want learn or what the students
want to learn
L-ultimately learned or what the
students learned from the lesson or
activity ) chart
Maps of conceptual change
Laboratory experiments
Scientific method drills
Hands –on activities
Performance tasks
Field work
Interactive discussion
Viewing clips, documentaries
Reading online discussions and
materials like Khan Academy, online
encyclopedias
Taking computer-assisted interactive
games
Self assessments
Peer assessment
 learned Paper-and-pen test
Ask the students to create Objective test
presentations or conduct additional Performance task
investigations to reinforce skills Game based exams
Allow the students to establish
knowledge before evaluation

TOPIC: Force and Motion

Grade Level: Grade 3

Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
Describe the position of a person or an object in relation to a reference point such as chair, door, another person;
Identify things that can make objects move such as people, water, wind, magnets; and
Describe the movements of objects such as fast/slow, forward/backward, stretching/compressing;

ENGAGE
Let the students observe two objects, one that is moving while the other is stationary.(Use available from the laboratory room).
Share their observation in class.

EXPLORE
Show the studebts videos on force and motion (example: moving car, machines). Ask them to describe the movement of the
objects whether slow/fast, forward/backward, stretching/compressing.

EXPLAIN
Force is anything that has the potential to change the state of rest or motion of an object. Forces change the speed or direction of
the motion of an object. The greater the force applied on an object, the greater the change that will be observed in motion. If an
object is more massive, a given force will have lesser effect upon the motion of the object.

ELABORATE
Materials for each group: a ping pong ball, a golf ball, a piece of cm/in ruler, spherical varying weights (such as tennis ball or
basketball)
Provide each group a ping pong ball, ruler, and a golf ball.
Ask the students to predict and observe what happens when force is applied to an object, and compare the relative effects of a force
of the same strength on objects of different we snapping the ping pong ball gently with a finger and measure the distance the ball.ro
with a ruler. Record the distance in centimeters on the force chart (see chart below)
Let the students move the ping pong ball as hard as possible with one finger. With a ruler measure and record the distance the ball
covered on the force chart.
Repeat the second and third steps using a golf ball. Use a different type of ball if golf ball is not available.
Have the students compare data with other groups and draw conclusions about force applied to objects and its effect on the
direction of the object.
Give the students enough time to explore the effect of force applied to spherical objects of varying weights.
Convene the students and let them share in class what they have discovered.
Guide questions for the discussion.
a. What did you discover about the ping pong ball as a force in motion?
b. What did you discover about the golf ball as a force in motion?
C Which ball produced the greater direction/distance and why?
d. Did the balls move farther when a greater or lesser force was applied to the balls?
e. How would the speed of the object and distance change if force had increased or decreased in strength?
f. What does weight have to do with force?
8. Guide the students in making a list of forces they see every day (examples: kicking a ball, shooting an arrow, strong winds
blowing, flowing water).
9.Help the students come up with the conclusion that the greater the force applied to an object, the greater the change in speed or
direction it will produce on the object.

LESSON 8
DEVELOPING INSTRUCTIONAL PLANS FOR ELEMENTARY SCIENCE

The curriculum guide serves as the teacher’s blueprint in planning and designing the curriculum. It should not be taught as
is. It will be your job to interpret these standards using UNPACKING STRATEGIES. UNPAKING means extracting the component
knowledge and skills required by a standard in order to understand the learning expectations and clearly articulate those
expectations to the students and the parents. Unpacking serves three purposes: (a.) to establish focus of standards and
competencies; (b) to link standard, competencies, and teaching; and (c) to contextualize teaching. The following are the steps you
need to undertake when unpacking the elements of the curriculum guide in order to plan for classroom instruction:
Analyze the standard.
Read the competencies. Determine the target domain of the competencies.
Determine the nature of competencies ( knowledge, skills, values).
Determine the target topic or content. Identify time allotment.
Select assessment strategies.
Plan learning experiences
Design learning materials.

The first unpacking strategy involves analysis of the standards. Standards articulate what a students should know,
understand and be able to do by the end of the year, and they set equitable benchmarks across classrooms and schools.
CONTENT STANDARD PERFORMANCE STANDARD
Answers the questions ,”What do the students want to know, be Answers the questions, ‘What do we want the students to do
able to do, and understand?’ with their learning or understanding?’ and ‘How do we want
them to use their learning or understanding?’
Define what the students are expected to know (knowledge, Define the experience proficiency level.
facts and information), what they should be able to do (process
or skills) with what they know.
The meaning or understanding that they construct or make as Products and/or performances as evidence that the students can
they process the facts and information. transfer or use their learning in real life situations.

TYPES OF STANDARD

Core Learning Area Standard

This is defines the broad outcomes for the K-12 science. E.g., The learners demonstrate understanding of basic science
concepts and application of basic science inquiry skill. They exhibit scientific attitudes and values to solve problems critically,
innovate beneficial products, protect the environment and conserve resources, enhance the integrity and wellness of people, make
informed decisions, and engage in discussions of relevant issues that involve science, technology and environment.

Key Stage Standard

This defines the specific outcome for key stages such as K-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-10, and Grades 11 -12.e.g., at the end of
grade 3, the learners should have acquired healthful habits and have developed curiosity about self and their environment using
basic process skills of observing, communicating, comparing, classifying, measuring, inferring, and predicting. This curiosity will help
the learners value science as an important tool in helping them continue to explore their natural and physical environment. This
should also include developing scientific knowledge or concepts.

Grade Level Standard

This defines the specific outcomes for each grade level. Grade Level. eg. Kindergarten - The learners will demonstrate an
emerging understanding of the parts of their body and their general functions; plants, animals, and varied materials in their
environment and their observable characteristics; general weather conditions and how this influence what they wear; and other
things in their environment. Understanding of their bodies and what is around them is acquired through exploration, questioning,
and careful observation as they infer patterns, similarities, and differences that will allow them to make sound conclusion.

The K-12 science curriculum is characterized as learner-centered and inquiry-based. It puts premium on the use of evidence in
constructing explanations. Concepts and skills in life sciences, physics, chemistry, and earth sciences are presented with increasing
levels of complexity from one grade level to another in spiral progression. This facilitates deeper understanding of concepts along
with the integration across science topics and other disciplines.

The second unpacking strategy is to determine the target domain, the broad group of topics in science. There are five
domains of science indicated in the curriculum guide.
The third unpacking strategy involves determining the nature of competencies (knowledge, skills, values). The target of the
competency may be knowledge (conceptual and factual understanding), skills (ability to perform or demonstrate science process
skills), and values (development of right attitudes and values in science).

Step 5. Select assessment

The most important principle to remember when selecting assessment strategies is constructive alignment. It is the coherence
among the learning outcomes, assessment, and learning experiences in an educational program strategies. educational program.
Consider the objectives or competencies of the subject first. These competencies embody the knowledge and skills the teacher want
their students to have learned at the end of the quarter. Once the competencies have been established, the second stage involves
consideration of assessment. The backward design framework suggests that the teachers should consider these overarching
competencies and how the students will be assessed prior to consideration of how to teach the content.
 Clearly, the verb used in the competency provides clue as to the type of assessment strategies to be used in the classroom.
In the example, the target competency involves the ability to describe; the assessment, therefore, should provide the learners the
opportunity to recall previous or acquired knowledge on the target content. The second competency requires the students to apply
knowledge of safety measures dealing with different types of weather. The assessment provides them the opportunity to show their
responses and reactions to different weather conditions.

Step 7. Design learning materials.

The teachers should keep the following guidelines when designing learning materials for elementary science.
The materials should be aligned with the content and performance standards in the curriculum guide.
The materials should contain activities that allow different forms of interaction among the students and between the teachers and
the students.
The activities should be varied and may employ a combination of the following: inquiry-oriented investigations, cooperative
groups, use of technology, and simulations.
The activities indicated in the materials should provide adequate time and opportunities for the students to acquire knowledge,
skills, and attitudes.
Opportunities must be provided for the students to develop an understanding of scientific inquiry.
The content should be accurate and developmentally appropriate for the learners.
Opportunities to learn should be consistent with contemporary models of learning.
There should be consistency between learning goals and assessment.
Assessments should stress the application of concepts to new or different situations.
Assessment tasks should be fair for all the students. Scoring guide or rubric should be included as well.

UNIT III: INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR SCIENCE

Introduction
This unit discusses various teaching strategies that can be adapted in the classroom for teaching physics and earth science.
The Basic Elements of Inquiry Methods
All inquiry methods are predicated on specific assumptions about both learning and learners. Inquiry teaching requires a
high degree of interaction among the learner, the teacher, the materials, the content, and the environment. The most challenging
part is that it allows both the learner and the teacher to become persistent seekers, interogators, questioners, and ponderers. The
end result is whenever the learner poses the question every Nobel Prize winner has asked: "I wonder what would happen if7" It is
through inquiry that new knowledge is discovered. It is by becoming involved in the process that the learners become historians,
economists, scientists, engineers, poets, businessperson, artists, writers, researchers-even only for an hour or two in class.

Basic Tenets of Inquiry Teaching (Orlich et al., 2007)

Inquiry methods require the learners to develop various processes associated with inquiry .

The teachers and the principals must support the concept of inquiry teaching and learn how to adapt their own teaching and
administrative styles to the concept.

The students at all ages and levels have a genuine interest in discovering something new or in providing solutions or alternatives to
unsolved questions or problems.

The solutions, alternatives, or responses provided by the learners are not found in textbooks. The students use reference materials
and textbooks during inquiry lessons just as scientists and professionals use books, articles, and references to conduct their work.

The objective of inquiry teaching is often a process. In many instances, the end product of an inquiry activity is relatively
unimportant compared to the processes used to create it.

All conclusions must be considered relative or tentative, not final. The students must learn to modify their conclusions as new data
are discovered.

Strategy 3-Inductive Guided Inquiry

What is Inductive Guided Inquiry?

Induction is a thought process wherein the individual observes selected events, processes, or objects and then constructs a
particular pattern of concepts or relationships based on these limited experiences. Inductive inquiry is a teaching method in which
the teachers ask the students to infer a conclusion, generalization, or pattern of relationships from a set of data or facts. There are
two approaches of inductive inquiry guided and unguided. If you provide the specifics-that is, the data or facts-but want the students
to make generalizations, then you are conducting a guided inductive inquiry (Tamir, 1995) On the other hand, if you allow the
students to discover the specifics themselves before they make generalizations, the process is an unguided inductive inquiry. In this
particular lesson, we will focus on inductive guided inquiry.

Inductive inquiry is actually applicable for all levels of instruction (from grade school to university graduate schools). At any
level, the processes of observing, making inferences, classifying, formulating hypotheses, and predicting are all sharpened (or
reinforced) by the students' experiences.

How to Use Guided Inductive Inquiry as a Teaching Strategy?

In guided inductive inquiry, the use of pictures is usually the easiest way to introduce this concept. For young children, show
different pictures of the same scene to the class. Ask the children to tell what they see in the pictures and to describe patterns they
observe. Have them state these patterns as generalizations. Ask questions that require the students to do some generalizing
themselves, such as "What could cause this type of track in the snow?" or "Where have we seen these before?" (Orlich et al, 2007)

You need to distinguish clearly between statements based on observations and those based on interences Begin the lesson
by explaining and demonstrating the difference between observations and inferences.
The process of inductive reasoning is developed gradually. As the lesson progresses, prepare a simple chart or list on the blackboard
of the students observations and inferences. The students understanding each process will gradually develop from studying these
examples.

Time Requirements
When you plan to use any type of inquiry activity in class, spend at least twice as much class time on each lesson as you
normally would. This time is spent on in depth analyses of the content by the students Inquiry methods demand greater interaction
between the learner and the learning materials, as well as greater interaction between the teacher and the students (Orlich et al,
2007).
In the same way, be prepared to reduce the amount of content you will cover because you will use more ame developing process
skills. You cannot maximize thinking skills and simultaneously maximice content coverage.

Characteristics of Guided Inductive Inquiry Model (Orlich et al., 2007)

1.The learners progress from specific observations to inferences or generalizations.

2.The objective is to learn (or reinforce) the process of examining events or objects and then arriving at an appropriate
generalization from the observations.

3.The teacher controls the specifics of the lesson (the events, data, materials, or objects) and thus acts as the class leader.

4.Each student acts to the specifics and attempts to structure a meaningful pattern based on his or her observations and those of
others in the class.

5.The classroom is to be considered a learning laboratory.

6.Usually, a fixed number of generalizations will be elicited from the learners.

7.The teacher encourages each student to communicate his or her generalizations to the class so that others may benefit from them.

This model can be adapted to other inquiry models, such as problem-solving. These steps form the basis of what we know
as the scientific method. The students can surely develop the different process skills as they utilize this model effectively.

The Role of Questioning Within Guided Inductive Inquiry

 It has been observed that the teacher's questioning plays an important role in inquiry methods because the purpose of
inquiry is to pursue an investigation. The teacher thus becomes a question asker, not the one who is answering the question/s.
Teachers who are masters of guided induction inquiry state that they spend their time interacting with the students but provide very
few answers (Phillips & German, 2002).

What kinds of questions should a teacher ask?

The following list show some questions that the teacher can pose in the class to have a more inquiry-oriented classroom
environment (based on Orlich & Migaki, 1981). Again, note that these prompting questions help the students to examine all kinds of
interrelationships-one of the desired goals of inquiry teaching and constructivism.

Question Stems: Dynamic Subjects

What is happening?
What has happened?
What do you how this happen?
What caused this happen?
What took place before happened?
Where have you seen something like this happen?
When seen something like this happen?
How can you make this happen?
How can you do this compare with what you saw or did?
How can you do this more easily?
How can you do this quickly?
Question Stems: Static Subjects
What kind of object is it/
What is it called?
Where is it found?
What does it look like?
Have you ever seen anything like it? Where? When?
How it is like other things?
How can recognize or identify it?
How did it get name?
What can you do with it?
What is made of?
How was it made?
What is its purpose?
How does it work or operate?
What other names does it have?
How is it different from other things?
Cooperative Learning

What is Cooperative Learning?

Cooperative learning is one of the most sought and studied teaching strategies nowadays became of its versatility and
effectiveness. There are various types of this strategy, depending on the learning outcomes and the types of learners. Cooperation is
an act of working together to full shared goals. Therefore, cooperative learning is an instructional strategy in which the learners
work together in small groups to help one another achieve a common learning goal. It is founded on the principle that the learners
can achieve more by working collaboratively than by working alone or by passively receiving information from a teacher. It believes
that the learner's age and ability do not really hinder the success of this approach (Killen, 2009)

Some teachers claim that they are employing cooperative learning when they have learners working in groups. On the other
hand, Johnson et al. (1993) believed that most group works are not cooperative learning. Slavin (1983, 1990, 1995) and Johnson and
Johnson (1989, 1994) set the foundation of cooperative learning. They proposed that there are two important components of all
cooperative leaning methods: a cooperative task (which is a feature of most group work) and a cooperative incentive structure
(which is unique to cooperative learning)

The study of Johnson and Johnson (1994) presented the five basic elements of small group work to be as cooperative one
(cited in Killen, 2009)

1.There must be positive interdependence,

The learners must work as a coordinated group to achieve specific learning goals. To do so each student must be confident
that he or she is responsible for the learning success of other members of the group. Cooperative relationship becomes important
because each member believes that they cannot be successful unless other members are also successful in achieving the group
goals.
2) There must be an ongoing direct interaction in which the students help one another to learn.
They must discuss the task, decide how to approach it, exchange ideas, and explain to each member how the group can
achieve the learning outcomes. It is not enough that tasks are delegated. Each member should know how the group is going.

3) There must be individual accountability

All the members are accountable for each other's success or failure. They should all work hard to ensure that each member
of the group performs the assigned tasks and achieves the learning outcomes of the given activity

4) The learners must use appropriate interpersonal skills

 Each member should be able to develop the following skills: attentive listening questioning to clarify ideas, negotiating, and
constructively resolving differences. With all these skills, interactions will become meaningful and productive.

5) The participants become reflective learners as they analyze the outcomes they achieve and how well the group functions.

Why Does It Work?

Cooperative learning is being used worldwide for three primary reasons it is clearly based on theory. it has been proven by
various research works, and it has been operationalized into clear procedures that educators can use.

The students are encouraged to work collaboratively in order for them to be more successful academically than when they are
working alone (Stahl, 1997). A good number of researchers also believe that this is possible (Hattie, 2009)

On the contrary, according to Abrami and Chambers (1996:71) no matter what teaching strategy is used, "student learning
is not possible if the students lack interest or if they do not have a reason for learning. There are actually three possible motives for
student engagement and learning as educators use cooperative learning: outcome motives, means motives, and interpersonal
motives (Killen, 2009) Outcome motives encourage group learning through rewards, recognition, and goal achievement. Means
motives encourage group learning through intrinsic interest in the task, task novelty, and task structure. Lastly, interpersonal
motives encourage group learning through peer support, a desire to help others, and the need to belong to a group.

Another important thing to consider in using cooperative learning as a strategy is a good atmosphere within each of the
group. The members should be comfortable working with one an other for them to be motivated to make the individual effort that is
necessary for group success (Michaelson Jones & Watson, 1993). The members are not just performers but supporters of their
groupmates. They exert extra effort whenever they feel valued.

Most proponents of cooperative learning emphasize that this approach is effective in promoting academic learning and
positive peer interactions and relationships. It is the teacher's task to create a learning environment that will make all these
expectations become real.

Some Advantages of Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning a very versatile, and it can be used in all subject areas at all levels of education. It is not required that
the teacher will always employ it in class. The teacher needs to identify the best opportunity to apply it.

This strategy is effective in helping the students achieve a wide range of academic and social outcomes, including enhanced
achievement, improved self esteem, positive interpersonal relationship with other students, improved time management skills, and
positive attitudes toward school. Many of these outcomes can be achieved concurrently, rather than being developed in isolation. It
is particularly useful for the following reasons:

Having the students work together results in more learning than when the students work alone, competitively, or
individually (Johnson & Johnson, 1986). The students will also like school better, will the one better, and will learn more effective
social skills when cooperative learning is used.

It teaches the students to be less reliant on the teacher and more reliant on their own ability to think, to seek information
from other sources, and to learn from other students. They become empowered to take greater responsibility for their own learning
and for the learning of others (Drake & Mucci, 1993)
Cooperative learning helps the students learn to respect one another's strengths and limitations and to accept these differences.
This is very important in culturally diverse classrooms and in classrooms that include students with disabilities.

It helps the students understand that different points of view need not be divisive but they can be a positive aspect of
developing an understanding of a subject.
It can boost the students' confidence and self esteem because it allows all the students (not just the high achievers) to experience
learning success.

It can change the students' views about learning. It helps them to move from seeing learning as individual memorization of
facts to seeing it as a collective construction of understanding.
It emphasizes democratic thought and practice as a desirable way for people to interact (whatever the focus of their interaction).

It is appropriate to use when the students are engaged to large problem-solving tasks and research projects in which the
task is heavy for one person and time is limited or where more than one person is needed to manipulate equipment, perform the
experiment, collect and analyze data.

It ensures that all the students are socially integrated into networks of positive peer relationships. This helps the students to
become skilled in constructive conflict resolution, and this can reduce antisocial behavior like bullying (Johnson et al. 2008).

These benefits do not occur rapidly. The students can develop all these positive attributes if they have been engaged
successfully in cooperative learning for four or more weeks.

Most studies looked at the advantages to the students; few research identified its benefits to the study of Garvie (1994)
showed that teachers who employed cooperative learning are more enthusiastic than those who do not use it. Also, Shachar and
Shmuelevitz (1997:65) found that teachers who used cooperative learning in their classrooms expressed a significantly greater
degree of efficacy in promoting the learning of slow students compared with teachers who did not employ cooperative learning in
their classrooms at all.
Consequently, Killen (2009) suggested these considerations when using cooperative learning:

Use learning if: Do not use cooperative learning if:

You want to encourage the learners to develop their social skills
while learning academic content.
You want the students to use their prior Knowledge as a
foundation for examining issues in depth.
You want the students to explore issues from multiple
perspectives.
You want the students to develop their ability to learn
collaboratively
The learning task is too big for individual students to undertake
The students do not have the basic skills required for
collaboration and teamwork
The students lack the prior knowledge to guide their
collaborative learning.
There is insufficient time for the students to collaboratively
investigate. discuss, and think about the things you want them
to learn.

II. How to Use Cooperative Learning as a Strategy in Class?

Teacher's Preparation

The teacher's task is to get the students to work as a team, exchange ideas, think critically and analytically, and help one
another to learn. It is vital that the teacher can create a learning environment that promotes purposeful interaction, positive
interdependence, individual accountability, and appropriate use of interpersonal skills (Topping, 2006).
The teacher should also not forget the two major considerations: student motivation and the learning process the students will
utilize. The students can work well if they are properly motivated and they have a clear process to follow.

Geneally, the teacher needs to prepare the following (Killen, 2009) .

Give the students guidance and practice in helping one another to learn.
Specify clearly what outcomes you want the learners to achieve .
Decide what content (issues, problems, theories) the students will focus on as they try to achieve the outcomes.
Select what you think will be the most appropriate form of cooperative learning to use.
Prepare the materials.
Decide how to form the groups.
Explain to the students in detail how the cooperative learning sessions will operate, what you expect from them, how you will assist
them, and how they will be assessed.
Develop a system of recognizing and rewarding the learning of individual students as well as the achievement of the groups.
Prepare appropriate assessment instruments so that the students will be able to demonstrate their mastery and retention of
academic content and skills after the cooperative groups have completed their work.
Develop a system for keeping records of the group and individual achievements of the students and for publicly acknowledging the
achievements of the g group.
Plan a period of reflection so that after the groups have completed their tasks and received the feedback, the students can analyze
their achievements and their group process.
Implementing Cooperative Learning
The teacher is expected to plan, manage, and monitor the learning environment so that the students can maximize learning together
as a team.
After doing the suggested steps for preparation, the teacher can proceed with the following (Killen, 2009) .
Assign the students in groups. It makes the students more alert to the instructions to be given to them.
Explain clearly the outcomes that the students are to achieve and provide clear directions about the academic tasks that each group
will undertake.
Explain how the learning of individual students will be assessed.
Remind the students of your expectations from them (particularly in relation to helping one another learn) and of the cooperative
goal structure (the rewards for learning).
Provide the students with resources if necessary.
Remind the students how long they have for the cooperative learning and get them started.
Move around, visit each group to provide assistance, and monitor the activities and learning of the students to make notes of
matters that will need to be dealt with once the group activities have finished.
Bring the lesson to logical conclusion.
Evaluate the student achievement and help them assess how well they collaborated with one another.

III. Sample Lesson Plan

Topic: Weather Pattems in the Philippines

Grade Level: Grade 6

Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1. describe the different seasons the Philippines and
2. discuss appropriate activities for specific seasons of the Philippines
ENGAGE
Ask the students about their prior knowledge/experience of different seasons in the Philippines. EXPLORE
Show a video clip or a news coverage about a recent typhoon. Instruct the students to list down their observations.
EXPLAIN
Discuss the different seasons in the Philippines and appropriate activities for the seasons. Show video clips.
ELABORATE
Divide the class in groups of 5-6 members. Ask them to collaboratively develop a proposal on mitigating damages brought about
by typhoons across different areas of the country as if they are policymakers, lawmakers, administrators, or leaders. They should be
able to consider different aspects such as safety, livelihood, and health of the citizens.
EVALUATE
Give each group at least 5 minutes to share their proposal in class. Use rubric to assess the students. Give your comments and
suggestions regarding their output.

Strategy 5-Using Research as a Teaching Strategy

What is Research?

The word research has its roots in the old French word "recherche, meaning to investigate thoroughly Books on educational
research often go a little further and define research as, Seeking through methodical processes to add to one's own body of
knowledge and, hopefully, to that of the by the discovery of non trivial facts and insights" (Howard & Sharp, 1983). This definition
conveys the idea that research has two important components (Killen, 2009)

1. inquiry that is carried out systematically and purposefully

2. inquiry that focuses on revealing some new knowledge.

We can note, then, that there are several very important steps in any research. First, there must be a clear purpose-we
must formulate a question that we will answer Second, there must be a detailed plan for trying to answer that question so that the
research will be systematic. Third, data must be gathered and analyzed in an attempt to answer the question so that new knowledge
can be revealed Finally, some conclusions must be reached-either to answer the original question or to explain why we could not
find an answer. To use student research as a teaching strategy, you have to help the students understand and work through each of
these stages so that they learn how to investigate, experiment, relate information, and draw logical conclusions.

There are different approaches to research, and these are used relatively to the field of specialization of the teacher In
general, there are three approaches to research that are useful for the teachers and the students (Killen, 2009)

1.Research based on finding, interpreting, and using information that has been produced by someone else.

For example, a research that located historical accounts of the Boer War (eg, some written by Boers, some by English soldiers, and
some by Australian soldiers) and compared them would be a research that used existing information even though that information
might be re-interpreted to provide a new perspective.

2. Research based on gathering, interpreting, and using information that did not exist before the research was conducted.

This could be exemplified by a research that involved interviewing Australians who had served in the Gull War and drawing
conclusions about the impact of the war on their lives would be generating new data.
3 Research based on some form of experimentation.
For instance, a research that investigated the effects of applying different amounts and types of fertilizer to roses to see
how it influenced their blooms.
All research should set out to answer one or more research questions the systematic attempt to answer a research question
that changes an activity" or "project into research. When student research is used as a teaching strategy, the research questions
should focus on important issues to which the students can relate, but which the students do not fully understand (otherwise there
is no point of doing research) Sometimes a useful way to get the students to focus on an important issue is to have them develop
their own research questions.
Furthermore, teaching the students on how to do research is necessary, but not sufficient, in helping them learn about the
subject through research. Whenever you use this strategy, you must emphasize to the students that the purpose of the research is
for them to gain some specific knowledge. Often, you will not want to tell them exactly what the knowledge is, because discovering
it will be the focus of their research. However, they need to understand that they are not just doing an exercise; they are engaged in
a search to deepen their understanding

When and Why Should Research Be Used as a Teaching Strategy?

A prerequisite for using this strategy is that your learners must be capable of working effectively in groups or individually. If
they can work in groups, you can use this strategy in conjunction with group work, cooperative learning, or problem solving. The
following are the advantages of using student research as a teaching strategy according to Killen (2009).

>Research encourages the learners to ask questions, to investigate, to discover, and to create answers for themselves, rather than
waiting for someone else to provide the answers for them-it helps them to be more independent learners who believe they are
capable of understanding complex issues and of discovering important new knowledge themselves.

> Research can enable learners to develop a deeper level of understanding of the subject in comparison with using teaching
strategies such as direct instruction or discussion-it encourage them to strive for more than superficial learning
>Research helps the learners to progress from what they already understand to what they need to understand-deliberately building
on their existing knowledge. It encourages them to be metacognitive.

>Research can challenge, engage, and extend all the learners, not just the more capable learners.

> Research encourages the learners to be skeptical about ideas that others present as fact. It encourages the learners to view
knowledge as problematic to appreciate that knowledge in the area they are studying limited, and to recognize that there are still
unresolved problems unanswered questions.

> Research encourages critical thinking and reflection, both of which are extremely important in the context of the increasingly
extensive amounts of information that are available (especially from the Internet) without having passed through any appraisal,
censorship, or review process.

>Research can provide a meaningful content for the learners to use and develop their communication skills. It can help the learners
develop their reading skills, note-taking skills, writing skills, and oral communication skills, particularly if they are required to discuss
their work, present their findings, and propose of s based on their research.

>Research can help the learners develop their organizational and time management skills.

>Research can be a fun and motivating way to learn, particularly for the gifted learners.

>Research can give the learners experience working in the way professionals work for example, it can help children to become young
scientists (Heckman et al, 1994).

>Research can help the learners understand the essential nature of a field of study. For example, it can help them understand that
science is a process of creating laws, models, and theories that enable one to predict, explain, and control the behavior of the world"
(White & Frederiksen, 2000) or that mathematics is more about the study of patterns and relationships than it is about numbers and
calculations.

>Research that requires the students to think in different and deeper ways can help them understand and remember important
ideas because the information they are grappling with is embedded in a meaningful context.

>Research can teach the learners on how to make use of the sources of information that are available in their local community.

>Research can be an effective way of getting the parents involved in their child's education. This can start with simple things such as
having the students interview their parents on a designated top and then sharing the data so that the class can analyze the pooled
data to answer a research question.

>Research provides the teachers with an opportunity to stand back and observe the learners, to analyze the ways in which they
interact with one another, and to reflect on their learning styles. With this new knowledge, the teachers' primary role should be to
help the students learn how to think, rather than teaching them how to remember.

>Research projects provide an ideal opportunity for you to help the learners develop their computing skills and their familiarity with
modern technologies such as the Internet. In turn, these technologies provide very useful tools to assist the learners with their
research.

Student research is not always appropriate in all occasions. There are some limitations to this strategy. The table below shows the
advantages and limitations of student research as a teaching strategy.

Use student research if: Do not use student research if:

The outcomes you want the students to achieve are readily The students lack the basic skills to work independently or in
related to issues beyond the classroom small groups
The outcomes you want the students to achieve are readily The students have very poor literacy skills.
related to issues beyond the classroom
. The learners have sufficiently high prior knowledge to guide The students do not have access to the equipment or
their own learning. information they need to produce worthwhile data from their
research.
The students are self-motivated and can learn with minimal You cannot allow the students sufficient time to complete the
assistance. research task.
You want to encourage the students to take a deep approach to
learning.
You want the students to learn how to enjoy learning
You want to encourage the students to be independent learners.
. You want learning to be driven by the students' curiosity

How to Use Research as a Teaching Strategy?

Research is very much a student-centered approach to learning, but it is not something that you should expect your
students to do totally independently. It will not be sufficient to simply give the students a research question and leave them to their
own devices to find the answers. Instead, you will have to plan each phase of the research carefully and prepare your students by
making sure that they have all the prerequisite skills or that the research project is structured in such a way that the students will
develop these skills as they work through the research.

You have to plan carefully for each of these things. You might proceed as follows:

> Decide exactly what you want the students to learn. You should have clear learning outcomes.

> Develop suitable research question for a set of question) that will be the focus of the student research activities and that will help
them achieve the desired learning outcomes.

> Identify what prior knowledge and skills the students will need in order to conduct their research. If necessary, teach that prior
knowledge. This may involve teaching for research (developing the students understanding of the subject) and teaching about
research (developing the students understanding of how to do research).

> Identify a number of strategies that the students might use they are to be successful in their research and be prepared to
recognize and encourage the students who use these approaches.

> Plan the lesson in which you will introduce the students to the research exercise. Decide how you will explain what you want the
students to learn and what you expect from them during their research.

> Plan how you will monitor the students progress. This should involve at least being able to identify the parts of the research
exercise that are likely to cause the most difficulties for the students, decide what these difficulties might be, and develop some
strategies for minimizing these difficulties.

> Make sure that you have arranged for the students to get appropriate access to equipment, documents, or people so that they can
gather the data necessary for their research.

> Plan how you will assess what the students learn from the research.

> Plan how you will evaluate the research activity.

It is also important that you prepare the students for their research. You can consider these guidelines:

> Explain carefully to the students why you are using this teaching strategy and what/how you expect they will learn from it.

> Spell out your expectations, and check that the students understand such things as when they will be doing the research, how
much time it will take, what sort of things they will be doing. what type of product you expect them to produce, how you will assess
their learning, whether you expect them to work in teams or individually, and what you will be doing while they are engaged in their
research.

> Ensure that the students have the necessary communication and social skills to work effectively together.

Get the students enthusiastic about the prospect of doing something worthwhile. As much as possible, involve the students in the
planning process so that they feel that they are doing something they want to do and that they consider meaningful. If possible,
motivate the by showing them research that has been done by your previous students or students from other batches in the
campus.

The students to work through eight distinct phases in their research activity. They will have to:

1.clarify the purpose of the research so that they understand exactly why they are doing the research and what outcomes they are
supposed to achieve.

2. develop their research questions.

3.develop research strategy.

4.filter, organize, analyze, and evaluate the information or data.

5.locate information or gather data that will be used to answer the research questions.

6.develop answer the research question.

7.report the result of their research in an appropriate way.

8.evaluate the effectiveness of their research strategies, including the way their results were presented, so that they are better
prepared for their next research project.
To help the students do these things, you will have to provide carefully structured learning environment particularly if your students
have not had much experience with this learning strategy. The minimum guidance you will need to give students if you want them to
learn through research is:

> A well-defined and realistic issue or problem to be investigated.

> Assistance with developing and/or refining their research questions.

> Suggestions about how they might get started. Teach them how to delegate tasks for each member of the group.

> Assistance with developing a research plan.

> A clear timeframe for the research. Set deadlines by which key parts of the research must be completed.

> Some self-checking guidelines so that they can monitor their progress.

> Guidance on data gathering and data analysis.

> Suggestions about the presentation the research findings. Insist that the students develop their research report as they gather
information and interpret it, rather than leaving it all until their research is complete.

> Guidelines about participation and collaboration so that they can effectively exchange information through reading, writing,
speaking and/or listening.

> Details like a rubric to show the students how their learning will be assessed.

Structuring Learning Experience Students

When using student research as teaching strategy, you will need to give your students clear information about what are
they required to do and what your expectations are. If the students are working in groups, you could give them a handout similar to
the following:

Guidelines for Students Research

Learning outcomes: After completing this research project, each member of your team should be able to

The research question that will be trying to answer is:

You will be working is groups of ______________ for the next ___________________ period/days/weeks. Use the following
guidelines to help you work through your research project.

1.Discuss the research question and make sure that everyone in your group understands what the research question means.
2.Make a list of the things that you think you will need to find out or do in order to answer the research question. Try to express
these ideas as questions.

3.Arrange the list in order from the first thing you will do to the last thing you will do. Make a brief note about how, where, and
when you will do each of the things on your list. Don’t forget what different members of your group can be working on different
parts of the problem at the same time.

4.Decide which member of the group will be responsible for each item on your list.

5. Decide how will you present the result of your research.

6. Decide how will you present the result of the research.

7. Start gathering the information you need to answer the questions.

8. Share the information that you gather with other members of your group so that everyone is satisfied that the information you
have gathered is what the group needs.

9. Keep a simple record to show the progress your group has made.

10. Organize and/or analyze the information you gather so that you can answer the research question.

11. Prepare a report of the results of your research.

12. Evaluate the research efforts of your group by considering how will you were able to answer the research question and how well
the group worked as a team. Make a list of the things that you would do differently next time you are working on a research project.
Sample Lesson Plan
Topic: Forces That Affect Changes on the Earth's Surface
a.Earthquakes
b. Volcanic Eruption

Grade Level: Grade 6

Learning Competencies

The learners should be able to:

1. describe the changes on the Earth's surface as a result of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and
2. enumerate what to do before, during, and after earthquake and volcanic eruptions

ENGAGE
Give trivia (eg, the Big One), research updates, or news about recent earthquake or volcanic eruption in the country.

EXPLORE
Discuss the entire chosen research article about an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Explain the parts of the research and their
contents. Ask for the students' views and comments.

EXPLAIN
Provide more examples and explanations of interesting and significant research articles especially in physics. Motivate and
encourage them that they can also do research and they can contribute to the scientific community. Remind them that their age
level is not a hindrance for research, but they can also prepare simple researches that can be significant and used as future reference
of other researchers.

ELABORATE
Divide the class in groups of three or four. Using the guidelines presented previously, let each group develop a simple research
related to their previous lessons in physics or any topic of their interest. Remind them that their research questions should be
original and relevant to the society.

EVALUATE
Devote one or two meetings for the presentation of research output. Invite panel members to help you judge their research.
Use a rubric to evaluate their presentation skills.

Using Case Study as a Teaching Strategy

What is a Case Study?

The use of case study is also called as the case method of teaching or case based pedagogy (Kallen, 2009), and it has three
major components: the case itself, the students' preparation for engaging with and discussing the case, and the classroom
discussion. This process of case study requires that the students be given access to the case in advance so that they can (individually
or in groups) prepare for a detailed whole class discussion.
A case is a story with a (hidden) message-a narrative that describes an actual, or realistic situation in which an individual or
a group has to make a decision or solve a problem. Most often, the stories are set in the past and focus on real people or real events,
but they may be set in the present and they can describe fictitious things.
It can be useful to categorize cases in terms of their completeness and openness and in terms of the action required from
the students

1.Complete
It is a case that describes fully the situation and its real-life conclusion

2. Incomplete
It refers to a case that explains real events up to a point but does not include the real outcome of these events

3. Open
It is a case that may have many possible solutions or actions that could be recommended

4. Closed
A case that has a single best response or solution.

If you want to test the students' understanding of well-defined facts and principles, you can probably use a closed case
study, If you want the students to explore many possibilities and debate their merits, you will structure the case study as an open
ended one.

When we consider what you might expect the students to do with case study materials (the action required), there are two
basic possibilities. The first is to require the students to analyze the case. describe aspects of it, and possibly debate the merits of the
action taken by the people in the case. This descriptive/analytic approach is probably best used with complete case studies. An
alternative is to require the students to go beyond analysis and suggest solutions or courses of action. For this, you need a case study
that presents some type of dilemma (so it will be incomplete) for which there is no single correct answer,

Thinking about case studies in these different ways will help you select or develop case studies that best match the
outcomes you want the students to achieve. Whichever approach you take, the case study will engage the students in a collective
analysis of a slice of reality with a common purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of the issues involved. Because the case is
describing a real or realistic situation, it will not have all the relevant information set out in clear, logical steps. Nor will it necessarily
contain all the information that the students need to formulate their arguments. Rather, it will reflect the complexities, ambiguities,
and uncertainties of real situations. The case study will not provide an analysis of the situation it describes-this analysis is left to the
students. The case study will provide both intellectual and emotional exercise for the students, forcing them to engage with complex
problems and make critical decisions-thus preparing them for the realities they will face after their formal education.
Because case studies require the learners to seek feasible ways of resolving contextualized realistic issues, they do not
involve the mechanical application of theory designed to produce a sterile textbook answer to a contrived and simplified problem.
Rather, they take advantage of the idea that real-life significant problems have no correct answer, just ranges of possible answers.
They also help the students to see that they can simultaneously develop their understanding of theory and their problem-solving
skills while struggling with realistic problems (Carlson, 1999).

When and Why Should Case Study be Used as a Teaching Strategy?

The case method of teaching can provide a very "natural" way of helping the students to learn by "exploiting the basic
human capacity to learn from stories" (Hagel & Zulian, 1996). Cases offer the students opportunities to grapple with issues,
problems, dilemmas, and puzzles in ways that are engaging, challenging, and productive in a reasonably safe but not entirely risk-
free environment (Boehrer, 1994).

Cases encourage the students to reach a deeper understanding of the concepts and issues than they would from just
reading or listening to a lecture (Volpe, 2002). They help the students to appreciate the limited extent to which their current
theoretical understandings enable them to resolve ill-defined problems and provide credible explanations of real situations.

Case studies encourage the learners to take responsibility for their own learning and to see the benefits of thinking about
theoretical issues before they are discussed in class.

Cases narratives can portray situations and dilemmas as they evolve over time, thus allowing the students to appreciate the
importance of time as a contextual factor in real problem solving (Koballa & Tippins, 2000).

Case studies transform the student's role from “a passive recipient of information to an intellectual detective (Fratantuono
1994) This helps the students to develop their metacognitive skills (awareness and control of their thinking and leaning process) The
case method also provides at least two opportunities for the teacher to deepen their understanding it: often results in the teacher
encountering fresh perspective on old problems because the students suggest things the teacher had not thought of, and can give
the teacher a chance to test class solutions on new problems (Bruner, 2001). Deeper understanding is also likely to be a product of
the teacher deliberately trying to develop fresh ways of covering well-trodden ground.

On the other hand, using case study may not be suitable for all situations. It also has some limitations. The table below
presents a summary of both the advantages and limitations of using case study as a strategy in class (Killen, 2009).

Use case study if: Do not use case study if:

The outcomes you want the students to achieve are readily
related to issues beyond the classroom.
The learners have sufficient prior knowledge to guide their
analysis of complex materials.
The students are self-motivated and can learn with minimal
assistance.
You want to build the students confidence by showing the value
of their individual solutions to problems.
You want to encourage the students to be independent learners.
You want to foster critical thinking
The students lack the basic skills to work independently or in
small groups.
The students have very poor literacy skills.
You cannot allow the students sufficient time to analyze the case
materials.
The students lack background knowledge necessary for
interpreting and resolving the case.

How to Use Case Study as a Teaching Strategy?

One of the first decisions you have to make is whether you will use a case study to support what the students are learning
in other ways (such as through direct instruction) or whether it will be the prime vehicle for learning. In the first instance, you will
use the case to illustrate typical issues or dilemmas in the same way that you might use less detailed examples to illustrate
application of theory. The cases you use will need to be relatively short and straightforward. Volpe (2002) described the use of
newspaper articles in this way as structured introduction using more complex case studies. If you want the case study be the vehicle
for the students learning, then you will have to involve them in the analysis of more substantial case studies.
Most approaches to the case method of teaching are based on class discussions. However, it is possible to replace the
discussion with other forms interaction, such debates, mock and research teams (Herreid, 1994).

There are main steps when case study that:

>Decide why and when to use a case study,

>Developing or selecting.
>Guiding the students in their preparation for discussion; and
>Preparing yourself for the classroom discussion.

Deciding to use a case study

As with all other teaching strategies, the effective use of case studies requires you to have particular purpose in mind when
you select this strategy-your choice of strategy should not be made before you are absolutely clear about what you want the
students to learn and why you want them to learn it. Your purpose might be to expose the students to complex real-world
situations, to develop their ability to work in teams when solving problems, or to help them make connections between separate
disciplines. Whatever it is, your purpose must clear both the students. Hence, the development and selection of cases, and the
application of the strategy, must outcomes-driven. This also means that the case study must be considered carefully so the learners
will see how it is helping them develop their knowledge, understanding, and skills (Killen, 2009).
There two main reasons for using case studies: to motivate students to learn theory and to illustrate the application of
theory. If you are using a case to motivate the students to learn theory, basic steps are:

If you are using a case study to illustrate the application of theory in real-world contexts, the basic steps are:

Developing or Selecting the Case

 In some field of study, there are large number of formal case studies available off the shelf. Other major sources of
materials that can be used for cases are journals, newspapers, magazines, novels, and DVD’s. in some instances, it is best to write
your own case from scratch. This may be a time-consuming exercise, but it allows you to incorporate some of your own experiences
into the case study.

Whether you use cases developed by someone else or develop your own, you have to ensure that the case meets your
needs better than an alternative teaching strategy-otherwise, it will be a poor use of time. According to Killen (2009), whether you
are selecting er developing a case, it is important to consider the following criteria:

1.Outcomes focus

The case must make a positive contribution to the students' achievement of the course outcomes. It must lead them into
the required depth of analysis and into the types of thinking that are reflected in the outcomes. The case must be an integral part of
the course, not just an interesting discussion.

2. Interest

The case must be seen as relevant and interesting by the learners. This usually means that the case tells a story that the
readers can relate to their own experiences or to situations that they believe they might face. It also helps if the case contains some
controversy or conflict-an issue that the students might reasonably be expected to disagree. Interest is also influenced by the style in
which the case is written (Heneid, 2002).

3.Recency

Current problems will probably be more engaging for the students than historical cases will. Herreid (1997) suggests that
the best cases address issues that are not more than five years old.

4. Rigor
The case must lead the students to a detailed situational analysis and a deep understanding of the context of the case, to an
appreciation of the open-endedness of the case issues and to their interrelatedness, and to an examination of the issues from
multiple perspectives. The case should address issues that require collaborative discussions.

5. Decision focus

The case should lead the students (first individually and then as a group) to make decisions about some important issue.

6. Generality

Each case will be unique, but each case should lead the students to some conclusions that are generalizable to other
broader contexts.

7. Realism

Real problems rarely come clearly defined and neatly packaged like typical textbook exercises; they are more likely to be
complex and ill-defined. Cases need to reflect this. The case should make it possible for the students to be drawn into the drama of
difficult real-world situations and decisions and for the teacher to be able to pose questions that will maximize the students'
understanding of these issues

8. Length

The case should be long enough to raise important issues, supply essential information and engage the learners. Cases that
are too long or that contain too much fine detail may the students from the key issues.

9. Readability

The information in the case must be accessible to the learners. It should be written in appropriate language and style.

The Preparation for the Classroom Discussion

According to Volpe (2002), “In general, the more you do, the more the students will do. By showing you comment to the
students, by being well prepared and by showing concern for the students, you will be able to extract a similar level of commitment
from the students… Students will generally prepare up to but not beyond the standards of preparation of the instructor.”

The first step in your preparation must be to review the outcomes you want the learners to achieve. The next step in your
preparation should be a detailed analysis of the case. You must thoroughly understand all the issues and the web of relationships
between them. You must take the time to clarify your understanding of the theoretical basis for all possible interpretations of these
issues and be able to justify the conclusions you would reach. Although you will not want to impose your point of view on the
students, you must be prepared to share your view with them.
 An important part of your preparation will be the development of a set of questions to focus the class discussion. If the
case contains substantial issues and a degree of controversy or dilemma, you will probably need only four or five key questions.
These questions should help the students define important aspects of the problems, generate alternatives, reach a considered
position, and reflect on the broader issues raised by the case. Try to anticipate how the students might react to the case and to the
questions that you will use to guide the discussion.

Guiding the Classroom Discussion

The general principles for effective case discussions are the same as those for any other whole-class discussion: you have to
initiate the discussion, keep the students focused on the main issues, challenge the students to think deeply, help the students
resolve differences, remind the students of the outcomes they are trying to achieve, and bring the discussion to a logical conclusion.
There are several particular points to note when the discussion is based on a case study:

Introduction

The students will have prepared for the discussion by reading the case materials and trying to answer the focus questions,
so you do not have to spend a large amount of time setting the scene for the discussion. It is important to remind the students
briefly of how the case links to the main issues they are studying and where it is leading them.

Decision

This is not just sharing of ideas nor it is a process of the students presenting ideas for your approval. The students must be
deliberately involved in a joint effort to gain a deeper understanding of the issues embedded in the case. You might need to remind
the students of this point as they try to resolve the conflict or reach a decision. You need to emphasize that the analysis of the case is
a group task, and all the students should feel free to raise questions or express doubts.

You should listen carefully to all contributions and encourage the students to elaborate and to justify or clarify their
contributions when necessary. You may want to summarize the contributions by building up a mind map or flowchart on the board
but do not use the board to just passively record unrelated points.

In some cases, it will be appropriate to augment the class discussion with short role plays that enable the students to
engage more directly with the issues in the case.

Questioning

It is a very important skill of the teacher during discussion. You should ask open-ended questions to make the discussion
more interactive and interesting. Your questions should encourage the students to consider all the important issues in the case, but
they should not give the students the impression that you are trying to guide the discussion to your predetermined conclusion.

Your questions might serve any of the following purposes:

Clarification-Can you explain what you mean by that?

Elaboration-Can you expand on that idea?
Generalization-In what other situations might that principle apply? .
Structuring-What facts need to be considered before we focus on the emotional issues?
Comparison-How is that different from...?
Substantiation-How can we justify the assumption?
Linking-How do these two ideas relate to one another?
Engagement-What would you do in that situation?
Integration-What general principles might help us understand this situation?
Consensus-Why might some people agree with that idea?
Focus-How does that take us closer to a solution?

Use your questions sparingly so that your interventions are subtle and the discussion does not become a question and
answer session. Your questions should keep the discussion going, not dominate it.

Summarizing and Closure

Well prepared cases will be so realistic that they cannot be resolved completely in a single class discussion. However, you
still need to bring the discussion to a satisfying conclusion. You might provide the summary, or you might ask the students to do it-
either way, the summary should address both the issues in the case study and the process that were used to analyze it.

Make your comments as specific as possible so that the students will think about what worked and did not work in their
attempts to analyze the case. Your concluding comments should help the students to see that “the most important aspect of the
whole exercise is their ability to provide a structured approach to the problem” (Volpe, 2002). A good conclusion will typically
highlight points of agreement and unresolved issues, emphasize the need to interpret similar cases from a sound theoretical
perspectives, and help the students to see that many real world outcomes are determined by circumstance as much as by logic.
Ideally your closure should end the discussion but not end the students thinking about the issues.
II. Sample Lesson Plan

Topic: Weather Disturbances

1. 1.Types of weather disturbances
2.Effects of weather disturbances on living things and the environment

Grade Level: Grade 5

Learning Competencies

The learners should be able to:

1. observe the changes in the weather before, during, and after a typhoon,
2. describe the effects of a typhoon on the community, and
3. describe the effects of the winds, given a certain storm warning signal.

ENGAGE

Ask two to three students to share in class about their recent experience regarding typhoons Preferably choose the students
who had serious experience.

EXPLORE

Ask other students about the precautions and safety measures before, during, and after typhoon.

EXPLAIN

Discuss changes that are observed before, during, and after typhoon by showing pictures or videos Provide an interactive
discussion of the impacts of typhoon in the community as well as the effect of wind given the storm signals.

ELABORATE

Have the students gather news articles about recent typhoons. Have them examine the impact of these typhoons to
individuals, households, and communities.

EVALUATE

Let the students answer guide questions about the above-mentioned cases of damages brought by the typhoons. Grade the
students according to the accuracy and completeness of their ideas. Sample Guide Questions
1.What is the name of the typhoon?
2.What is its signal? Were there damages brought by it? Discuss briefly
3.Check on updates from weather bureaus and institutions. Were people informed of these typhoons?

Using Role-play as a Teaching Strategy

What is Role-playing?

Role-playing is an unrehearsed dramatization in which individuals improvise behaviors that illustrate acts expected from
people involved in defined situations. “In role playing activities, you present to your students a realistic or hypothetical situation and
a cast of characters. The students then improvise dialogue and actions to fit their views of the situation and the character they are
playing (Davis, 1993). In successful role playing, the learners assimilate information that is provided about their role and then act out
the assigned role in accordance with their interpretation of how their character would behave in the fictional situation. This type of
role play can easily be designed to help the students understand the feelings and perspectives of others by acting out situations in
which there is a conflict or dilemma. They provide an opportunity for them to become deeply involved in thinking about how they
would react in real-world situations.

Frequently, this type of role playing directly involves just a few students (the actors) and the majority of the class observes
and analyzes the interactions between the players. You can directly involve more students by using role play as a group activity (with
several groups role playing at the same time). This has the clear advantage of giving more students a chance to demonstrate how
they would perform in a role, but it can limit your chances of having all members of the class focus on specific issues that arise from
the role play.

A second form of role-play can be used to help the students develop specific skills, such as how to present themselves
effectively at an interview, how to introduce themselves to a stranger, etc. With this approach, you might have several students (or
all students) take turns at playing the role so that they can all practice their skills and receive feedback.

Another form of role playing requires the students to take on specific roles over a longer period of time, frequently in order
to experience what it might be like to work in a particular occupation.
 Palmes (1998) describes a fourth form of role play in which the students pretend to be “anything wither living or non
living”.

Whichever form of role-play is used, the teacher is responsible for planning, organizing facilitating and monitoring the role-
playing and for guiding the follow up discussions. In short, the teacher has to ensure that the role play is a learning experience, not
simply an activity.

Why and When Might Role Play Be Used as a Teaching Strategy?

Killen (2009) explained the advantages of role play. In general, role play can:

>Help create a learning environment in which the students are highly motivated and involved because of the realism and relevance
of the learning activities. This encourages them to look at the material they are leaning in a new light.

>Provide a clear focus for leaning by emphasizing the application of knowledge in real situations rather than just the accumulation of
knowledge for assessment purposes. This helps the students to consolidate these learning.

>Provide the students with opportunities to develop a range communication and social interaction skills. It can also give them
opportunities to express feelings and points of view that they might be unwilling to express in real situations.
>Give the students opportunities to deal with complex social, emotional, ethical, and moral issues in concrete ways in a safe
environment (Hughes, 1992, Eddings, 1992). The students can experiment and take risks in their interactions with others, which
encourages them to think critically and creatively. Through these experiences, they gain a better understanding of their own values
and attitudes (Saltz, 1994) and come to appreciate the consequences of their values-based actions (Downing 1994)

>Engage the students actively in learning, so that they appreciate the value of participation, rather than just hoping to learn by
absorption.

>Help the students understand the feelings and attitudes of others by experiencing situations, rather than just hearing or reading
about them. This helps them understand that there are causal relationships between people's behavior and the outcomes of events
(Drake & Corbin, 1993).

>Give the students practice in generalizing from a particular situation and appreciating that their biases and preconceptions will
influence their generalizations.

>Develop the students' self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-image.

>Encourage the students to take a deep approach to learning (Cope & Horan, 1996) and start to understand that complex problems
rarely have simple solutions.

>Enable the students to explore historical or contemporary situations in which there are conflicting emotions, different points of
view, biases, problems caused by differences in race, age, gender, religion, nationality or ethnic background, and so on. The students
become more aware of differences points view and their consequences and more sensitive to the feelings others

>Develop the students citizenship skills the successful and unsuccessful methods people use solve intergroup and interpersonal
problems.

>Give the students practice at taking action their own behalf and behalf others and real-world situations (Haberman, 1991).

>Provide students with valuable opportunities to use their experiences and imagination to “explore values and issues highly relevant
to own and culture, their language, and with stimulation and instant feedback from their peers" (Dracup, 2008)

Moreover, because kind learning experience involves the whole person-intellect, feelings, and bodily senses-it tends be
experienced more deeply and remembered (Brookfield, 1990). Role play that involves the students pretending to inanimate objects
is a particular useful strategy when are struggling to understand concepts that cannot be easily demonstrated in real situation-for
example, movement nutrients the body.

Despite the many advantages of using role-play as a teaching strategy in class, it also has limitations. The table that follows
shows summary of the advantages and limitations role-play

Use role-play if: Do not use role-play if:

The outcomes want the students to achieve are best The students lack the confidence and basic skills to take on roles.
demonstrated through some type performance.
The students have the confidence to perform in front of their Direct instruction will be more effective and less time-
peers. consuming.
You want to encourage the students to explore a range of ways The students who are observing lack the skills to analyze and
dealing with realistic situations. learn from the activities they are watching.
You want the students to learn how to enjoy learning.
You want to demonstrate the critical role of human decisions in
real situations.
To use role-play effectively, you will need to go through at least the following steps:

SAMPLE LESSON PLAN

Topic: Motion
Grade Level: grade 5

Learning Competencies

The learners should be able to:

1.desribe the motion of an object by tracing and measuring its change in position (distance travelled) over a period of time, and
2.use appropriate measuring tools and correct standard units.

ENGAGE

The teacher shares in class her experience of riding on a train. She observed that the train approaches, the velocity decreases,
and when it leaves the station, its velocity increases. She wondered what caused the change in velocity of the train.

EXPLORE

Divide the class into groups and let them perform this experiment on force, motion, and acceleration. This simple activity aims
to determine the relationship between force applied to an object, to observe the motion produced by the force, to discover how
mass affects the force required to move an object, and to detect how an increase in force affects the acceleration of an object. After
performing the experiment, they will explain their results and compare them with other groups .

The students will be using the following: 3 textbooks, looped string, hocked weights or weights plus S-hooks, triple beam
balance, and a stop watch.

First, find the mass of each textbook, then the students place the looped string inside the front cover of one book and place
the book 25 cm from the end of the table (book spine faces the edge of the table) with the loop string hanging over the table. The
students begin hanging weights from the end of string until the book begins to move and reaches the end of the table, (need to be
ready to stop the book before it falls off the table). The students then add up the weights hanging on the string and multiply by 0.
0098 N/g to calculate the force acting on the book.

Leaving the weights on the string, place the book back at its starting point on the table. This time when the students let go of
the book, they are to time how long it takes the book to reach the edge of the table. NOTE The students may have to give the
book(s) a tap to get them moving, depending on the books and surface used. To calculate acceleration, use the following formula:a-
2d/t2.

The students will repeat the procedure done with one book for two and three books.

EXPLAIN

The topic will be further explained through a role play Choose six students to act during the play. Assign another student to
manage the class while the role play is going on. The teacher will divide the class into groups and give them the following activity
sheet. They need to watch and listen attentively during the role play so they can answer the questions in the activity sheet.

ACTIVITY SHEET
1. Rate of change of velocity is.
2. The unit of acceleration is
3 Negative acceleration is
4 As the train approaches the station, its velocity decreases increases

The six students will have the following roles.

Student 1-Distance Student 3-Time Student 5-Velocity Student 2-Displacement Student 4-Speed Student 6-
Acceleration

PLAY

Distance and Displacement are actually related, they are brothers. They have a common friend named Time. Distance and Time
have a friend whom they call Speed. In another group, Velocity is the friend of Displacement and Time. The five met in a party. While
they are enjoying the party, Acceleration arrived.

SCRIPT

Acceleration: Hey, happy to see you all here.

Distance: Hey, how are you?
Acceleration: I'm fine. Hey, look! You and Displacement are looking almost the same. Are you related with each other?
Distance: Yes, he is my brother. Actually, he is the measure of the change of position of an object in a particular direction,
Acceleration: Oho.. that is you both have same unit, which is meter.
Displacement: Yes, actually we look almost the same, but we are different in calculation. However, in one situation we both have the
same reading. Can you guess it?
Acceleration: If an object travels from one place to another in a straight line, then Distance and Displacement will be the same, is
that right?
Distance: Yes, you are right. Meet our common friend, Time,
Acceleration: I know him. I am also his friend.
Displacement: Meet Velocity, a friend of mine, and Time.
Velocity: Hey, Acceleration.
Acceleration: Oho... So you are Displacement in unit time.
Velocity: Yes, and my unit is m/sec.
Distance: Also, I and Time have a friend named Speed. Meet him. Speed: Nice to meet you, Acceleration Acceleration: Oho... So you
are distance in unit time.
Speed: Yes, and my unit is m/sec.
Acceleration: So I think when Distance and Displacement look the same, Speed and Velocity will also look the same. (Speed and
Velocity smiles at each other.)
Speed: You get it. Actually, we are related to each other so we are close friends. Acceleration: Oho... But the truth is that I am also
related with you, isn't it true, Velocity?
Velocity: Yes, you are the rate of change of Velocity
Acceleration: Hehehe... And my unit is m/sec
Speed: What is this change of Velocity? I don't understand.
Velocity: That is final Velocity-Initial Velocity (Final Velocity minus or less Initial Velocity)
Distance: So there is a possibility that change of Velocity becomes negative?
Acceleration: Yes, as the Final Velocity is less than Initial Velocity, then I become "Negative Acceleration”. Displacement: What is
Negative Acceleration?
Acceleration: That time I was known as Retardation.
Speed: Is there any chance to see you both?
Acceleration: It's difficult, but there is one situation where you can see me and retardation simultaneously Displacement: In which
situation?
Acceleration: When a train approaches the station, Velocity decreases, and at that time I become Retardation. When the train
departs from the station, Velocity increases and I become Acceleration.
Speed: So your look changes according to the change that occurs in Velocity?
Acceleration: Yes.
Distance and Displacement: So, we are all related to each other in one way or another. We form a family don't we?
Acceleration: Yes, so our family is "MOTION"
All of them: Hey... We are all part of one family, that is "MOTION FAMILY"
-ROLE-PLAY ENDS

ELABORATE

The teacher will ask the rest of the students of their understanding of the six terms based on the character played by their
classmates. The students will give other instances/scenarios where motion is observed and measured. They will relate the
experiment to everyday, real-life experiences.

EVALUATE

The teacher can assess the learning of the students by giving some problems to be solved by the students

Gamification

What is Gamification?

Gamification is described as the process of applying game related principles-particularly those relating to user experience
and engagement-to nongame contexts such as education (David, 2016). It has five basic elements: points, badges, leaderboards,
rules, and levels. A gamified classroom uses any all of these five elements.

Gamification in Education

Gamification in education, or gamification in learning, operates under the assumption that the kind of engagement that
gamers experience with games can be translated to an educational context toward the goals of facilitating learning and influencing
the student behavior. Since gamers voluntarily spend countless hours playing games and solving, researchers and educators have
been exploring ways to harness video games' power for motivation and apply it to the classroom (David, 2016).

Elements of a Game

The goal of gamification is to motivate the learners by incorporating several game elements in designing instruction:
>Narrative
>Immediate feedback
>Fun
>”Scaffolded learning with challenges that increase
>Mastery (for example, in the form of leveling up) .
 >Progress indicators (for example, through points/badges/leaderboards, also called PBLs)
>Social connection
>Player control
>Rules and levels

A classroom that contains some or all of these elements can be considered a "gamified classroom Some educators use the
five basic elements, namely points, badges, leaderboards, rules, and levels (Tolentino & Roleda, 2016). The best combinations, the
ones that create sustained engagement, consider the unique needs of the learners and do more than just use points and levels to
motivate players. The most effective gamification systems make use of other elements such as narrative and connection with fellow
players/learners to really capture the learner's interest (David, 2016).

Benefits Gamification in Education

Gamification in education offers many possible benefits, including the following (David, 2016):
>The students feel ownership over their learning
>More fun in the classroom
>Learning becomes visible through progress indicators
>The students can explore different identities through different avatars/characters
>The students often are more comfortable in gaming environments

How to Use Gamification as a Teaching Strategy?

Before applying gamification in class, there are three important areas that we need to look at. These areas are influenced
greatly with the use of games or game-based activities (Lee & Hammer, 2011).

1.Coginitive

Games provide complex system of rules for the players to explore through active experimentation and discovery. More
broadly stated, games guide the players through the mastery process and keep them engaged with potentially difficult tasks (Koster,
2004). One critical game design technique is to deliver concrete challenges that are perfectly tailored to the player's skill level,
increasing the difficulty as the player's skill expands. Specific, moderately difficult, immediate goals are motivating for the learners
(Locke, 1991, Bandura, 1986), and these are precisely the sort that the games provide (Gee, 2008).

2.Emotional

Games invoke a range of powerful emotions, from curiosity to frustration to joy (Lazarro, 2004). Gamification offers a way
for the students to reframe failure. It gives them opportunity to try until they learn to understand and master the lesson and the
process. It actually creates an environment in which effort, not mastery, is rewarded. The students, in turn, can learn to see failure
as an opportunity to grow and become better, instead of becoming helpless, fearful, and anxious. The students learn to look at
failure as an important component of learning.

3.Social

Games allow players to try on new identities and roles, asking them to make in-game decisions from their new vantage
points (Squire, 2006; Gee, 2008). A well-designed gamification system can help players take on meaningful roles that are fruitful for
learning.

By making the development of a new identity playful, and by rewarding it appropriately, we can help the students think
differently about their potential in school and what school might mean for them.

Meanwhile, there are three main ways that gamification can be applied to a learning environment. These include adapting
grades, changing the classroom language, and modifying the structure of the class. The teacher may need to modify the classroom
setup and the grading system whenever games are utilized in the class.

According to Loayza (2019), there are 10 Best Educational Apps that use gamification for adults in 2019.

1.TEDEd-gamified educational app to create actionable video lessons

2.Khan Academy-gamified educational app to learn anything for free forever
3.Coursera- an online learning platform that provides universal access to the world's best education from top universities
4.Udemy-gamified educational app for user generated learning
5.Tinycards-gamified educational app for learning with flashcards
6.Blinkist-gamified educational app for reading nonfiction books in just 15 minutes
7.Memrise-gamified educational app to learn a language through locals.
8.SoloLearn-gamified educational app to learn how to code
9.Yousician-gamified educational app for learning an instrument
10.Duolingo-gamified educational app for learning a new language

On the other hand, it is not good enough to gamify school because it is the next fad or because we believe the students are
motivated by points. We must know what problems we are trying to fix, design systems that fix those specific problems, develop
ways of evaluating whether those fixes work, and sustain those fixes over time
Design Thinking

What is Design thinking?

Design thinking is a mind-set and an approach to learning, collaboration, and problem-solving. It is a structured framework
for identifying challenges, gathering, information, generating potential solutions, refining ideas, and testing solutions.

Design thinking allows us to believe in ourselves that we can make a difference and, brings out our creative and innovative
potentials that transform difficult challenges into opportunities for design.

This approach has four characteristics:

1.Human-centered
It starts from having a deep compassion and understanding of peoples’ needs.

2.Collaborative
Solving problems is a lot easier and faster with several wise minds. It benefits from various perspectives and insights.

3.Optimistic
It is an approach that believes in our potential to create a positive change in lives no matter what problems or difficulties
could be hindering the task. It had to the primary idea that design thinking is a worthy and enjoyable venture.

4 Experimental
It is an activity that gives room for mistakes and failure because from them, individuals learn and become better. It is
actually about learning by doing.
Consequently it is an approach that looks into new better, and creative way of improving our way of life and finding
solutions to the many problems of the society and people.

The Design Process

It is a structured approach for developing and applying ideas it has five phases that help people identify problems and
develop creative and appropriate solutions to such problems. The five phases include:

1.Discovery
2.Interpretation
3.Ideation
4.Experimentation
5.Evolution

How to Use Design Thinking as a Teaching Strategy?

Before starting the design process, one should have a specific and intentional problem to address that will be called a
design challenge. The challenge should be understandable and manageable, one that is not too big or too small, not too vague or too
simple. Some considerations when identifying design challenge are:

>List possible topics

>Frame the problem
>Keep it simple
>Sketch out end goals
>Define measures of success
>Establish constraints
>Write a brief

A design challenge is fundamental to every design process because it will drive the whole process from the start until its
completion. Creating the "how might we question to address is very essential. The question should be broad to accommodate
unexpected possibilities yet narrow to let the team focus.

Here are some examples of challenge that might inspire you and the team:

>How might we engage the students more deeply in reading?

>How might we create a curriculum that teaches the students about the brain and about who they are as learners?
>How might we design our classroom space to be student centered?
>How might we create a space for teacher collaboration?
>How might we build school-family partnerships?
>How might we adapt the school schedule to the learning rhythms of our students?
>How might we support a more well rested campus? How might we design our campus to serve our students and the community?
 After identifying a design challenge, start to plan your design project. Devote time for the project. Decide how much time
you are going to use for the entire design process. Moreover, prepare these three important components and aspects of the
process:

1.Team
Design process is a collaborative effort. Select those people whom you trust and can help you fulfill the goals of the project
Start small but invite variety, Choose people who have different insights and perspectives. Delegate specific roles to them. Give
room for both collaborative work and individual work. Sometimes team members prefer to work alone so they can deliver the best
result.

2.Spaces
Choose a specific area where the team can meet regularly and work together.

3.Materials
Prepare all the necessary materials and accessories for the project. Some of the common supplies include Post-it notes,
large Post-it pads, flipchart, markers, adhesives, blank and colored papers, scissors, and digital and/or video cameras.

Now let's expound on the five phases of design process. We can easily perform each phase if we know what they are for.

A.Discovery

During this initial stage, the individual or the team is open for new ideas and opportunities. It has three substages:

1.Understand the challenge

i) Review the challenge
(a) Collect thoughts
(b) Review constraints"
(c) Reframe challenge
(d) Create a visible reminder

ii)Share what you know

(a) Define what you don't know
(b) Build on your knowledge and fill in the gaps

iii) Build your team

(a) Share who you are
(b) Define your individual and team goals
(c) Agree on roles (d) Give feedback

iv) Define your audience

(a) List immediate contacts
(b) Think more broadly
(c) Build an overview
(d) Create a visible reminder

v) Refine your plan

(a) Sketch a calendar
(b) Form agreements
(c) Create a visual reminder

2. Prepare research

i) Identify sources of inspiration

(a) Imagine interesting people to meet
(b) Think of extremes
(c) Make a list of activities you want to do

ii) Select research participants

(a) Describe the people you want to meet
(b) Plan the interaction and logistics
(c) Invite participants
(d) Track your recruiting progress

iii) Build a question guide

(a) Identify topics
(b) Develop questions
(c) Organize your questions
(d) Create a question guide that is very readable
(e) Build tangible conversation starters
(f) Confirm your plans
 (g) Assign roles
(h) Prepare your equipment

iv) Prepare for fieldwork

(a) Establish trust with participants
(b) Get the most out of your interactions
(c) Know what to look for
(d) Capture what you see

3. Gather inspiration

i) Immerse yourself in context

(a) Plan your observations
(b) Explore and take notes
(c) Capture what you have seen
ii)Seek inspiration in analogous settings
(a) Think of analogies that connect with your challenge
(b) Make arrangements for your activities
(c) Absorb the experience

iii) Learn from experts

(a) Choose the participants
(b) Set up for a productive conversation

iv) Learn from users

(a) learn from individuals
(b) Learn from people's self-documentation
(c) Learn from groups
(d) Learn from peers observing peers

B. Interpretation During this stage, ideas are transformed into meaningful insights. The team finds meaning into every idea and
make them actionable. It involves filtering and sorting of ideas until a clear direction for the design is envisioned

1.Tell stories
i) Capture your learnings
ii) Share inspiring stories 2

2.Search for meaning

i)Find themes
ii)Make sense of findings
iii) Deline insights

3.Frame opportunities
2. I)Create a visual reminder
3. ii) Make insights actionable

C.Ideation

It means the process of generating ideas. More ideas are formed as the team brainstorms. Good preparation with a clear
set of rules encourages successful brainstorming

1.Generate ideas
i) Prepare for brainstorming
ii)Facilitate brainstorming
iii)Select promising ideas
iv) Sketch to think

2.Refine ideas
i) Do a reality check
ii) Describe your idea

D. Experimentation

It's the stage of making ideas come to life by creating prototypes. The ideas become tangible, they are shared with other
people. Suggestions from others are encouraged to improve and refine the prototype.

1.Make prototypes
Choose the form that best represents your idea. It could be a storyboard, diagram, story. advertisement, mock-up, model,
role-play, etc. You may not be able to get it right at first, but the best prototype is actually the one that gets better over time.
2.Get feedback
i) Identify sources of feedback
ii) Select feedback participants
iii) Build a question guide
iv) Facilitate feedback conversations
v) Capture feedback learnings
vi) Integrate feedback
vii) Identify what's needed

E. Evolution

Ideas and improve over time. This stage allows envisioning the future and planning for the next step and communicating
with people who can help in the fulfillment of the project.

1. Track Learning
i) Define success
(a) Consider people involved and trace indicators success
ii) Document
(a) Identify the signs change, share stories, discuss effects, celebrate achievements
2. Move
i) Plan next step
ii) Engage others
iii) Build a community

SAMPLE LESSON PLAN

Topic: Energy transformation in Simple Machine
Grade Level: Grade 6

Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1. manipulate simple machine to describe their characteristics and uses; and
2. demonstrate practical and safe uses of simple machines.

ENGAGE
Introduce the simple challenge to your students: “How can I separate this piece of paper into two pieces with straight edges?

"KWL chart-complete K and W

EXPLORE
Use available materials from the laboratory room or bring simple machines so that the students can explore levers, gears, pulley
systems, and inclined planes.

EXPLAIN
Discuss what is actually happening in the simple machines the students used during the Explore part. Encourage the students to
think about where force is being applied, where the load is, the motion that results from the force, and how the machine has
modified the force, that is, the mechanical advantage. The students can then use arrows to represent the direction and size of the
farce applied and the direction and speed of the resultant motion.

ELABORATE
Part 1: The teacher can show the class Honda Accord commercial (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-uyN9y0BEMqc) where
simple machines are used.

Part 2: Design challenge - Designing a cart

The students can design carts for a particular purpose, such as for moving quickly down a slope or travelling as far as possible in a
straight line across the floor. This can be an individual or group activity. depending on the class composition and their needs. Other
students can be asked to make a drawing of their design first. The task can be focused on how well the vehicle rolls down a ramp or
along the ground.

EVALUATE
Give each of the student or group time to present their output in the class. Use a rubric to assess their output.

Suggested Activities that Explore Earth Science

Description
With regard to teaching the Earth concept, educators have the illusion that providing some proof of the spherical shape of
Earth will convince the pupils about Earth's shape and, as a by-product will change their understanding of the "nature of cosmic
space. Such proofs, when given without considering the pupils' preconceptions and without confronting them explicitly, often do not
serve this purpose. They do not have the intended effect of causing the pupils to modify their belief about Earth's shape, and
needless to say, they do not influence the pupils notions of cosmic space. The notion of cosmic space requires direct and explicit
didactic treatment (Nussbaum 1989 190).
Earth science involves the study of Earth's composition, its layers, and the activity within the layers, oceans, and weather
systems. The study of astronomy is often included. Much of what is known about the earth and the rest of the universe is based on
inferences. Thus, as Nussbaum (1999) points out, much of earth science has to be taught through didactic methods. It is difficult to
collect data through observations because change occurs on a grand scale and over very long periods of time. The formations of
most earth science concepts were developed by using sophisticated technology. Theories of plate tectonics, for example, were
developed in part by collecting samples from hundreds feet below the earth and the ocean in different parts of the world.
Seismographic data collected over many years were also used to develop an explanation for the movement of earth plates. The
same is true for astronomy. Thus, making papier mâché planets does not lead to understanding anything about them This is merely
an art exercise. Usually, the planets are not made to scale, and their surfaces are not reproduced accurately either.
These science concepts have been incorporated into curriculums with little consideration as to whether the children are
developmentally ready to understand them. The plate tectonics theory was first introduced into the science curriculum at the high
school level. The students collected actual data about earthquakes and volcanic activity. They studied maps of the continents and
read about the composition of land masses to understand how they have may bit together at one time. However, now the study of
plate tectonics can be found in the early grades. The children cut out continent shapes and glue them together or make them out of
day and push them over each other to simulate what happens when continents collide. Thus, a theory developed through a complex
process of collecting data and drawing inferences has been reduced to a demonstration of showing objects moving over each other.
This representation has no meaning to primary children, since the concepts are so far removed from their own experiences and they
are not developmentally capable of understanding them. Remember plate tectonics is a theory that is not based on direct
observations. It is an explanation that most scientists accept based on the data they have.
The following activities are basically simulations with observable data

SAMPLE LESSON PLAN

Lesson 1: Scale Models of Planets

Goals
 To simulate the distances and diameters of the planets of the solar system
 To create scale models based on a ratio of the actual distances and diameters of the planets to one another
Grade Levels
• Upper grades

Materials
 String
 Construction paper
 Popsicle sticks

Instructions
Representing the distances and sizes of planets mathematically can be very helpful for the students in understanding the
tremendous differences in measurements in outer space.
1. Have the students find out the actual distances, in kilometers, between the Sun and the planets of the solar system. Create ratios
of kilometers to meters
2. Cut lengths of string, in meters, that represent the distances between the planets and the sun.
3. Find out the actual diameters or circumferences of the planets. Use the metric scale to make
circular cutouts of each planet, represented in centimeters.
4.Write the names of the planets on the circular cutouts. Glue them to popsicle sticks. Attach one end of the string to the planet
cutout
5. Take the children outside to a large area. One student represents the Sun and holds the unattached end of all the strings.
6. Other students hold the planet cutouts and walk away from the sun until the string lengths are fully extended. The planet holders
slowly walk in a circle around

The students whose planets are closer to the Sun will complete the circle before the student holding the earth. The students with
planets that are at a greater distance from the Sun will take longer to complete their orbits. The students can count the number of
Earth circles for each planet to know the number of years it takes for other planets to complete their orbits around the Sun.

Lesson 2: Plaster of Paris Volcanoes

Goal
• To create a model of lava flow
Grade Levels
• Upper grades

Materials
 Plaster of Paris (Alternatives include chalk and water, lime and water, soy powder and water, acrylic undercoat from the
hardware store, matte medium or gelatin)
 Crayons
  String
 Hot Plate
 Paper cups
 Metal container for boiling water
 Safety goggles

Background Information
To stimulate volcanic activity, crayons submerged in plaster of Paris are placed in boiling water. As the water boils, the heat
penetrates the mold and melts the crayon. As the pressure builds, it forces the melted crayon to travel up the string to the outside.
The water has to boil long enough for the crayon to melt inside the plaster of Paris. This stimulates underground volcanic action as
well as the movement of molten rock. Before doing this activity, the students can read about the various types of volcanoes and
identify the types that are shown in the simulation.

Safety Precautions

The students must wear safety goggles as they make observations around the boiling water. Make sure the boiling water is not
too close to the edge of a table and that no one trips over an electrical cord. The students can make observations in small groups

Instructions
1. Take a piece of string, approximately 6 centimeters long, and rub it with a piece of wax to coat it. Tie a piece of crayon to
one end of the string.
2. Prepare a mixture of plaster of Paris or its alternative. Cover the bottom of a paper cup with the mixture.
3. Place the crayon in this mixture and add more plaster of Paris until the cup is between one-half to two-thirds full. The end
of the string should protrude from the plaster.
4. Let the cup set overnight so that the plaster of Paris dries. On the following day, strip away paper cup.
5. Place the plaster of Paris mold in water in a metal pan. The pan should be deep enough so that the water covers about two
thirds of the mold.
6. Place the pan on a hot plate and bring the water to a boil.
Suggestions
 Note where the molten crayon emerges from the plaster of Paris.
 Explain why it comes out from several different places.
 Compare what the books say about volcanic activity with what happens in this simulation,

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES FOR SCIENCE

Assessing Learning in Science

Learning Activities
Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence of student learning. Teachers reflect
on findings in order to make informed and consistent judgments to improve student learning. Three types of assessment may be
utilized by the teachers inside the classroom.

Assessment for learning: a form of formative assessment that occurs when assessments are integrated with instruction and help the
teachers monitor the students' progress, identify their learning needs, and adjust their instruction accordingly. The teachers provide
immediate feedback so that the students become self-directed, metacognitive, and successful.

Assessment as learning: a form of formative assessment occurs when the students reflect on and monitor their progress to inform
their future learning goals.

Assessment of learning: a form of summative assessment that occurs when the teachers use evidence of student learning to make
judgments on the students achievement against goals and standards.

Assessment can be formative or summative. Formative assessment aims to improve instruction and learning by providing
the students and the teachers with information about the students' progress in accomplishing learning outcomes. Summative
assessment on the other hand, aims to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit or program by comparing it
against some standard or benchmark. They are often high stakes, which means that they have a high numeric value.

How can assessments be made more effective and engaging? The National Science Education Standards of United States
characterize effective assessment as:
 congruent with instruction
 based on authentic tasks and meaningful science learning processes and contexts
 multi-dimensional and uses a wide range of tools and methods
 a collaborative process involving the students
 ongoing and continuous

Read carefully the statements below on preparing different assessment strategies in science.

Assessment Type: Objective test questions

  There should only be one best answer
 Avoid double negatives, idiomatic language, and absolutes such as "never" or "always"
 Test only a single idea in each item
 Make sure wrong answers (distractors) are plausible
 Incorporate common student errors as distractors

Assessment Type: Using concept maps

 Create a focus question or prompt that specifies the issue or topic
 Tell the students to begin by generating a list of relevant concepts
 Encourage the students to create maps that employ a hierarchical structure that distinguishes general to specific concepts
 Draw multiple connections or cross-links
 Include examples of events and objects

Assessment Type: Using group works

 Assess both process and product
 Ask the students to gauge their own contribution to the team
 Ask the students to assess their group dynamics and the contribution of their team members
 Highlight the development of positive values and attitudes
 Hold the students accountable

Traditional Assessment in Science

Traditional assessment is the classic way of testing and evaluating the students learning with the use of standardized pen
and paper. It makes use of multiple choice, true or false, or matching type test items.
Assessment is often separate from the instruction, and the curriculum drives the traditional assessment (Abdao, 2015). The
main purpose of traditional assessment is to evaluate if the students have truly learned the content or to determine if the students
are successful in acquiring the necessary knowledge from the class lecture/discussions or activities. The students are ranked or given
grade according to standards or other learners.
This form of assessment gives the teacher a snapshot of the students' knowledge of the content as the students
demonstrate what they know through paper-and-pen tests. The students often display lower level of thinking skills because they are
asked to recall and comprehend body of knowledge that has been taught to them. It is easy to prepare, administer, and score it is
practical, product oriented, reliable, valid and summative (Abdao, 2015). The students are evaluated easily and quickly. Other
examples of this method of assessment are standardized Tests, aptitude tests, intelligence tests, and achievement tests.
With this method of assessment, the students are not evaluated as to what they can do with the knowledge that they have
acquired. It is rigid and fixed because it provides limited ways of assessing the students' knowledge and comprehension. The
students are asked to memorize and recall information. They do not necessarily practice their higher-order thinking skills. It may also
stimulate feelings of anxiety that are not helpful for the students. Most of the time, the students work alone during activities,
thereby promoting competitiveness. They are pressured to finish the exam/test in a fixed time.

Below are alternative forms of assessment that you can use in the classroom. You just need to make it the developmentally,
appropriate and feasible.
 Game playing - Games are challenging and more engaging than formal tests. Skills and knowledge are concretely revealed
when students engage in meaningful games. Online platfroms and applications can be used in designing games.
 Story writing-Reading or writing stories is an engaging way to present information and to assess the students’ knowledge.
 Letter writing- This provides opportunity for the students to demonstrate their ability to communicate science ideas and
advance their advocacies. Persuasive writing is central to the relationship between science, mathematics and science and
technology.
 Advertisements-Statistics and experiment results are used in advertisements and campaigns. Since students are immersed
nowadays in digital world, they will find this activity interesting and relevant as they can practice their computer and data
literacies.
 Reflections - the students reflect in an open-ended way about what they know, their perspective is broadened. Written
reflections can be recorded as journal entries and writing and may be published in school publication.
 Model making-Models are simplified representations of the world that enable the students to imagine about it in new
ways, make predictions and test ideas.
 Experiments-Conducting experiments allow the students to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and their ability
performing science process skills, values, and attitudes.

Using Performance Task

What is Performance-based Assessment?

A performance-based assessment is the assessment of a student's ability to apply knowledge, skills, and understanding,
usually in authentic, real-life settings that are similar to those encountered in the world outside the classroom (Murchan & Shiel,
2017). Typically, the students are required to create a product or demonstrate a process. Performance-based assessment can be
used to measure a broad range of learning outcomes, including more complex outcomes that cannot be assessed using indirect
Measures, such as multiple-choice tests and written examinations. Some examples of performance-based assessments include:
 representing a character from a drama or play
 keeping a portfolio of artwork
 demonstrating a routine, movement, or dance
 making a video to dramatize a historical theme;
 editing a story, term paper, or essay
  conducting a science experiment
 working with a group of students to design a student attitude survey
 using equipment machine to complete a task
 preparing a meal/baking pastries or cakes in a culinary subject, and
 reporting on a project by delivering a multimedia presentation.

Typically, assessing performance involves evaluating student learning. The evaluation (making judgment about the quality of a
performance) can be conducted by a teacher, an external marker, or the students themselves. Klenowski and Wyatt Smith (2014)
addressed student self-assessment, whereby the students evaluate their own learning, and most importantly, internalize assessment
standards or criteria, as a major benefit of performance-based assessment. In conducting an assessment, the rater may use a scoring
tool such as a checklist, a rating scale, or a scoring rubric. The use of an appropriate scoring tool is essential to ensure that relevant
aspects of the performance are assessed (validity) and that the assessment is marked in a consistent manner (reliability). Evaluation
can occur during (e.g. delivery of oral presentation) or after the performance (eg. completion of an essay, portfolio, or project).
Performance assessments can vary in length, from activities that take just a few minutes to complete to tasks that take several
weeks and require the students to present their findings to an audience inside and outside the school.
Various authors have identified aspects of knowledge and dispositions that can best assessed using performance-based
assessments, and some of these frameworks overlap:
 Habits of mind - According to Costa and Kallick (2008), these are problem-solving, life related skills that are needed to
operate effectively in society and include persisting, thinking flexibly, managing impulsivity, thinking about one's
thinking or metacognition, applying past knowledge to new situations, taking responsible risks, thinking
independently, and remaining open to continuous learning.
 Collaborative solving-The students are assessed as they work together to complete a project or another performance
task (e.g. Von Davier & Halpin, 2013). In judging the outcomes of cooperative learning, there may be learning
outcomes relating to the overall success of the project as well as outcomes specifying the expected contributions of
the individuals.
 Twenty-first century skills-These are skills that are deemed important for the world of work in the 21st century. Griffin
and Care (2015) describe these as: ways of thinking (creativity and innovation, critical problem-solving,
metacognition); ways of working (communication, collaboration/teamwork); tools for working (information literacy,
ICT literacy); and living in the world (citizenship, life and career, personal and social responsibility).
 Higher order thinking skills - These comprise the more advanced skills on Bloom's revised taxonomy (Anderson &
Krathwohl, 2001) and include applying (using information in new situations), analyzing (drawing connections among
ideas), evaluating (justifying a stand or decision), and creating (producing new or original work).

A key rationale in using performance-based assessment is that it is possible to establish strong links between curriculum
(expressed as goals or objectives), learning (expressed as performance standards or learning outcomes), and assessment.
Specifically, aspects of the curriculum that cannot otherwise be assessed, like collaborative problem-solving, are emphasized, and
the students can demonstrate their strength in these areas. The outcomes of assessment can then feed into further teaching and
learning activities, and gaps in student performance can be addressed. Klenowski and Wyatt-Smith (2014) proposed that
performance-based assessment, when used effectively, has considerable potential as an instrument of educational reform and as a
disincentive to teaching of the test (that is, preparing to sit examinations that are often predictable in format and content). In
addition, they suggest that it is consistent with social constructivist learning theories.

Implementing a Performance-based Assessment

A performance based assessment task can be developed and scored by an individual teacher, a subject department, an
external assessot, or an examining board. A performance task seeks to assess learning targets or objectives that are specified in
curriculum documents (Murchan & Shiel, 2017).
 Such tasks may be carried out by individuals or groups. They can be scored as the students work on the task and/or after it
has been completed. Often, curriculum objectives are expressed as standards or learning outcomes, and these become the focus of
a rating scale or a rubric.
A moderation process may be put in place, where a check on the quality of the grades assigned by the teacher is
undertaken (Murchan & Shiel, 2017) This could involve a different rater taking a random sample of completed tasks and scoring
them independently. Discrepancies between two or more raters can then be addressed in a marking or moderation conference.
Sometimes, when moderation unearths a discrepancy, the assessor may need to review the standards (learning outcomes) to
achieve a better understanding of them.
The final stage in assessing performance on a task is to assign a grade or mark. This may take the form of a numencal score,
a descriptor, or a grade. More extensive feedback may be provided to the student who completed the task, such as comments, an
indication of areas in need of further improvement, or targets that the student should strive to reach in the future.

Developing Observable Performance Criteria

The value and richness of performance assessments depend heavily on identifying criteria that can be observed and judged
It is important that the criteria be clear in the teacher's mind and that the students be taught the criteria. Russell and Airasian (2012)
proposed the following guidelines that are useful for the said purpose:
1) Select the performance or product to be assessed and either perform it yourself or imagine yourself performing it
2) List the important aspects of the performance of product.
3) Try to limit the number of performance criteria, so they all can be observed during a student's performance.
4) If possible, have groups of teachers think through the important criteria included in a task.
5) Express the performance criteria in terms of observable student behaviors or product characteristics.
6) Do not use ambiguous words that cloud the meaning of the performance criteria. Avoid adverbs such as those ending in-
ly, remarks such as good or appropriate, etc.
7) Arrange the performance criteria in the order in which they are likely to be observed.
8) Check for existing performance criteria before defining your own,

Tools in Assessing Performance-based Assessment

There are four tools that can be used to assess how well the students do on a performance-based task anecdotal records,
observational checklists, rating scales, and scoring rubrics.

1. Anecdotal records
These are notes based on the teachers' observations about the students as they perform an assessment task. They allow
the teachers to document the students' strengths and weaknesses as they edit a text, solve a problem, or search for
information, Data gleaned from anecdotal notes can be reviewed with other information (such as a finished product) to arrive at
an overall judgment of a student's performance (Murchan & Shiel, 2017).
Of all the tools use in assessing the student's performance, the anecdotal record is the most detailed yet the most time
consuming. It is not meant to be a free flowing report or a description of a student's performance. Rather, it should provide a
purposeful, detailed description of the strengths and weaknesses of a student's performance based on prespecified
performance criteria intended to be used as a guide for the observer's decision. Thus, judgment and recommendations are
absent from the record and are made when the record is reviewed at a later time.

2. Observational checklist
A checklist consists of a list of behaviors, characteristics, or activities and a place for marking whether each is
present or absent. It can focus on a procedure, a behavior, or a product (Murchan & Shiel, 2017). Checklists are diagnostic,
reusable, and capable of charting the student progress. They provide a detailed record of the students' performances, one
that can and should be shown to the students to help them see where improvement is needed (Russell & Airasian, 2012).
The students may use a self-evaluation checklist to review their own work. This may enable them to internalize the
criteria for performing well on a task, and they can also build metacognitive knowledge as their understanding of their own
learning processes increases. On the other hand, a potential disadvantage of a checklist is that it does not show degrees of
quality only whether a criterion has been met or not.
There are, however, disadvantages associated with checklists. One important disadvantage is that checklists give
the teacher only two choices for each criterion: performed or not performed. A checklist provides no middle ground for
scoring (Russell & Airasian, 2012) Another drawback is the difficulty of summarizing a student's performance into a single
score.
In order to solve these concerns, summarizing performances from a checklist can be done by setting up rating
standards or by calculating the percentage of criteria accomplished (Russell & Airasian, 2012)

3. Rating scales
These are often used for aspects of a complex performance that do not lend themselves to a yes-no or present-
absent judgment. A rating scale assesses the degree to which a student has attained the learning outcomes linked to a
performance task. It can be used as a teaching tool to familiarize the students with what is required to achieve a standard)
as well as an assessment tool. The end points of a rating scale are usually anchored ("always" "never" with intermediate
points defining levels of performance ("seldom" occasionally frequently In general, more points on the rating scale indicate
more reliable scores .
Three of the most common types of rating scales are the numerical, graphic, and descriptive scales (Russell &
Airasian, 2012). In numerical scales, a number stands for a point on the rating scale. For example, you can use "1" that
comesponds to a student "always" performing the behavior, "2" for a student "usually performing the behavior, and so on
Graphical scales require the rater to mark a position on a line divided into sections based on the scale. The rater marks an
 "X" at that point on the line that best describes the student's performance. Descriptive rating scales are also known as
scoring rubrics, where the rater is required to use the different descriptions of the actual performance.
Regardless of the type of rating scale the teacher will use, two general rules will improve their accuracy. The first
rule is to limit the number of rating categories. There is a tendency to think that the greater the number of rating categories
to choose from, the better the rating scale is. Only few observers can make reliable distinctions of a performance when the
rating scale has more than five categories Adding a larger number of categories on a rating scale is likely to make the ratings
less, not more, reliable. Stick to three to e well defined and distinct rating scale points (Russell & Airasian, 2012) The second
rule is to use the same rating scale for each performance criterion. This is not usually possible in descriptive rating scales
where the descriptions vary with each performance criterion. For numerical and graphic scales, however, it is best to select
a single rating scale and use it for all performance criteria. Using many different rating categories requires the observer to
change focus frequently and will decrease rating accuracy by distracting the rater's attention from the performance.
Numerical summarization is the most straightforward and commonly used approach to summarize performance
on rating scales. It assigns a point value to each category in the scale and sums the points across the performance criteria.
4. Scoring rubrics
According to Murchan and Shiel (2017), these are the types of rating scale on which each level has a complete
description of performance and quality. A rubric also lays out the criteria for different levels of performance, which are
usually descriptive rather than numerical (Russell & Airasian, 2012).
They may be analytic, where each of several dimensions is assessed, or holistic, where either a judgment about
overall quality or an overall judgment on performance is made. Rubrics may also be general (eg, the same rubric can be
applied to different tasks) or task-specific (where the rubric describes quality with respect to a particular task). An analytic
rubric has the potential to generate specific feedback on strengths and weaknesses on each dimension of a task (Murchan
& Shiel, 2017).

Russell and Airasian (2012) explained how rubrics help the teachers and the students in various ways. It helps teachers by
 specifying criteria to focus instruction on what is important
 specifying criteria to focus student assessments
 increasing the consistency of assessments
 limiting arguments over grading because clear cetera and scoring levels reduce subjectivity, and
 providing descriptions of student performance that are informative to both the parents and the students.

Furthermore, rubrics help the students by:

 clarifying the teacher's expectations about performance,
 pointing out what is important in a process or product;
 helping them monitor and critique their own work; and
 providing clearer performance information than traditional letter grades provide.

General Steps in Preparing and Using Rubrics

A rubric includes both the aspects or characteristics of a performance that will be assessed and a description of the criteria
that is used to assess each aspect. The following steps are simplified (Russell & Airasian, 2012) in order to help the teachers find ease
in preparing rubrics.

1) Select a process or product to be taught

2) State performance criteria for the process or product.
3) Decide on the number of scoring levels for the rubric, usually three to five.
4) State the description of performance criteria at the highest level of student performance.
5) State the descriptions of performance criteria at the remaining scoring levels (eg, the "good" and "poor" levels of the
book report rubric
6) Compare each student's performance with each scoring level.
7) Select the scoring level closest to a student's actual performance or product.
8)Grade the student

Designing Learning Portfolios

Let's find out about what to include in a portfolio and how to assess our students portfolios.

A portfolio is a collection of material designed to showcase a student's best work or to show the student's growth and
development over time (for example, over a term or a year) Entries to the portfolio may be linked to learning targets and may
include self reflections on the student's own work (Murchan & Shiel, 2017).
The term portfolio derives from the collections that photographers, models, and artists assemble to demonstrate their
work. In the classroom, portfolios have the same basic purpose: to collect the students' output to show their work and
accomplishments over time. Portfolios do not contain
haphazard, unrelated collections of a student's work. They contain purposefully selected examples of work Depending on the
purpose of the portfolio, these examples of work may demonstrate the achievement of important learning goals or they may
document growth over time. The contents of a portfolio should be closely related to the teacher's learning objectives and should
provide information that help the teacher form decisions about student learning.
Portfolio entries may be annotated by the student, allowing the teacher to track student thinking and explanations as well
as progress over time. Portfolios may also be used as a basis for diagnosing a student's learning difficulties in a subject area.
A portfolio can be made up of many different student performances or of a single performance. For example, a multi-
focused writing portfolio might contain writing samples, lists of books read, journal entries about books read, and descriptions of
favorite poems. Conversely, a single-focus portfolio might contain multiple pieces of the same process or product, such as a portfolio
containing only book reports, only written poems, or only physics lab reports.
In general, portfolios contribute to instruction and learning in many ways. These are discussed by Russell and Airasian
(2012) in their book "Classroom Assessment Concepts and Applications"
 Showing the students' typical work .
 Monitoring the students' progress and improvement over time
 Helping the students self-evaluate their work
 Helping the teachers judge the appropriateness of the curriculum
 Grading the students
 Reinforcing the importance of processes and products in learning
 Showing the students the connections among their processes and products
 Focusing on both the process and final product of learning

A portfolio is not a repository into which all of the work produced by a student is stored. Instead, a portfolio has a defined,
specific purpose that reflects the learning objectives. This clearly defined purpose focuses the samples of work that are collected in
the portfolio. Too often, the teachers defer the question of the portfolio's purpose until after the students have collected large
amounts of their work in their portfolios. At that time the teacher is likely to be confronted with the question of what to do with a
vast, undifferentiated collection of student information.
An electronic portfolio or e-portfolio is a collection of the student's work, usually saved on the Web. Evidence of learning
may include texts, electronic files, images, and multimedia. Such a portfolio allows the students to share their work with the
teachers, the parents, the administrators, and other students.
Perhaps the most important contribution that portfolios provide for learning is that they give the students and their parents
or guardians a chance to revisit and reflect on the products and processes a Student has produced. Collecting pieces of the students'
work in a portfolio retains them for subsequent student review, reflection, demonstration, and grading encouraged time. instance,
the students can asked to reflect on these questions:
 Which of these portfolio items shows most improvement and why?
 Which did you enjoy most why?
 From you learn the most and why?
 In what areas have you made the most progress over the year, and what was the nature that progress?

Consequently, portfolios allow students their progress their work from the perspectives of time and personal development.
A portfolio assessment is a type of performance assessment and thus depends the same four elements that performance
assessment require (1) clear purpose, (2) appropriate performance criteria, (3)suitable setting, and (4)scoring performance. A
number questions must be answered in developing and assessing portfolios
Portfolio can be assessed using checklists, rating scales, or scoring rubrics. They also allow for self-assessment, as the
students review own work comment on it, drawing on rubric developed by the teacher. Where possible, a rubric can be co-
developed the teacher and the students.

Purpose Portfolios
The items that go into portfolio, the criteria used to judge the items, and frequency with which items are added or deleted
the portfolio all depend portfolio's purpose.
If portfolio is intended show student's best work subject area, the contents of the would change as more of the students
performance become available and less good one were removed. If the purpose show improvement over time, earlier performances
would have retained and new would to be added.
Given many and varied uses portfolios, the purpose is a crucial issue consider and define in carrying out portfolio
assessment. It is important to determine the purpose and general guidelines for the pieces that will go into the portfolio before
starting the portfolio assessment. It is also critical that all pieces going into a portfolio be dated, especially in portfolios aim assess
the students growth and development. Without recorded dates for each portfolio entry, it may be impossible to assess growth and
improvement.
To improve students' ownership of their portfolios, useful allow the students choose at least some the pieces will into their
portfolios. Some teachers develop portfolios that contain two types pieces: those required by the teacher and those selected by the
student. It is also important that all student portfolio selections be accompanied by a brief written explanation why the student feels
that a particular piece belongs in his or her portfolio. This will encourage student to reflect on the characteristics of the piece and
why it belongs in the portfolio.

Performance Criteria
Performance criteria are needed to assess the individual pieces that make up a portfolio. Without such criteria, assessment
cannot be consistent within and across portfolios. The nature and process of identifying performance criteria for portfolios are the
same as that for checklists, rating scales, and rubrics.
If the students' portfolios are required for all teachers in a grade or if portfolios are to be passed on to the student's next
teacher, it is advisable for all teachers who will use information provided by the portfolio to cooperate in formulating performance
criteria.
It can also be valuable to allow the students to help identity performance criteria used in assessing the contents of a
portfolio because this can give the students a sense of ownership over their performance and help them think through the nature of
the portfolio pieces they will produce. Beginning a lesson with a discussion of what makes a good book report, oral reading, science
lab, or sonnet is a useful way to get the students think about the characteristics of the process or product they will have to develop.

Setting
In addition to a clear purpose and well-developed performance criteria, portfolio assessments must ake into account the
setting in which the students' performance will be gathered. While many portfolio peces can be gathered by the teacher in the
classroom, other pieces cannot When portfolios include oral speaking, science experiments, artistic productions, and psychomotor
activities, special equipment or arrangements may be needed to properly collect the desired student performance. Many teachers
underestimate the time it takes to collect the processes and products that make up portfolios and the management and record
keeping needed to maintain them.
An important dimension of using portfolios is the logistics of collecting and maintaining the students portfolios Portfolios
require space. They have to be stored in a safe but accessible place. A system has to be established for the students to add or
subtract pieces of their portfolios Maintaining portfolios requires time and organization. Materials such as envelopes, crates, tape
recorders, and the ke will be needed for assembling and storing the students portfolios.

Scoring
Scoring portfolios can be a time-consuming task. Not only does each individual portfolio piece have to be assessed, but the
summarized pieces must also be assessed to provide an overall portfolio performance.
Consider the difference in managing and scoring portfolios that contain varied processes or products compared with
portfolios that contain examples of a single process or product. The multi focused portfolio provides a wide range of student
performance, but at a substantial logistical and scoring cost to the teacher. The single-focus portfolio does not provide the breadth
of varied student performances of the multi-focused portfolio but can be managed and scored considerably more quickly.
When the purpose of a portfolio provide descriptive information about student performance (eg. to pass information on to
the next school year’s teacher), no scoring or summarization is needed. The content themselves provide the desired information.
However, when the purpose of the portfolio is to diagnose, track improvement, assess the success of instruction, encourage the
students to reflect on their work, or grade the students, some summarization or scoring of the portfolio is required.
The purpose of assessing an entire portfolio, opposed to the individual pieces, is usually summative-to assign a grade. Such
holistic portfolio assessment requires the development of a set of summarizing criteria.
Individual portfolio pieces are typically scored using checklists, rating scales, and rubrics. It is not always the teacher who
assesses the pieces. It is desirable and instructive to allow the students to self-assess some of their portfolio pieces in order to give
them practice in critiquing their own work with respect to the performance criteria. This approach encourages student reflection and
learning. Below is an example of performance criteria in assessing individual portfolio using checklist, rating scale and rubric.
Assessing performance, product, and portfolio has both advantage and disadvantage. The teacher needs to think of the
best opportunities when to do such activities in class. The list below presents the advantages disadvantages of assessing
performance, product, and portfolio according to Russell and Airasian (2012).

Advantages
 Conduct student self-assessment of products and performances.
 Conduct peer review of products and performances.
 Integrate assessment and instruction.
 Give students ownership over their learning and productions.
 Give the students ownership over their learning and productions
 Report performance to the parents in clear, descriptive terms.
 Provide concrete examples parent conferences

Disadvantages
Most disadvantages associated with performance, product, and especially portfolio assessments involve the time they
require:
 To prepare materials, performance criteria, scoring formats;
 To manage, organize, and keep records;
 for teachers and the students to become and comfortable with the use of performance assessments and the
change in teaching and learning roles they involve; and
 to score and provide feedback to the students .

Lastly, in order to improve validity and reliability of performance assessments, here are some guidelines suggested by
Russell and Airasian (2012)
 Know the purpose of the assessment from the beginning .
 Teach and give the students practice in the performance criteria.
 State the performance criteria in terms of observable behaviors and avoid using adverbs such as appropriately,
correctly, or well because their interpretation may shift from student to student. Use overt, well-described
behaviors that can be seen by an observer and, therefore, are less subject to interpretation. Inform the students of
these criteria and focus instruction on them.
 Select performance criteria that are at an appropriate level of difficulty for the students For example, the criteria
used to judge the oral speaking performance of third year debate students should be more detailed than those
used to judge first year debate students .
 Limit performance criteria to a manageable number. A large number of criteria makes observation difficult and
causes errors that reduce the validity of the assessment information.
 Maintain a written record of the students' performance Checklists, rating scales, and rubrics are the easiest
methods for recording the students' performance on important criteria, although more descriptive narratives are
often desirable and informative. Voice or video recorders may be used to provide a record of performance, so long
as their use does not upset or distract the students if a formal instrument cannot be used to record judgments of
the students' performance, then informal notes of strong and weak points should be taken.
 Be sure the performance assessment is fair to all the students.

ACTIVITY TO BE ANSWERED:
1. Make a Lesson Plan using 5 E’s
 a. Cooperative Learning
b. Using Role-play
c. Gamification
2. How can assessment be made more effective and engaging?
3. What is the most important consideration when designing a portfolio assessment?