TRENDS, NETWORKS,

AND CRITICAL
THINKING IN THE 21ST
CENTURY CULTURE
COURSE MATERIAL
COURSE MATERIAL NO. 1 #1

Image Source: https://tincture.io/5-current-trends-in-healthcare-213dc1ba6686

 WHAT WILL
YOU LEARN?

This module has been

designed to help you…
• exhibit transparency
and responsiveness in
dealing with
interdisciplinary fields
towards achieving
common goals;
• analyze issues and

DEFINITION OF
make sound
judgments to find
innovative solutions;
• express oneself by
navigating oral and
TREND
written multicultural
contexts; and
• develop better
understanding of
one’s identity as a
member of the
society by applying
experiential learning
through personal
reflections and
sharing.

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 Dear Nationalians,

Welcome to Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st

WHAT’S INSIDE
Century Culture!
THIS
This subject will help you to discover patterns and extract MODULE?
meaning from emerging trends you see in your community.
Throughout the process, it will also help you develop your • Focus Questions 4
critical and creative thinking skills that will be essential and
beneficial for decision making and understanding “ethics of • Introduction 4
care”.
• Learning Activity 1 5
Among other things, this course will help you do the following:
• A. Defining a Trend 6
• Create learning outputs that depict reflective and relevance
and a Fad
in expressing one’s understanding, connection, and action,
• Utilize concepts and ideas in developing critical and
• B. Process of 8
creative decisions as an individual or a participating
body in a group Identifying a Trend
• Design creative and goal-oriented outputs to make a
movement or change in belief and behavior that the • Learning Activity 2 9
readers can apply
• Demonstrate values and awareness in trends, networks, • Learning Output 10
and critical thinking in the 21st century to appropriately
respond to current situation/s • Summary 11
• Propose trends, networks, and critical thinking in the 21st
century to meet demands and necessities on a society • References 12
• Explore innovative platforms with the help of
Information Communications Technology (ICT) and take
risks
promoting “ethics of care”
• Formulate alternative future trends, networks, and
critical thinking in the 21st century to aid development
of the community
• Explore facts and developments to establish founded
research with the goal of creating something new using
ICT
• Utilize language proficiently and appropriately both
verbal and non-verbal to evoke emotional and
intellectual, and creative and critical response from the
readers
• Situates proper context in a sociocultural ground to
enhance discourse and decision making
Let’s learn together!

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 FOCUS
QUESTIONS
Introduction
❖ What is a trend? Together with technological innovation and progress, new trends
❖ How are trends develop as well almost every minute all over different places. This
determined? serves as the standard of introducing ideas, goods, and services in
❖ What are the differences the market or business industries. We may not be the producers, but
of a trendfrom a fad? we are the consumers of these goods and services making
identifying trends an important skill in 21 st century time.

This course material will equip us with the knowledge and skills
necessary to understand the concept of a trend. Sooner or later, this
knowledge we gained will make us more aware of our surroundings,
establish good relationships with others, and determined which
ideas and actions to support or reject.

Why is it important to spot a

trend? How will it affect you?

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 LEARNING ACTIVITY
1 Knowledge Check
Directions: Write T if the statement describes a trend and F if it
describes a fad. Place your answer under the before the course
material study column.

Before the After the

discussion Statement discussion

1. This term refers to a

temporary event, usually
called as a “flash inthe pan.”
2. It has longer power and enjoy
along period of popularity.
3. It enjoys a few months of
unexpected popularity,
but disappears just as
quickly as it
appears.
4. It appears in a single industry
andrarely crossed over into
others.
5. It has the prospect of becoming a
long-term influence on the
futureof a market.
6. Ideas that are rooted on the
people’s cultural traditions,
beliefs, and values.
7. It has identifiable and
explainableincreases caused
by the consumers’ needs and
in consonance with another
consumer lifestyle.
8. It is determined by an
emotionalneed to purchase,
based on publicity and
fervent product
opinions.
9. Crocs rubber clog footwear
10. Flat screen LCD and
LEDtelevision

How was it? I hope you are not yet confused! Let us learn more!
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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 A. Defining a Trend and a Fad
A trend when defined has many different definitions. We have
encountered this word in different situations or events such as in a
trend in the field of arts, fashion, and even in music! Take for
example the prevailing style or preference of realism movement in
A trend is a pattern of art, emergence of the miniskirt, and the popularity of jazz music.
Another view of it in economics can be the general movement
group behavior that
registering a statistical change in some situations such as cost of
lasts for a long periodof living or rate of unemployment. In politics, a trend is a tendency,
time. It can affect your drift, or bend toward a certain stance. Truly, a trend is everywhere!
life and shape your To put it simply, trend is a pattern of behavior demonstrated by a big
future. number of people within a particular period.
Another definition posted by Baronn (2000, 7), a trend is basically a
conceptualized idea that has the prospect of providing of having a
continuing influence for a longer period of time due to its
increasing and sustained presence and effect or even demand
among its consumers on the case of a product. An example of a
trend that is manifested by an increasing number include the
increasing population growth and rising HIV/AIDS victims in an
area. Another example of a trend manifested in a continuous use
and appeal to consumers are the use of smart phones and laptops.
Sociologists view trend as a collective behavior or mass
involvement which is acceptable to society and shows a “line of
historical continuity” as it can downplayed today but can resurface
sometime in the future. For instance, the tight pants made its
comeback in the form of skinny jeans.

The so-called line of

historical continuity
shows in a trend’s
continuing existence
although with varying
prominence or intensity
over an expanded time
frame.
nd
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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 A fad on the other hand refers to a short-lived idea or temporary
event. It is also known as the “flash in the pan” as its popularity
fades away to people easily. Compared to a trend, its appeal to
consumers is small as well. It has a shorter staying power in the
market where a specific beginning and a fixed end is identified. A
good example of a fad are particular color of paint, a new
hairstyle, or dance move are all fads. Here are some differences of
a trend and a fad:

1. Duration of time
2. Number of industries affected
3. Industry acceptance
4. Consumer adaptation and perception of overall quality
5. Reason for rise
6. Incubation period and life span
Another term to 7. Scope
differentiate 8. Cultural roots
trendspotting with is
cool-hunting. This refers Learning more about trend, we are also familiar with trendsetters.
to hunting for things that These are the people that start a trend. Their actions or events
will becomepopular they were involved in had attracted attention, earned acceptance,
before they arepopular. and created strong interest and influence on people whose number
keeps snowballing as days go by.

According to futurists Alf Rehn and Magnus Lindkvist (2013),

trendspotting refers to the study of trends and the way they
develop and affect society. Trend analysis on the other hand is
based on trendspotting but it extends into developing scenarios.

Trendspotting seeks
broader subjects that
lead to changes in
human perception, say,in
clothing and music.

CAN YOU IDENTIFY A TREND TODAY? ◆

v
:

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
B. Process of identifying a
trend
Having been equipped with the concepts of trend and fad, we
will be now focusing on how to properly identify a trend.
According to Brannon (2000), tracing a trend is similar to the
work of a meteorologist who predicts and tracks weather
patterns.

Below is how Lawrence Samuel, co-founder of Iconoculture, Image Source: https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/investingnote-production-

webbucket/attachments/85615827e88e70051ea514d76f65588127908fa9.jpg?1496723
626
Inc., a marketing consulting film identified the following stages
that explain how something becomes a trend.

STAGE 1
Fringe Stage: An innovative idea develops into the market or
becomes known to the trendiest consumers. This is where the
entrepreneurial and business firms participate to develop and
innovate ideas.

STAGE 2
Trendy: Consumers and public awareness then grows. This
is where the most fashion-forward brands and retailers
assess the viability of the concept through conducting test-
market researches. Identifying and tracing a
trend requires only a few
STAGE 3 points to plot a lineand
Mainstream: The conservative consumers join the trend, the analyze the movement of
idea’s popularity and acceptance continues to increase, and the trend’s direction. A
the corporations and company brands exploit the growing trend can move up from
demand for that idea triggering the following possibilities:
the mass consumers or
the trend can fade away once majority of the unconventional
consumers tested the product or idea; consumers of the more
the trend reaches a plateau level of acceptance and mainstream and affluent
stays at that same level; or
consumers.
the fragmentation of a trend.

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 LEARNING ACTIVITY
2 What am I?
Directions: Identify which of the following items are trendsand
fads. Write T if it is a trend and F if otherwise. Explain your
answers in class.

_ 1. online banking

_ 2. medical tourism

_ 3. puka shell necklace

_ 4. “Gwiyomi” song

_ 5. denim jeans

_ 6. animated films

_ 7. business process outsourcing

_ 8. platform boots

_ 9. Instagram

_ 10. “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” song

Good! Now that you know the difference between a trend

and a fad,our job gets much easier.

Image Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/great-work

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 LEARNING OUTPUT
Tracing a Trend
Directions: Work in pair. Trace the evolution of the following
trends then analyze significant changes of it through time.
Choose only one of the given trends.
1. Tracing the cellphone trend in the Philippines
2. Tracing the personal computer trend in the
Philippines
3. Tracing the automobile trend in the Philippines
4. Tracing the Wifi-router (Internet provider) trend
in the Philippines
5. Tracing the television trend in the Philippines

Criteria for Grading:

➢ Content (10 points)
The output expressed ideas in accord to creative writing
highlighting sensory details in a given experience.

➢ Mechanics (10 points)

The output is grammatically correct and effectively
organized
To know more about
➢ Presentation (10 points) how to spot a trend, read
The answer to the questions has been organized and here!
gathered well. https://www.forbes.co
m/sites/dorieclark/2012
/09/20/how-to-spot-
trends-see-the-future-
and-define-your-brand-
in-the-digital-
era/?sh=7725d3fc5820

Practice makes for proficiency!

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
 This is just the beginning of understanding trends in our
community. Trends and fads can happen in areas of life where
change or transformation continuously occurs. This means
that as long as we live, we encounter and experience these so
we better be knowledgeable!

A trend lasts longer period of time than a fad, but both always
confront us as our life faces constant change in all areas. As
consumers or trendsetters, we have to learn how to detect a
trend by observing how things affect us in our daily lives. The
stages to identify a trend are the fringe stage, trendy, and
mainstream.

Cool-hunting
Fad
Fringe stage
Mainstream
Trend
Trendy
Trend analysis
Trendsetter

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THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY CULTURE
References:

Clark, D. (2012, September 20). How to Spot Trends, See the Future, and Define Your Brand in the Digital Era. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2012/09/20/how-to- spot-trends-see-the-future-and-define-your-brand-in-the-
digital-era/?sh=70619d5d5820
Dela Cruz, A. R. D., Fadrigon, C. C., & Mabaquiao, N. Jr. (2017). Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century
Culture. Phoenix Publishing House.
Urgel, E. T. (2017). DIWA Senior High Series: Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. DIWA Learning
Systems Inc.

CONTRIBUTORS
Renelyn M. Cayetano
Marcosa Maricris P. Hernandez
Mary Rose D. Sermon