MOVING BEYOND ROTE

LEARNING
Classroom Practices That Grab Students by Their Brains
 Permits us and protects our right to
practice our individual teaching
strategies and methods…
ALTHOUGH
Perhaps we are in general agreement that
OUR we should move beyond the traditional
ACADEMIC approach of education that is ROTE
LEARNING:
FREEDOM…
Kapag kabisado, pasado.
 STEVE JOBS
Became a revolutionary
He was an innovator, a
visionary not because he’s
creator: He strongly upheld
good at rote learning (in
his belief in “Stay Hungry,
fact, he dropped out of
Stay Foolish...”
college!)

He was a strong believer of Things that he wasn’t able

perfection… to experience in school.
TOP CEOs SUCCEED…
• Not only because they decide with speed
and conviction
• Not only because they engage
employees and stakeholders for impact
• Not only because they adapt proactively
• Not only because they deliver reliably…
• They think outside the box!
WE MIGHT BE
“BOXING” STUDENTS
IN AN ARCHAIC
EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEM
► High test scores via rote
memorization or cramming
► Grades
► Graduation
WHY? BECAUSE IN ROTE LEARNING…

There is more focus on

Correct knowledge is Understanding,
memorization of facts,
paramount RATHER applying, analyzing,
and objective
THAN: and evaluating facts…
information:

Challenging universally …Creating new

accepted ideas, and… constructs and ideas!
Information technology has
outdated rote learning because of
easy access to information…
IS THERE
The reason why test answers can
SOMETHING
easily be extracted from the
Internet….
WRONG
WITH ROTE
LEARNING?
In a modern world, summative
assessment via memorization is
becoming irrelevant.
BUT WHAT ABOUT
MATH?
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the
world’s largest mathematics educators
organization:
• “More than ever, mathematics must include
the mastery of concepts instead of mere
memorization and the following of procedures.
More than ever, school mathematics must
include an understanding of how to use
technology to arrive meaningfully at solutions
to problems instead of endless attention to
increasingly outdated computational tedium.”
BUT WHAT ABOUT
LAW?
• Suzanne Kiera Anthony, litigator:
• “It is the opposite of rote learning.”
• “The entire process is developed to teach the
student how to think, analyze myriad facts,
come to a conclusion as to how the law
applies to those myriad facts and whether
your conclusion concurs with that law.”
• However, that doesn’t mean that recall is not
essential.
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
Student centered education doesn’t
GRADUAL RELEASE OF RESPONSIBILITY
INSTRUCTIONAL FRAMEWORK
• Focused instruction • Guided
instruction

I do it We do it

You do it You do it
alone together
• Independent learning • Collaborative
learning
THE FRAMEWORK

Purposefully shifts the cognitive load…

From teacher-as-model…

To joint responsibility of teacher and learner…

To independent practice and application by the learner.

A GOOD INSTRUCTION

…Lets the learners in on the teacher’s thinking…

And does not simply regurgitate information that they could have read.

What students do not need is an “information dump” from teacher to

student.

A good lecture also models critical thinking.

WE SHOULD MOVE

From teaching facts To teaching thinking

WE SHOULD DEFINE
OURSELVES

Less as dispensers of knowledge More as facilitators of critical

(information) thinking, reasoning, and
argumentation
OUR COMMON
PRACTICE
Learning explicit knowledge first and then learning implicit
knowledge on that basis:

Explicit teaching is spoon-feeding:

When you adopt explicit teaching practices, you are clearly

showing your students what to do and how to do it.

You are not relying on students to construct this information for

themselves.

The teacher has the monopoly of knowledge.

 Concepts, abstractions,
terminologies, and jargon

Explicit definitions
THAT’S THE
TOP-DOWN
APPROACH Explicit explanation and examples

Formative assessment, end of session

AN ALTERNATIVE
 Guided instruction
Focused instruction is • Scaffolding
typically done with the (questioning,
whole class and prompting, cueing)
usually lasts 15
minutes or less

Focused instruction Focused instruction

Long enough to
clearly establish
purpose, and ensure
that students have a
model from which to
work. Independent Collaborative
learning: learning:

Focused instruction
Construction Deconstruction
COME EXAM TIME: CREATING NEW
CONSTRUCTS VIA COLLABORATIVE
& INDEPENDENT LEARNING
BOTTOM
LINE
Students remember better…
Because they “do” more.
 THE TOP-DOWN
APPROACH IS
PRACTICED NOT
ONLY IN EACH
SESSION, BUT
ALSO INTEGRATED
IN OUR SYLLABI
 IN ROTE
LEARNING…
• Narrow, unit-driven curriculum…
• That is why if is difficult for us to take an
integrated approach (Dr. Cao's
manifestation):
• Individual, independent subjects…
• With little connection between topics and
subjects.
General constructs and
abstractions

Definitions, taxonomy,
etc.

Topics in linear
sequence: From big to
small
Topics in linear
sequence: From big to
small

Definitions, taxonomy,
etc.
Topics in linear
sequence: From big to
small

Definitions, taxonomy,
etc.
 AN
ALTERNATIVE
 Content is arranged around themes
that are familiar to the learners.

SHIFT FROM
SEQUENTIAL Many areas of the curriculum. are
connected together, and integrated
(TOPICAL) TO within a theme.
THEMATIC
It allows learning to be more
natural and less fragmented than
topical or sequential.
 THEMATIC (BLOCK SEQUENCE)
TOPICAL (LINEAR SEQUENCE)
Understanding Economics
►Economics defined Economics What?
►Nature of Economics ►Primitive Economies
►Methods and Tools of Economics ►Scarcity and Economy
►Divisions of Economics ►Law of Finite Resources
►The Methodology of Economics
How People Decide
An Introduction to Demand and ►People Face Trade-Offs
Supply ►Cost and Benefit
►Demand ►Efficiency v. Equality
• Demand Schedule and Demand Curve ►Equity-Efficiency Trade-Off
• Law of Demand ►Opportunity Cost
• Changes in Demand and Shifts in the ►Benefits of Trade
Demand Curve ►Supply and Demand
• Aggregate Demand ►Invisible Hand
• Elasticity of Demand
Managing Scarcity
►Supply
• Supply Schedule and Supply Curve ►Pareto Efficiency
• Law of Supply ►Rationing
• Changes in Supply and Shifts in the Supply ►Choice
Curve ►Samuelsonian Theory of Goods
• 5. Aggregate Supply ►Free Market v. Government Interventionism
• Elasticity of Supply
OUR GOAL IS TO PRODUCE
BIG-A
GRADUATES
• The BulSU Ideal Graduates Attributes
(BIG A) reflect the graduate’s capacity
as:
• highly and globally competent;
• ethical and service-oriented citizen;
• analytical and critical thinker; and
• reflective life-long learner.
 BEHAVIOR-CHANGING PRACTICES
IN CLASS
Instead of calling students “mga bata,” they are referred to as “mga estudyante.”

Students are encouraged to ask questions, refute the perspectives of peers, and question
the teacher.

Discouraging the term “feeling ko.” Instead, we use the term “I think.”

There are no absolute right or wrong answers: Everything can be deconstructed and
challenged.