THE FRAMEWORK AND PROCESS OF CURRICULUM INTEGRATION, LIVING OUT LEARNING PLANS WITHIN AND BEYOND PRE K–12 CLASSROOMS (PART 1)
Elias M. Sampa, Ph.D.
Curriculum and Programs Director
Australian International School
and United Campus of Mahatma Gandhi
International School
Manila, Philippines
Watch full video: https://youtu.be/ZZjM7RWVy8s
Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat!
Our goal is to integrate climate change with the present curriculum. Why is it important? The challenge we have is to put into action the climate change mitigation process. I remember the days when I was an activist. We were against the so-called globalization. We were fighting globalization but it is being implemented in full scale. There are a lot of contradictions happening. The solutions to environmental problems are complex. But the thing is, we have to do our part.
Why is this an urgent priority?
A. Describe the Catholic Education
The first thing to do is to look into foundations. The first question we need to answer is why parents send their children to a Catholic school. Parents send their children to a particular Catholic school for them to have a good educational foundation.
Four Major Areas of Theological Significance for Catholic Educators
- As Christ is light for all the nations, so the Church is called to bring that light to all of humanity.
- “Light for the nations” is a theme that links the Old and New Testaments. Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12), fulfills Israel’s vocation to be light for the nations (Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6, Luke 2:32). This highlights the unity of God’s plan of salvation, Israel’s privileged place, and the fulfillment of the plan in Christ.
- The Church relates to Christ as John the Baptist to Jesus. John is not the light; his mission is to bear witness to the light (John 1:79). So too, the Church exists in order to bear witness to Christ. Catholic education exists to bear witness to Christ.
- The preaching and life of the Baptist caused the religious leaders to ask him: “What do you say of yourself?” (John 1:22). This is the question that the Church responded to Vatican II. As John defined himself in relation to Christ, so does the Church, and so does the Catholic education.
First let’s describe the Catholic Education identity. We know that we don’t see God. In order to see God, we have to see in Him in one another. If the Church wants to be a witness, therefore, we have to be that. Teachers should be witnesses. We should be compassionate. The work of the school should be focused on those who need compassion the most. These are some of the points I want to raise about Catholic institutions.
B. To give a comprehensive description of the school curriculum
Next is to give a comprehensive description of the school curriculum. Developing curriculum is one of the most difficult tasks of a school. The school’s resources should be dedicated to implementing the curriculum. Curriculum has two hands: the academic services and the student services. Academic services include teacher-student (1:40) ratio. In student services such as the Guidance, the ratio is 1:1000. Schools should also give importance to student services like a clean canteen. There should be a balance between these two components.
The school curriculum is how the school community makes explicit its goals and objectives, the content of its teaching, and the means for communicating it effectively. In the curriculum, the school’s cultural and pedagogical identity are manifested. Developing the curriculum is one of the school’s most demanding tasks, because here, one makes explicit what the school’s reference values, subject priorities, and practical choices are.
C. Give basic elements of Outcome-Based Education
Outcome-Based Education (OBE) is a design process that we will utilize in integrating climate change education with the curriculum. There are volumes of information, but the more important things are what we want learners to do with information. These are called “learning outcomes.”
1. Maslow
The goal of human life is self-actualization. Maslow provided the levels of growth. OBE doesn’t look at education as acquisition of knowledge, it is the expansion of human spirit. The human propensity is enormous. Education means “to expand.” We look at how much we can expand our learners and even ourselves. It is for them to become better human beings.
2. Bloom
Bloom introduced the wheel of learning. You don’t memorize. You need to reach the level of creativity. We talk about soft and hard skills. Soft skills refer to the spirit. You cannot quantify them. It means teachers work with learners until they reach their utmost potential. We make them competent. He also introduced the three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. But the system only assesses the cognitive domain. Effective assessment means assessing all the three domains. Bloom’s taxonomy defines the cognitive. A good education should encompass all the three domains. OBE is essentially an education based on outcomes.
Before, teachers taught until it hurt. But for what? It should be an outcome demonstrated in learning. It is what happens to them way after school. We have to shift from objective-based learning into outcome based. Outcome is what the learner becomes. OBE is bringing out, not only giving. Transformation is not getting the correct answers in the test, it is becoming. Therefore, in an outcome-based system, outcomes are your:
· Purpose
· Focus
· Priority82
· Measure of Effectiveness
· Bottom Line
3. The Five Pillars of OBE
· Outcomes of Significance
· The OBE Paradigm
· The OBE Purposes
· The OBE Philosophy
· The OBE Principles
4. OBE’s Paradigm Priority
WHAT and WHETHER students learn successfully are more important than WHEN and HOW they learn it.
5. OBE’s Compelling Purposes
· Send all learners into the world at graduation fully equipped and empowered to succeed.
· Maximize the Conditions of Success that enable this to happen.
6. Three Key Premises Embody OBE’s Philosophy
· All Students Can Learn and Succeed (but not on the same day in the same way)
· Success Breeds Success
· Schools control the conditions of Success
7. OBE’s Four Power Principles:
· Clarity of focus on outcomes of significance
· Expanded opportunity for all to succeed
· High expectations for all
· Design down from your ultimate outcomes
OBE’s Four Power Principles are critical determinants of the Conditions of Success that schools control and students face in their desire to be treated as successful learners. OBE is powerful when you apply the four principles consistently, systematically, creatively, and simultaneously.
8. The Essence of Clarity of Focus is ALIGNMENT. Everything must be ALIGNED. All the components—curriculum,instruction, assessment, and student performance—must PERFECTLY
MATCH and support what the outcome says (verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.).
9. OBE Learning Ecology
· An outcome is a powerful VERB (ILO or Intended Learning Outcome).
· Contents must reflect that VERB.
· Teachers must teach that VERB.
· School Culture must nurture that VERB.
· Students must demonstrate that VERB.
· Assessors must measure that VERB.
· Documenters must record that VERB.
D. Meaning of Education
In OBE, education is a giant opportunity system for every child, one that is flexible, expansive, and learner-responsive—oriented to transform and successfully unleash every learner’s abilities and effectiveness to be fully equipped and empowered to succeed in our volatile, complex, and dynamic world, in life performance (Bill Spady).