Republic of the Philippines MINDORO STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY CALAPAN CITY CAMPUS Masipit, Calapan City,

Oriental Mindoro

A Written Report In EDUC. 9

(Principles of curriculum development)

Submitted by: Maibo, Armand A. III-A2 (BSEd-FILIPINO)

Submitted to: Baldomero J. Bicaldo Jr.Ph.D

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, you must be able to: Determine the problem exist in the Philippine educational setting

Know the focus of learning

Differentiate the teaching- learning principles stated by every psychologist in education

Masters these principles in making an appropriate teaching and learning methodologies, techniques

Apply these principles in facilitating learning and in curriculum planning

INTRODUCTION

In this written report, we are going to discuss some of the principles on curriculum development which will really be a great help for our curriculum developers in choosing the best and appropriate curriculum design for the students here in the Philippines. It is also stated here some of the problems regarding on how teachers facilitate learning and the learning focus of every subject matter. However, problems does not only exist on entire education sector but also on the economic condition of the learner and of country which provides the needs of the learners, teacher and to the entire education sector. Curriculum developers does not only makes some curriculum revision or changes when they want because every process of it undergo some pilot testing in order for them to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum they made. There are also principles they consider to come up with a very successful and effective curriculum. It takes a long time for them to look for every possible data needed on what will be effective and which is not, based on the curriculum on the past decades. Recognizing the future needs of the learner will also be helpful to them to be prepared on the future needs of the learner. The behavior of the student is also the main concern of education which will also be a guide in the curriculum planning. Education will not be effective without knowing the students behaviour. In that case the teacher cannot facilitate learning. Teaching without knowing childrens behaviour is like feeding a dead dog. You are pushing the dog to eat the food you are giving them without any knowledge that it is already dead. It is not enough that we only know what we want to teach them but we should also know if they want to learn or what you are going to teach them is appropriate for their age. Teaching will only be a real teaching if it will be fruitful and if the student will learn from you. On the other hand, learning will only be a real learning and if they can apply what they learned in our daily situation. Those principles stated have a great implication on the education. This will be the basis in making a better curriculum and will improve the education in the country and maybe a key to our countrys progression.

Knowledge of the Learners Education mean to educate student to develop fully and be prepare in the society where they will contribute to the countrys progression. Learners are the beneficiaries of education so it is important to develop a curriculum design that is appropriate to their ability, needs and personality. Curriculum makers should base the curriculum design not only to what they think is effective but also on what a childs mind can accommodate. We cannot push our students to understand complex and quantitative information in just a short period of time. It must develop a childs cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills. In the Philippines, curriculum reform efforts focused on the content rather than the needs and interest of the child. In this case, teachers encounter a lot of problems in the completion of the lesson. The students also cannot manage the huge amount of information that they received. If we will not focus only on the content but also on the needs and interest of the student, there will be a lot of opportunities to clear and fully understand the question by means of asking a lot of question, more activities about the lesson, and there will also be a lot of social interaction. In that way, we are not only focusing on the content but also on the learners. Quality education is our aim not quantity education. Aside from the problems on focus, there also problems occur not in school but on the learners environment. Problems regarding the students geography, school type, socio-economic status of the family, along with the student characteristics like sex, favorite subject, and intended course affects their performance. This proves that the problems occur first at home that affects a child performance in school. In this case we cannot blamed a child for being a slow learner cause there is a lot of reason why a student undergone with this such problems. Curriculum developers find way in order for them to provide a good curriculum that will help a learner improves his performance and to be a globally competitive student soon.

Factoring the Economic Condition of the Learner

Our country which belong to the Third World Countries, is always suffering with a lot of problems regarding on the socio-economic status of the citizen. Many people suffer from hunger that causes a lot of crime in order for them to buy their basic necessities like foods, clothing and a comfortable shelter. The government are always finding many solution for that problem but until now this problems continuous to occur every year and then. It really affects in the sector of education (DepEd). Even the government allot this sector a large budget, yet the problem still occurs because of poverty. They say that Poverty is not a hindrance to success, but on education it sometimes became a hindrance. Education in the Philippines is really free but how can a poor family can send a child to school without any allowance, without notebooks and pen to use, without food?, that is still an existing question the government still find for an answer. The Department of Education battle cry Edukasyon ang solusyon is still questionable in terms of socio-economic status of every family. Poverty will always be a problem. The numbers of out of school youth, drop-out students, and illiterate increase and it is because of poverty. Even there is a massive funding in the education sector, the problem still exists because the curriculum planners could not consider the socio-economic status in developing a curriculum.

Recognizing Future Needs of the Learners

Being open minded on what may happen in the future is the important attitude, the curriculum makers must possess. They should be ready on some possibilities that their curriculum will no longer be effective. Novelty is one of the principles that they also consider because students interest changes as the environment continues to change. The curriculum must be able to cope with future demands of the world. Education must not only stick or relies on what we used to do but on what we need and what is essential to the

country or to the world. The K-to-12 curriculum is already reserve and planned a long time ago before it is being implemented. This maybe a prediction in the past that this is the one that our country needs because of the increasing rate of the students who dropped, stopped, out of school youth, and the rate of unemployment because of oversubscribed course or jobs and because of the less job our country provides. Many countries today is in need of the skilled worker, and this K-to-12 curriculum will be the answer for that problem. Through this activity curriculum makers conduct, they will be guided on what to avoid, modify and discontinue. Once, every prediction they made will happen they are already prepared on that situation. It is conducted through intellectual exercises such as scenario-building and simulation which will guide their revision.

Knowledge of Teaching and Learning Principles Students or the learner are the major focus of education. So, teacher must know certain behaviour the student posses. Psychologists who study the behavioral condition of the student helps in finding the appropriate teaching techniques and methodologies. Curriculum developers always consider these teaching and learning principles that will guide teacher on how they can facilitate learning. These also have a great impact on the curriculum development. There are three major psychologists, Piaget, Bruner, and Vygotsky who contribute their knowledge about the psychological theories and principles and to the current psychological literature namely behaviorism, cognitive psychology and cognitive-field psychology. Behaviorism The term behaviorism refers to the school of psychology founded by John B. Watson based on the belief that behaviors can be measured, trained, and changed. Behaviorism was established with the publication of Watson's classic paper Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It (1913). This principle represents the philosophical orientation which focuses on the study of observable events through the use of the senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling). It is based on the principle of stimulus and response (S-R). The child develops through the interaction with the environment. If you want a child to be a doctor then he will be a doctor, if you want him to be a priest then he will be a priest. Everything depends on how you nurture the child.

There are three well-known behavioral theories which contribute to the teaching and learning process: classical conditioning, contiguity learning and operant or instrumental conditioning. The latter is based on the work of Skinner (1953), explains learning in terms of the effects of reinforcement which strengthens the behavior. It is a method of learning that occurs

through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. Schools applied these theories when each grading period ends. Through this, the students are motivated to study especially when they want to maintain their high grades. In contrast, once rewards are no longer given the student loses his motivation. Punishment also has a negative effect to a child. Classical conditioning theory constitutes the lowest level of learning based on the scientific works of Ivan Pavlov published in 1927. Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response. Contiguity learning takes place when stimuli are paired such as what goes on with the drill instruction and practice. Guthrie's contiguity theory specifies that "a combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement". According to Guthrie, all learning was a consequence of association between a particular stimulus and response. Furthermore, Guthrie argued that stimuli and responses affect specific sensory-motor patterns; what are learned are movements, not behaviors.

In contiguity theory, rewards or punishment play no significant role in learning since they occur after the association between stimulus and response has been made. Learning takes place in a single trial (all or none). However, since each stimulus pattern is slightly different, many trials may be necessary to produce a general response. One interesting principle that arises from this position is called "postremity" which specifies that we always learn the last thing we do in response to a specific stimulus situation.

Contiguity theory suggests that forgetting is due to interference rather than the passage of time; stimuli become associated with new responses. Previous conditioning can also be changed by being associated with inhibiting responses such as fear or fatigue. The role of motivation is to create a state of arousal and activity which produces response that can be conditioned.

Cognitive Development Psychology Learners do not learn only in school, they also learn by themselves at home or at any place where they are. It is possible through cognition, which represent the manner by which human being acquires, stores, processes information about the external or internal environment. Cognitive development psychology refers to a philosophical and scientific orientation which focuses on the mental processes (cognition) that are non-observable. This development takes place through interaction between the genetic factors (heredity) and environmental ones (nurture). There are still questions exist on what really affects the cognitive development of a child. The three famous psychologists, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner and Lev Vygotsky explain their views about the child cognitive development. Piaget considered the development of the intellect occurring in four sequential stages: The Sensorimotor Stage: A period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.

The Preoperational Stage: A period between ages two and six during which a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information and are unable to take the point of view of other people.

The Concrete Operational Stage: A period between ages seven and eleven during which children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.

The Formal Operational Stage: A period between ages twelve to adulthood when people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning and systematic planning also emerge during this stage. While Bruners also believes that childs development starts from simple to complex. They both believe that once a child grows, he do not just develop physically but also mentally, physically and emotionally. But Bruner do not consider it as age-bound. Meaning, a 5 year old child can do thing a 10 year old child can. Development are not based on the age but on what cognitive level they posses. Unlike the two psychologists, Vygotsky never consider cognitive development as hereditary or genetically but on how a child interacts with his environment. What a child sees in his environment is what he can also be in the future. Among all of these three psychologists, Piagetian model still became the most influential and most used by educators. It is because of his idea of simplicity before complexity depending upon the level of intelligence and stage of development of the learner. However, there are also criticisms against his model. According to them, Piagetian Stage Development Model does not reflect the richness of human thinking. Bruner still have the same idea on how a child develops their cognitive aspect. He believe that there are three stages of human growth. Children represent in their minds the world around them through different modes-enactive which is through action, iconic through visual images and symbolic through language and numbers. We still encode any of these three or all of this three depending upon to the things we see.

Bruner's Three Modes of Representation Enactive (0 - 1 years) This appears first. It involves encoding action based information and storing it in our memory. For example, in the form of movement as a muscle memory, a baby might remember the action of shaking a rattle. The child represents past events through motor responses, i.e. an infant will shake a rattle which has just been removed or dropped, as if the movements themselves are expected to produce the accustomed sound. And this is not just limited to children.

Many adults can perform a variety of motor tasks (typing, sewing a shirt, operating a lawn mower) that they would find difficult to describe in iconic (picture) or symbolic (word) form. Iconic (1 - 6 years) This is where information is stored visually in the form of images (a mental picture in the minds eye). For some, this is conscious; others say they dont experience it. This may explain why, when we are learning a new subject, it is often helpful to have diagrams or illustrations to accompany verbal information. Symbolic (7 years onwards) This develops last. This is where information is stored in the form of a code or symbol, such as language. This is the most adaptable form of representation, for actions & images have a fixed relation to that which they represent. Dog is a symbolic representation of a single class. Symbols are flexible in that they can be manipulated, ordered, classified etc., so the user isnt constrained by actions or images. In the symbolic stage, knowledge is stored primarily as words, mathematical symbols, or in other symbol systems. Bruner's theory suggests it is effective when faced with new material to follow a progression from enactive to iconic to symbolic representation; this holds true even for adult learners. A true instructional designer, Bruner's work also suggests that a learner even of a very young age is capable of learning any material so long as the instruction is organized appropriately, in sharp contrast to the beliefs of Piaget and other stage theorists. Vygotsky sticks to his idea that cognitive development is a socially mediated process, which can only be achieved if we will interact with our environment. We can only learn if we will be able to experience thing rather than if we are only to hear it or being taught by our teachers. Thats why exposure and immersion strategies are still an effective way in order for the student to learn, which are applied by most educators.

Cognitive-field Psychology

Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists: Koffka (1935), Wertheimer (1945) and Kohler (1947) and considered as the basis of cognitive-field psychology. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. It connotes patterns, shapes, forms, and configurations. According to this theory, we can give meanings to a certain thing or information based on our perception about it. The field represents how the individual perceives himself in relation to the environment (perceptual organization). We usually perceive things as a whole and not as a component parts. In chemistry, water (H2O) is considered water as itself and not as 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atoms of oxygen. Another example is a dotted line, we considered it as a straight line despite of the spaces we see between every small line. Contemporary educators like Ausubel (1968) consider the importance of prior knowledge as a strong determinant of learning. By having previous knowledge, information, beliefs and personal insights we can be able to understand present information in relation from our past experiences. Our prior knowledge serves as a field which represents our perception to the present information we receive to completely understand things. Constructivism is also related to cognitive-field psychology. It can be described as a theory that deals with the way people create meaning of the world through a series of individual constructs. Constructs are the different types of filters we choose to place over our realities to change our reality from chaos to order. Von Glasersfeld describes constructivism as, a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics (p 162).[1] Simply stated, it is a learning process which allows a student to experience an environment first-hand, thereby, giving the student reliable, trust-worthy knowledge. The student is required to act upon the environment to both acquire and test new knowledge. There is a lot of positive value of constructivism in education. However in the Philippines it is recognized but it is not palpable. On the other hand, behavioral theories largely affect on educators in using behavioral objectives.

CONCLUSION

We are lucky for being education as the first priority of the Philippine government and to have education sector (DepEd and CHED), performing their active role in improving the Philippine education and promoting a quality education. Learners are the main focus of education because they will be the future citizen of this country who will contribute to whole countrys progress. However, education remains on its average quality because of the economic condition of the learner. This is the main problems of the curriculum planners because they cannot consider the socio-economic condition variables on the curriculum equation. On those principles stated, learning is the main concern of curriculum planners. Learners full development and transformation is the main purpose of the education to produce an ideal graduate Theres a lot of teaching and learning principle stated by many psychologists which has a big contributions in the field of education. However, due to this many learning and teaching vies and belief, conflicts exist on what to follow and what should not. But still, the decision is bestowed upon the teacher on the strategies, methodologies and techniques they will use. There is still a question on what affects the childs development. But, no matter what the answer in this question, the best thing we can do to develop a child is to guide them in their development. Apparently, theres a lot of teaching and learning theories but the Piagetian model still became very influential on every classroom today. Most of this psychological theories and principle still have a great impact on education and it will be a big help for teacher engaging student to learn.

RECOMMENDATION

After studying these principles, there is a lot of things I learned and observed about the guides on how curriculum planners makes some revision and changes in the curriculum. Everything that we see and experience in school are the products of curriculum. But we cannot deny the fact that we are still experiencing some problem in school or in learning due to some scarcities in the financial aspect or maybe at the curriculum itself. However, we cannot blamed anyone for this, the best thing we can do is to unite and help each other in building the best curriculum. To the government, we all know that education is your top priority but we should also make sure that the budget that we allot to education is always secured and used wisely. Before we prioritize high technology instructional material, we must first make sure that students are safe at school, with comfortable classrooms, well ventilated and complete with the needed learning materials like books, pencil, notebook and educational materials. To the superintendent and school principals, regular classroom and school observation should be done for the assurance of security and full development of a pupil/student physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. School facilities problems, too much number of student every section and scarcity of teachers must be reported for an urgent action. Classroom teacher must be highly motivated to teach students, and to learned more about education by enrolling masteral and doctorate degree for full their own sake. Considering the students behaviour is all very important in determining the appropriate teaching methodologies, starategies, and techniques for an effective teaching and learning. Teachers is not only a teacher of intelligence but of values. Being patient is the only way for them be a good and effective one. To the community, we must not only depend our childs development on school. Parents have a great responsibility to nurture their childs growth. Parents and the community must be a model to every child. A child just imitates what he sees in his environment so parents must guide them and help them correct their mistake.