Types of Education: Formal, Informal & Non-formal

September 20, 2019Educational News

Types of Education: Formal, Informal & Non-formal | Passion In Education

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Meaning & Types of Education:

Education is a gradual process which brings positive changes in human life and behavior. We can also define
education as “a process of acquiring knowledge through study or imparting the knowledge by way of instructions
or some other practical procedure”.

What is education?

Education brings a natural and lasting change in an individual’s reasoning and ability to achieve the targeted goal.
It facilitates us to investigate our own considerations and thoughts and makes it ready to express it in various
shapes.

Education is the main thing that encourages us to distinguish between right and wrong because in the absence of
education, we can’t do what we need or we can’t achieve our goal. 

Straightforwardly, we can say, “education is the passage to progress”. It is additionally the way to our fate as
achievements can only be accomplished when individuals have information, aptitudes, and frame of mind. In this
way, education resembles a medium through which we can associate with various individuals and offer our
thoughts.

To tackle issues and do inventiveness we first need to gain proficiency with some essential abilities. We require
learning and abilities to wind up increasingly imaginative. So education is fundamentally learning of abilities and
ideas that can make us increasingly innovative and issue solver. Education is to pick up the capacity to develop and
take care of issues in order to achieve their lawful motives.

Education also means helping people to learn how to do things and encouraging them to think about what they
learn.

It is also important for educators to teach ways to find and use information. Through education, the knowledge of
society, country, and of the world is passed on from generation to generation.

In democracies, through education, children and adults are supposed to learn how to be active and effective
citizens.

More specific, education helps and guide individuals to transform from one class to another. Empowered
individuals, societies, countries by education are taking an edge over individuals stand on the bottom pyramid of
growth.

Types of Education

Education goes beyond what takes places within the four walls of the classroom. A child gets the education from
his experiences outside the school as well as from those within on the basis of these factors. There are three main
types of education, namely, Formal, Informal and Non-formal. Each of these types is discussed below.

Formal Education
Formal education or formal learning usually takes place in the premises of the school, where a person may learn
basic, academic, or trade skills. Small children often attend a nursery or kindergarten but often formal education
begins in elementary school and continues with secondary school.

Post-secondary education (or higher education) is usually at a college or university which may grant an academic
degree. It is associated with a specific or stage and is provided under a certain set of rules and regulations. 

The formal education is given by specially qualified teachers they are supposed to be efficient in the art of
instruction. It also observes strict discipline. The student and the teacher both are aware of the facts and engage
themselves in the process of education.

Examples of Formal Education

 Learning in a classroom

 School grading/certification, college,  and university degrees

 Planned education of different subjects having a proper syllabus acquired by attending the institution.

Characteristics of formal education

 Formal education is structured hierarchically.

 It is planned and deliberate.

 Scheduled fees are paid regularly.

 It has a chronological grading system.

 It has a syllabus and subject-oriented. The syllabus has to be covered within a specific time period.

 The child is taught by the teachers

Advantages of Formal education:

 An organized educational model and up to date course contents.

 Students acquire knowledge from trained and professional teachers.

 Structured and systematic learning process.

 Intermediate and final assessments are ensured to advance students to the next learning phase.

 Institutions are managerially and physically organized.

 Leads to a formally recognized certificate.

 Easy access to jobs.

Disadvantages of Formal education:            

 Sometimes, brilliant students are bored due to the long wait for the expiry of the academic session to
promote to the next stage

 Chance of bad habits’ adoption may be alarming due to the presence of both good and bad students in
the classroom

 Wastage of time as some lazy students may fail to learn properly in spite of motivation by the professional
trainers.
  Some unprofessional and non-standard education system may cause the wastage of time and money of
the students which leads to the disappointment from formal education and argue them to go for non-
formal education.

 Costly and rigid education as compare to other forms of learning

Informal Education

Informal education may be a parent teaching a child how to prepare a meal or ride a bicycle.

People can also get an informal education by reading many books from a library or educational websites.

Informal education is when you are not studying in a school and do not use any particular learning method. In this
type of education, conscious efforts are not involved. It is neither pre-planned nor deliberate. It may be learned at
some marketplace, hotel or at home.

Unlike formal education, informal education is not imparted by an institution such as school or college. Informal
education is not given according to any fixed timetable. There is no set curriculum required. Informal education
consists of experiences and actually living in the family or community.

Examples of Informal Education

 Teaching the child some basics such as numeric characters.

 Someone learning his/her mother tongue

 A spontaneous type of learning, “if a person standing in a bank learns about opening and maintaining the
account at the bank from someone.”

Characteristics of Informal Education

 It is independent of boundary walls.

 It has no definite syllabus.

 It is not pre-planned and has no timetable.

 No fees are required as we get informal education through daily experience and by learning new things.

 It is a lifelong process in a natural way.

 The certificates/degrees are not involved and one has no stress for learning the new things.

 You can get from any source such as media, life experiences, friends, family etc.

Advantages of Informal Education

 More naturally learning process as you can learn at anywhere and at any time from your daily experience.

 It involves activities like individual and personal research on a topic of interest for themselves by utilizing
books, libraries, social media, internet or getting assistance from informal trainers.

 Utilizes a variety of techniques.

 No specific time span.

 Less costly and time-efficient learning process.

  No need to hire experts as most of the professionals may be willing to share their precious knowledge
with students/public through social media and the internet.

 Learners can be picked up the requisite information from books, TV, radio or conversations with their
friends/family members.

Disadvantages of Informal Education     

 Information acquired from the internet, social media, TV, radio or conversations with friends/family
members may lead to the disinformation.
 Utilized techniques may not be appropriate.
 No proper schedule/time span.
 Unpredictable results which simply the wastage of time.
 Lack of confidence in the learner.
 Absence of discipline, attitude and good habits.

Non-formal Education

Non-formal education includes adult basic education, adult literacy education or school equivalency preparation.

In nonformal education, someone (who is not in school) can learn literacy, other basic skills or job skills.

Home education, individualized instruction (such as programmed learning), distance learning and computer-
assisted instruction are other possibilities. 

Non-formal education is imparted consciously and deliberately and systematically implemented. It should be
organized for a homogeneous group. Non-formal, education should be programmed to serve the needs of the
identified group. This will necessitate flexibility in the design of the curriculum and the scheme of evaluation.

Examples of Non-formal Education

 Boy Scouts and Girls Guides develop some sports program such as swimming comes under nonformal
education.
 Fitness programs.
 Community-based adult education courses.
 Free courses for adult education developed by some organization.

Characteristics of Non-formal Education

 The nonformal education is planned and takes place apart from the school system.
 The timetable and syllabus can be adjustable.
 Unlike theoretical formal education, it is practical and vocational education.
 Nonformal education has no age limit.
 Fees or certificates may or may not be necessary.
 It may be full time or part-time learning and one can earn and learn together.
 It involves learning of professional skills.

Advantages of Non-formal Education

 Practiced and vocational training.

  Naturally growing minds that do not wait for the system to amend.
 Literacy with skillfulness growth in which self-learning is appreciated.
 Flexibility in age, curriculum and time.
 Open-ended educational system in which both the public and private sector are involved in the process.
 No need to conduct regular exams.
 Diploma, certificates, and award are not essential to be awarded.

Disadvantages of Non-formal Education

 Attendance of participants is unsteady.

 Sometimes, it’s just wastage of time as there is no need to conduct the exam on regular basis and no
degree/diploma is awarded at the end of the training session.
 Basic reading and writing skills are crucial to learn.
 No professional and trained teachers.
 Students may not enjoy full confidence as the regular students enjoy.
 Some institutes provide fake certification through online courses just for the sake of earning.

Integrating Values in Lessons

Estrellita Y. Evangelista, Ed.D.

Director III,  Bureau of Secondary Education
Department of Education, Philippines

Part I: Philosophy

•Assumptions
–The nature of values
– A common understanding of the goals of education
•The Concept of Values Integrationt

The Five Basic Human Values

Part II: Pedagogy

•Potential Learning Areas for Values-Based Water Education

•The Context and Process of VaIues Integration
•Levels of Teaching Applied

•Assessment of Learning

Critical Goals of Education

a. To assist the student in

–Identifying
–Examining
–Changing these values if he so decides as long as these values donot impinge on the rights of others

b. To develop the student’s potentials to the fullest; to assist him/her to be a fully human person

Values are the:

•bases of judging what attitudes and behavior are correct  or  not (DECS VE Program, 1997)
•the overriding principles (standards, decisions, ideals) which govern and ought to govern people’s behavior;
•universal truths which man considers to be good and important;

•ethical principles which a person struggles to realize and live (Esteban, 1990)

The Nature of Values:

•Moral values - natural law;  “Do good and avoid evil.”
•Clearly defined values give meaning to human activity
•the systematic development of values require a methodological support which cannot be neutral.  It demands
discussion, processing, reflection and actions.

The Concept of Values Integration

Values Integration is a channel of values development through the teaching-learning activities in the different
learning areas.

The starting point of values integration is the nature of the learning areas and their unique contribution as bodies
of knowledge.

Teachers first identify  the concepts to be developed in the lesson; 

    then, develops the values inherent in the subject

•The Concept of Values Integration

Values Integration does not mean quoting a value and discussing it.

•It is Leading the students to see a personal meaning in whatever teachers teach in the classroom

CORE VALUES (DepED Values Education Program, 1988)

1.Physical    - Health and Harmony with Nature
2.Intellectual- Truth and tolerance
3.Moral          - Love and Goodness
4.Spiritual   - Global spirituality
5.Social        - Peace and Justice
6.Economic – Sustainable Human Development
7.Political    - Nationalism and Globalism

The Basic Human Values (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, 2001, p.23)
•Truth
•Love
•Peace
•Right Conduct

•Non-Violence

Practical Learning Areas for Values-Based Water Education

•Mathematics
•Science
•English
•Social Studies
•Civics/Citizenship Education
•Home Economics
•Physical Education and Health
•Mathematics

Nature

•Determines quantity
•Training of the mind (from concrete to abstract)
•Ability to think clearly and logically
•Independence of thought

and flexibility of mind

Inherent Values

•Respect for truth

•Confidence
•Persistence through sustained work
•Awareness of the use of mathematical skills in the world beyond the class-room.
•English

Nature

•Concerned with skills of, discovery and evaluation (Paffard, 1978)

•Deals with levels of personal experience
•Concerned with personal growth and with cultural heritage of a nation (Dixon 1967)

Inherent Values

•Response of reader to the work as a whole makes demands on his intelligence, moral insight,capacity to res-pond
to values embodied in the reading
•Concern for explicit and implicit values
•Influence on one’s beliefs and values and behavior
•Science

Nature

•Longing to know and understand

•Search for data and their meaning
•Demand for verification
•Questioning mind
–How do we know?
–Why do we believe it?
–What’s the evidence for this?

Inherent Values

•Respect for logic

•Seeking for truth
•Consideration of premises
•Consideration of conse-quences
•Social Studies

Nature

•Understanding of a society’s culture.

•Deals with man as social being; how he relates with his neighbor and the envi-ronment (Marsh, 1990)
•Appreciation of history and cultural development

Inherent Values

•Social understanding
•Responsible citizenship
•Search for peace
•Greater social awareness
•Concern for society
•Home Economics

Nature

•Identification of human needs: food, clothing, housing, care, security, human relationships
•Organization and management of resources to meet human needs.
•Household and community interrelation-ships

Inherent Values

•Care and concern for others

•Frugal and simple life- style
•Independence and per-sonal responsibility
•Pleasures of homemaking and the joys of family life
•Appreciation of diffeent value systems—cultural, religious, regional, national

How can teachers naturally  use  the content  of  their subject  areas  to address  VBWE?

•The Context and Process of Values Integration

The Classroom Environment.

          The physical environment of the classroom communicates certain values that may facilitate or hinder the
development of values intended by the teacher.
The Teaching-Learning  Process    -Incidental– Teacher uses value-laden statements, reinforcements or affirmations
to encourage positive student behavior.
- Purposeful– Teacher plans for a values-based lesson by reflecting it in her lesson plan indicating value, the
objective/s, strategies and assessment.

The Levels of Teaching

•Facts Level – involves the teaching of information and data.
•Concepts Level – involves the teaching of ideas and principles.
•Valuing Level – entails the student’s thinking, feeling and acting processes as s/he finds the connections of what
s/he has learned from the facts and concepts level to his/her personal life and experiences.

Levels of Teaching Applied

Physics

LC V-3.3.1: Apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to land transportation

Fact:  Awareness of the 3 Laws of Motion (Laws of Inertia, Acceleration and Action-Reaction)

Concept: Test the students’ understanding through applications and/or designing experiments.

Valuing:  Internalize the need for seatbelts, sitting tightly when one is in a moving vehicle, striving for other safety
gadgets when one is in a moving vehicle particularly in fast moving cars.

Assessment of Learning
If you are to design a car or  any type of land vehicle for two or more passengers,  what safety gadgets would you
include and explain why. 

Integrating values with subject matter pot

1. Reported by: Loraine B. Esta 1

2. 2 • is defined as organization of teaching matter to interrelate or unify subjects frequently taught in separate
academic courses or departments.

3. Subject matter • the information or ideas that are discussed or dealt with in a book, movie, etc. : what
something is about 3

4. •is a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life 4

5. The Nature of Values • Moral values - natural law; “Do good and avoid evil.” • Clearly defined values give
meaning to human activity 5

6. The Concept of Values Integration• Values Integration does not mean quoting a value and discussing it. It is
Leading the students to see a personal meaning in whatever teachers teach in the classroom. 6

7. The Classroom Environment• The physical environment of the classroom communicates certain values that may
facilitate or hinder the development of values intended by the teacher. 7

8. 2 Models In Teaching Values Education To Students 8

9. 1. Traditional Model •Emphasis : content of the values instead of the valuer •Teacher-centered = an expert and
an idol 9

10. 2. Humanistic Model 10 •Stress: content to process-based : Values to valuer-focused :Teacher to student-
centered orientation

11. Values Concepts Facts 11 By Merill Harmin Affective Domain Psychomotor Domain Cognitive Domain Three-
level Approach to Teaching

12. Merill Harmin 12 Values Concepts Facts ♥ Involves the teaching of information and data ♥ Involves the teaching
of ideas and principles ♥ entails the student’s thinking, feeling and acting processes as s/he finds the connections
of what s/he has learned from the facts and concepts level to his/her personal life and experiences.

13. Example:Levels of Teaching Applied Physics • Apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to land transportation Fact:
Awareness of the 3 Laws of Motion (Laws of Inertia, Acceleration and Action-Reaction) Concept: Test the students’
understanding through applications and/or designing experiments. Valuing: Internalize the need for seatbelts,
sitting tightly when one is in a moving vehicle, striving for other safety gadgets when one is in a moving vehicle
particularly in fast moving cars. 13

14. Strategies In Integration Of Values14

15. 1. Incomplete Sentence 1 The story is _____________ (English) 2 The experiment is _______ (Science) 3 Solving
fraction is ________ (Math) 15
16. 2. Giving One’s Title a Poem/Story/Paragraph ReadIn such a case, the learners could be asked to give their own
title. It could be done by groups or by individuals. The important thing though is to give them a chance to explain
their choice for such title. 16

17. A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an
argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying
anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE. "They kept on walking until they
found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and
started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a
stone: "TODAY MY BESTFRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.” 17

18. The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and
now, you write on a stone, why? "The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in
sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must
engrave it on stone where no wind can ever erase it.” LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE
YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE. 18

19. 3. Using Value- Judgment Questionsa. If you were Rizal, would you have chosen to live rather than die? Why?
(Social Studies) b. Do you think the chief character in the story is right in joining the rebel group? Why?
(Communication Arts) c. Do you think Nobel had the right to invent the dynamite? Why? (Science) 19

20. 4. Giving Caption to a Picture• A picture may be presented before them. Each group will be asked to give a title
to the picture and to explain the choice for such. Emphasis should be placed on the reasons for choosing the title
and the manner by which it was arrived at. 20

21. 21 ?

22. 5. Values Voting • "How many of you ______________?" After each question is read, the learners take a stand
by doing any of the following: a.Raising their hands(Affirmative) b.Pointing their thumbs down (Negative) c.Folding
their arms (Undecided) d.Taking no action at all (Pass) 22

23. 6. Rank Order • The following are the problems of our community. which is no. 1 to you? number 2, 3 and 4?
_____ Cleanliness _____ Peace and Order _____ Lack of safe water to drink _____ Bad roads 23

24. 7. Reacting to a Statement Made by a Persona. Ninoy Aquino said: "The Filipinos are worth dying for." What is
your reaction? b. One landowner stated: "I defend my land. Nobody can get it from me." What can you say about
the matter? 24

25. 8. "I Learned" Statement 1 I learned that I _______________ 2 I discovered that I ____________ 3 I realized
that I ______________ 25

26. Reflection In general, the success of the integration of values in the different subject areas depends on the
teacher’s creativity in making use of situations to facilitate the student’s values development, as well as on his
perceptive skills to identify points in a lesson that would serve as entry points for specific values. 26

27. References: 27 • http://dreamandsucceed.wordpress.com/2010/08/22/integrated-teaching- the-three-level-

strategy/ • http://www.seameo.org/_HVWSHE-Toolkit/img/nov29_integrating.html •
http://www.valueseducation.net/integ_strat.htm
UNDERSTANDING LEARNER 2. Objectives: This module is designed to help you to:
understand different types of learners ● Understand different classroom contexts and their
relative advantages ● Comprehend the concept of constructivism and constructivist classroom
practices ● Create child friendly classroom environment 3.Introduction Every child is unique and
children adopt different learning styles as per their abilities and interests. Every teacher is thus
responsible for dealing with many differences among learners. These differences could be
because: ● Children coming from homes where parents have no educational exposure. ●
Children studying in residential and special schools. ● Children with no earlier exposure to pre-
school education. ● Children of seasonal migrant parents. ● Children living in Juvenile homes. ●
Children with behavioural and emotional difficulties. ● Children who have been ill for a long
time. ● Children whose parents are HIV positive or having other medical problems. ● Children
whose parents are not alive. ● Orphans. ● Children belonging to different religious, ethnic and
minority groups. ● Children whose home language is different from the school language. ●
Children who may not be able to see, hear, understand or have other problems. Normally we tend
to think that some or all the above mentioned situations lead to learning problems. However,
these children may be at risk of negative and meaningless school experiences if teachers are not
responsive to their needs and abilities. To enhance the participation of all children and cater to
their needs it is important for a teacher to be aware of the socio-cultural and the physical health
of each child. In addition, he/she also needs to understand that non academic factors also
influence their learning to a certain extent. Many social factors that affect learning cannot be
immediately changed. However, understanding these factors will help teachers to see why
learners sometimes do not perform as expected or misbehave in class. While interacting and
dealing with children it is important to understand and appreciate the differences among them
and also respect the fact that they will understand and respond in 2 | P a g e different ways while
learning. Let us now reflect on how we can help and promote children’s learning. 1.1. Children
will learn better if: ● Their “new learning” is based on their “previous learning”. Children come
to school not as “empty slates” but with a lot of experiences already with them. ● Learning is not
limited to the time spent within the four walls of the school. It is a continuous process and
therefore, classroom learning needs to be related to the child’s home environment and daily life
experiences. ● Knowledge is not doled out by the teacher rather children construct their own
knowledge. Therefore, each child may interpret any given information in her/his own way based
on the previous knowledge base and arrive at her/his own conclusions and understanding . ●
More than one sense is involved in the teaching learning processes. Opportunities for sensory
stimulation (smell, touch, taste, hearing and seeing) need to be provided through a wide range
and variety of experiences. ● Opportunities are provided to interact with other children and,
therefore, cooperative learning should be encouraged through group work, peer learning, etc. ●
They are allowed to learn at their own pace. Flexibility is, therefore, very important in providing
learning time as well as in setting expectations based on each child’s needs, interests and styles
of learning. ● An integrated approach is provided and not segmented into fragmented
knowledge. ● Given the opportunity to come back to these concepts and skills again in the later
grades along with the new learning so that this learning gets consolidated. However, when
revisiting concepts the degree of complexity of tasks may be increased to match the child’s
maturity. ● Encouragement is given and they are able to experience success. Children’s efforts
should also be appreciated, not only their achievements. ● Content is interesting and captivating
and the teaching learning process is joyful and also allows for active participation and play. It is
also important to understand that children vary in their cognitive styles and hence differs in the
way they think and reason out problems, e.g. some children by nature are more reflective, and
they think deeply before giving the answer or deciding on a solution. Others are more impulsive
and respond immediately. We should, thus, be prepared for every child to behave and respond
differently even in a similar situation. Children’s learning proceeds from concrete to abstract,
from familiar to unfamiliar and from specific to general. Children, thus, need to be given a lot of
concrete experiences and examples to help them arrive at conclusions, rules and principles.
Children at the primary stage and upper primary learn through repetition. Hence, there is a need
to provide for practice and drill especially for the development of certain skills. However, they
do not enjoy monotonous repetition. 2. Different Classroom Contexts 3 | P a g e Teaching-
learning in the classroom depends to a large extent on the school environment and ethos. A safe,
secure and happy school environment can help children learn better. For this, it is necessary that
the school makes available necessary facilities such as learning materials, aids, equipment and
space for doing activities, working together and playing. Children’s learning in elementary
classes can be promoted much more through child-centered approach rather than teacher-
centred. Let us look into two classrooms – one that is teacher-centered and the other is child-
centered so that the terms used becomes clearer. 2.1. Classroom A In class III, forty children are
sitting on wooden benches behind desks with their exercise books open and pencils in their
hands. The teacher is standing in front of the class with an English textbook in her hand. She is
reading the lesson aloud and asking all the children to repeat after her. Once the lesson is over,
she asks the whole class to reread the lessons aloud. Some children are looking out of the
window, a few are talking to each other and two children are making paper planes. A child with a
hearing aid is looking in front with a blank face. Two boys sitting in front want to know more
about the main characters in the lesson. She ignores them saying - “I have to finish the lesson
and give you questions and answers for learning.” She then goes to the blackboard and writes the
questions from the textbook and instructs the children to copy what she has written on the
blackboard. While doing this, she repeatedly bumps the duster on the table asking the class to
keep quiet and do their work. On finishing her blackboard work from time to time she calls one
girl to wipe the blackboard clear, before writing the next question and answer. A few children
say they have not finished taking down the questions and answers. She responds with an irritated
tone and says – “I have to finish the lesson today, you can take it from one or the other children.
When the school bell rings, she tells the children to learn all the answers well for the test next
week. 2.2. Classroom B In class III, two groups of children are sitting on the floor in two circles.
Both groups contain girls and boys. The teacher is talking to them about fractions and showing
different parts of a circle. The children handle the different shapes and draw them according to
corresponding fraction. One child with hearing difficulties identifies the fraction of a semi-circle
as ½. The teacher smiles at her and says “very good”, making sure that the child can see her lips
as she speaks. A parent who is the local village carpenter enters with a wooden cut of circles. He
distributes the wooden blocks to the two groups and then sits with one asking the children to put
it together to form a circle. The teacher follows this up with an exercise on the blackboard where
she writes two fractions and asks the children to identify and add. The teacher calls each child to
her table and asks the child to point out two different shapes in the material put up/lying around
in the classroom. When the school bell rings she asks the two groups to put back all the materials
4 | P a g e into the cupboard carefully and clear the place as well as put their mats in order for the
next class. See Figure 1 depicting two classrooms
3. Towards a Child Centered Classroom 3.1. Constructivist Approach Moving towards creating
child centered classrooms requires us to rethink about the overall approach to teaching learning.
One such approach that is highlighted in National Curriculum 5 | P a g e Framework 2005 is the
constructivist approach. Some of you may be already using it. However, let us try to understand
it in greater detail. Constructivism is a philosophical view which states that every individual has
the capacity to construct knowledge. Learners actively construct their own knowledge by
connecting new ideas on the basis of materials/activities presented to them (experience).
Construction indicates that each learner individually and socially constructs meaning as he/she
learns. Constructing meaning is learning. The constructivist perspective provides strategies for
promoting learning by all. The construction of knowledge is largely dependent upon the process
of upbringing and the environment a child lives in. Thus, knowledge in this sense is essentially
social and cultural in nature. Constructivism advocates that coming to know of something is not
the discovery of some pre-existing reality but the subjective personal interpretation of that
reality. For example, a tree is an objective reality which everybody can see and call it a tree. But
the same tree may be perceived differently and interpreted differently by an artist and still
differently by a botanist or a person with ethnic background. Such type of viewing and
interpretation takes place in our society all the time. You may be experiencing this often because
of the diversity in terms of language, culture and ethnic background, found in your region. Such
differing experience is obtained because in our daily life we come across a variety of situations.
According to the principle of constructivism, for our classroom practices we should remember
that the information may be shared by the teachers, but knowledge generation or understanding
is the primary responsibility of the individual student. The teacher’s own role in children’s
cognition could be enhanced if they assume a more active role in relation to the process of
knowledge construction in which they are engaged. A child constructs her/his knowledge while
engaged in the process of learning. Allowing children to ask question that require to relate what
they are learning in school to things happening outside, encouraging children to answer in their
own words and from their own experiences rather than memorising and getting answers right in
just one way – all these are small but important steps in helping children develop their own
understanding. In this process, cooperative learning provides a strong training ground for the
construction and development of knowledge. When we say every child constructs knowledge on
his own, it is not individual cognition which is the sole generating force in knowledge
construction, rather knowledge is culturally negotiated or generated in cooperation and
understanding with others. For example, a child observes his father milking a cow by depriving
the calf’s share, at the same time in school he learns that cruelty to animals is not a good virtue.
Such conflicting views pose great dilemma in the child’s mind. Gradually the child learns how to
resolve such conflicts. Thus in school, children learn that their constructed belief does not
necessarily qualify as knowledge and that knowledge emerges from other sources as well as from
their own individual cognition. Accepting the fact that knowledge construction is the primary
responsibility of the learners, the teacher acts as a facilitator in the process. The whole situation
is presented in the following diagram (Figure 2: The 5 Es) which explains the entire process.
process. 6 | P a g e Now let us see how these five Es have been used in the following example.
Topic- Energy Resources Everyday students observe the food cooked at home, electricity used
for various purposes and so on. When asked to share their experiences to attempt another similar
task, they are engaged in the activity of recollecting the different sources of energy that they
have already experienced.

FINAL TERM REFERENCE:

Teaching Values Using Creative Strategies:

An Asian Perspective 0109 Fides A. del Castillo De La Salle University Manila, Philippines

The Asian Conference on Society, Education and Technology2013 Official Conference Proceedings
2013

iafor

The International Academic Forum www.iafor.org

The Asian Conference on Society, Education, and Technology 2013 Official Conference Proceedings
Osaka, Japan

Introduction In the academe, we know that a student has learned when there is a change in behavior.
As educators, we constantly strive to impart knowledge to our students. We know, however, that it is
not enough to just educate a person. Equally important is how that person relates to others.
Educators hope that their students will be knowledge-able to make sense of the things and events
that are happening around them, make critical (and even unpopular) choices, and have the courage to
act out their decisions. The education of children does not only rest on the school and teachers.
Recent studies have shown that parents and the home environment are very critical in the formation
of children. The parents are truly the equal partners of teachers and the school. No parent desires to
have a child that is the bane of the society. Every parent hopes that his or her child will significantly
contribute to the community and the society through their careers and stances. This drives parents to
teach, discipline, correct, and empower their children at the home environment. Teachers and parents
therefore go hand in hand in the complete education of young people. With this in mind, certain
questions beg to be asked.

How can educators move from simply transferring knowledge to being effective classroom facilitators
who empower students to discover new knowledge? How can educators evolve from just “talking
about values” to becoming paragons of values? How can parents effectively reinforce the values
witnessed by their children from their teachers at school? How can parents and teachers take
advantage of their unique relationship so as to effectively educate young people?

The poet Dorothy Nolte in her poem “Children Learn What They Live” (1972) gives us an obvious but
often overlooked idea:

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live

A very important aspect of education and formation is the ‘learning experience.’ By learning
experience we mean the whole array of the learning process. We do not just refer to specific
strategies, motivations, or one-shot outreach activities. We include in the learning experience all the
factors that contribute to the education of the child. It is a tall order considering that there are
numerous variables beyond our control. However, it is also empowering for we take responsibility
and act upon those things that we can control. We then consider those things within our power and
circle of influence for we know that they significantly impact the education of our children.

We can take advantage of significant learning experiences by asking

“How can this event or situation be a learning opportunity for my students?”

“What values can I impart to my students through this learning experience?” and

“How will this learning experience affect the complete education of my students?”

The Learning Experience: Goal, Agents, and Tools

Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and an expert on leadership, said
that we must “begin with the end in mind.” That is, prior to executing our plan of action, we should
have drawn first our desired goals or outcomes. It is only in this context that all subsequent actions
become purposeful. The education that we provide and the learning experiences that we immerse our
students in should be toward the formation and production of responsible, value-laden, and God-
fearing people. It is safe to say that no educator or parent would want to see a knowledge laden
young person turn into a dishonest, disrespectful, and selfish adult. Rath et al (1996) noted that
“several kinds of problems children often exhibit in school and at home are caused by a lack of
values.” While this might seem like an obvious conclusion, what cannot be denied is the reality that
teachers and parents (the agents of a child’s complete education), constantly face difficult challenges
in the arena of value formation. Sometimes, a very intelligent child turns into a nuisance of society. As
agents of positive change, we need knowledge that will help us clearly identify our educational goals
as well as gain the tools that will help us attain those goals.

Understanding Values

We consider something as important when it has great significance, value, or consequence. How do
values then become important in our lives? There are many definitions of values: “A value is a belief
upon which one acts by preference” (Allport, 1950); “A value is a conception, explicit or implicit of the
desirable which influences the selection from available modes, means, and ends of action (Kluckhohn,
1951); and “A value is the object of a positive attitude” (Bulatao, 1961). While the terms used in the
definitions differ, there appears to be an agreement that values influence behavior. Values therefore
are important in our lives because of their intimate link and impact to our behavior. Bulatao (1961)
declares “our values colour our human acts and are reflected in every product of our human soul.”
Our lives are shaped by those who loved us, and by those who refuse to love us (Powell, 1975).

Undeniably, we are moulded by the people whom we have related with. Our personal relationships
(family, friends, teachers, neighbors) and the social consciousness have significant contributions in
our thinking processes, behavior, decision-making, preferences, and value system. It is in our
human interactions that we are able to witness first-hand and imbibe the correct (and incorrect)
behavior-responses to life events. From these learned behavior-responses we draw out our
preferred actions which in turn become guides for our behavior.

Our derived values (values adopted from the people who have significantly influenced us) and
chosen values (those which upon our personal experience and introspection have found to be
correct and true and thus have committed ourselves to) explicitly tell us who we are as a person and
pervades our human life.

Understandably, values can change and be modified depending on the person’s experiences,
influences, and life stage. Values can also be appreciated as standards used in making a decision
(Lynch, 1961). For example, a child who grows up in a rural locality may form new set of values
once relocated to an urban setting. This is because values differ between family and generations,
regions and cultures.
Each person develops a unique set of values. This assertion rests on the unique life experiences,
influences, fulfilment of basic needs (food, shelter, security etc.), and people in a person’s life.
However, all unique values can be grouped into categories.

According to Kim (2010), there are 4 common Asian values that exist, namely:
familism, communalism, authority and emphasis on education.

Singh (2009) identifies 6 sets of values inherent to a person. These values are captured basically
from the various influences in the living spaces of a human person. These values are individualistic,
family, professional, national, moral, and spiritual values.

A. Individualistic values refer to the inborn value of self-preservation. This means that a person’s
well-being is of utmost importance. Every child starts with individualistic values. It is in the nature
of a child to want everything for himself or herself and that everyone surrounding him (or her) are
meant to serve his (or her) needs. These individualistic values can be considered as the most basic
set of values.

B. Family values refer to values that stems forth from a person’s relationship with his or her family.
The family, which is the basic unit of the society, pervades the value system of a person with
reference to closeness and solidarity, politeness, hospitality, and gratitude. The family nurtures
each individual in the best possible way that they know.
In a family system, each member performs complementary functions in order to help each other
succeed as a person. The parents ensure the continuity of the value and tradition they have as a
family. It is important to take into consideration that both the mother and the father carries with
them different values and it is crucial to teach the right values to their children. Singh wrote: “In
the family system, the interest of each member of the family is protected through an unwritten law
as love and trust alone governs the management of a family. The entire system of family value is
maintained by tradition and trust.

However, when family values are strong, it results in the reduction of individual freedom and
decline
in the individual values. Every person has to think for the family first and the self as secondary.”

C. Professional values refer to the values acquired from the different organizations and workplaces
in the society. Man develops a set of values from the practice of his or her profession. It is very
important to understand that each profession has its own set of values which sometimes contradict
the values of another profession. Yet, these values are necessary to keep the professionals united
and working together for the common good. An example of contradicting professional values will
be the
appreciation for human life from an educator’s point of view against that of a law enforcer. While
teachers will never promote the killing of a person, a police officer will readily take a man’s life
given
the necessary circumstances. Professional values may differ but it actualizes the mission and
responsibility of each person in the society.

D. National values are commonly codified in the national laws of a particular country. These laws
seek to grant equality and justice to all its citizens. The national values are appropriated in order to
protect the citizens by particularly emphasizing their rights and privileges as persons. At the same
time, each individual is tasked to love their country as a sign solidarity and patriotism. It is also
important to take note that human values have a social aspect. We are all responsible for one
another (Gorospe, 2011).

E. Moral and Spiritual values are ethical values which are naturally developed in each individual
because we are created with dignity and respect for life. Every person desires to be loved and be
respected by other people in the society.
The natural tendency to love and respect others moves us to practice these values. In addition, the
belief of each individual to a Supreme Being calls us to believe that we have a higher purpose on
earth
that each creature is created with a purpose and that is to love and to share the beauty of life
bestowed
to us by God.

Hence, upon knowing the different sets of values that a person develops over time in his life, it is
important to acknowledge that in order to understand a person, one should know and therefore
understand his beliefs and values. Each individual is formed by the different sets of values.
Thus each person sees things according to their own belief and values (Thomlinson, 1953). Trying
to
find a common area of good understanding will help two individuals create an excellent dialogue
and
open communication.

Values Education
In an attempt to respond to this challenge, a good number of schools have already reviewed their
curriculum and integrated values in subject areas. Value integration is a commendable move to
address the dichotomy between belief and practice.

Robb (1988) defines values education as “an activity which can take place in any organization
during which people are assisted by others, who may be older, in authority or more experienced, to
make explicit those values underlying their own behavior, to assess the effectiveness of these values
and associated behavior for their own and others' long term well-being and to reflect on and
acquire other values and behavior which they themselves realize are more effective for long term
well-being of self and others.”

Values education is therefore a process by which a mature adult assists learners to discover,
choose, and act with the goal of attaining one’s personal well-being as well as that of the society. It
must be made clear however that values education is not indoctrination. In fact a successful values
education program should develop critically–minded persons who are able to synthesize, see
connections, evaluate arguments and then decide on the proper course of action. In continuously
choosing what is right and moral, the young person’s actions develop into good habits which then
become the pillars of appropriate values.
There are many agents of values education. Parents act as primary agents of values education.
Vatican II asserts the family as the domestic Church which “inculcates religious beliefs, attitudes,
morals, and social conscience.” Monera and Marco (2006) add that the “modelling of parents are
indispensible. The parents, in their most fundamental function, are expected to safeguard,
reproduce, and transmit religious and cultural values.”

In partnership with the parents, school teachers (in loco parentis) also carry the immense
responsibility of forming young people to become value-laden productive citizens of the society.
Newman and Blehl (1963) even go to the extent of describing an ideal education as “almost
prophetic in its knowledge of history; it is almost heartsearching from its knowledge of human
nature; it has almost supernatural charity from its freedom from littleness and prejudice; it has
almost the repose of faith because nothing can startle it; it has almost the beauty and harmony of
heavenly contemplation, so intimate is with the eternal order of things and the music of the
spheres.”

Teaching is a never-ending quest of helping learners achieve knowledge, skills and values. Hence,
teachers should be the first one to model good behavior in and out of the school.

Teachers are the best visual aid inside the classroom.

Zulueta & Guimbatan (2002) share the following desirable characteristics of a teacher:

• Emotionally stable and with sound mental health

• Good physical health and dynamic personality

• Creativity, resourcefulness and good countenance

• Good grooming, good example in word and actions

• Has positive outlook in life

• Friendly and sociable

• Firm yet has democratic leadership

• Encouraging attitude and morally upright

The Need for Values Education It is very common (and understandable) for teachers to appreciate
values education as a tool to lessen or even eradicate behavior problems among students. However,
values education can be elevated to a much higher purpose. Through values education, we empower
students and help them address properly their personal problems even after they have already left
school. Dagmang (2007) explains that “students, when faced with personal problems, usually go to
familiar sources and non-traditional supports such as popularized books,

magazines, journals, friends, tv, internet, and some professionals.” An effective values education
program however will make the student draw out from himself (or herself) the necessary skills,
tools, and solutions to his or her problems.

Values education will be futile if it ends with just the empowerment of the person to solve his (or
her) personal or private matters. It should also be seen as a powerful tool to move the young (who
will also be adults soon) to look and respond to the more serious aspects of life and the many ills
that plague the society. The world of the workplace, governments, arenas of power and other
human exploits have brought numerous social ills of which we are challenged to identify, correct,
and fight against. Values education and the teacher must make the students discover that there is a
way to make this world a better place. Values education can be a tool in the dialectical process of
finding solutions to social ills where opposing orientations are appreciated in their mutual
interactions toward advancement or growth.
To teach values in these post-modern times is a necessity. If teachers are to form upright persons
who are actively involved in social change then they must rise up to the challenge of becoming
paragons of virtue.

The Youth Today

There used to be a time (not that long ago) that only business establishments, government
institutions, the middle class, and those belonging to a higher social class have telephones.

There was a time when research meant going to the library, looking at the card catalogues, copying
pages from books and typing the research paper using a typewriter. Now, research is synonymous
with Google which is one of the leading search engines in the World Wide Web. Type the word and
in as fast as 2 seconds you can have as much as a million results for your query. One can download
the research material and use it for the research paper. The final paper can then be sent to the
professor though e-mail. Some professors even check the paper using the “review” function of
Microsoft Word and return the corrected paper to the student via e-mail. To protect the document,
one can always convert it to “.pdf” or “portable document format.

Also, not too long ago, watching movies meant going to the theatre or buying a dvd. Now, one can
download movies and depending on the speed of internet connection, watch the movie after just a
few minutes on the computer, “tablet”, smartphone, or even portable gaming machines such as
“Portable PlayStation (PSP)” or “Nintendo Dual Screen (DS)”

A few years ago, tv meant television where you can watch your favorite programs strewn with a few
dozen commercials. Now, there are television models that also serve as computer monitors complete
with internet capabilities. Now, there are television models that uses “motion sensor” which
virtually eradicate the remote control.

Modernization, globalization and technology have changed the meaning of words. Take for
example the words “net” (not just something that is used to catch fish but can also refer to the
internet), “web” (not just the silk that comes out of a spider but can also refer to the world wide
web), phone (used to be understood as a landline but now refers to cellular phone) and load (not
just weight or cargo but also the amount that you can use for calls or texts using your cellular
phone). New words have also entered our vocabulary like download, upload, tweet, blog, hashtag
and many others. Vis-a vis the change in the meaning of certain words are changes in certain
aspects of our post-modern culture. While modernization, globalization and technology have made
our lives easier, more interconnected, convenient, and enjoyable, they have also brought a host of
problems that plague us.

It is common to see people who are “hanging-out” but not interacting because they are busy texting
other people. “Copy-pasted” research papers of students are a common headache of teachers.
Pirated movies and music proliferate. These are but some of the modern realities that we have to
grapple with.

Monera and Marco (2006) have asserted that the young, influenced by modernization,
secularization, and globalization, have drifted away or have become indifferent to traditional moral
teachings. Their finding is in consonance with the view of Dagmang (2007) who said that “the young
have more familiarity with the world of spending and consumption (shopping, malling, e-
commerce), play (PSP, cellphone, iPod, iPad), and spontaneous self-searching (through Facebook,
Twitter, YM).”
There are numerous intervening factors that strengthen or weaken the value system of a young
individual. It is important to note, however, that the Youth Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey
(YAPS-II) have concluded that “adolescents manifests his (or her) processing reaction to the
intervening factors in terms of the beliefs, attitudes , values, and morals he (or she) eventually holds
in a given period in his (or her) life.” This means that teachers are all the more needed to “step into
the picture” and become living witnesses in the critical stage of adolescence. Monera and Marco
(2006) explained that teachers must challenge student’s critical thinking for evaluating claims and
counterclaims about beliefs, values, and morally defensible actions to arrive at an informed
conscience.

Teaching Strategies

In a game, coaches and players create strategies and anticipate the competition’s moves by crafting
counter-strategies. In military warfare, strategy takes prominence for it spells the difference
between saving and losing thousands of lives. In education, strategy has an altruistic function: to
make sure that students learn the material and gain knowledge. Teaching strategy, unlike the
strategy in games or war where the proponent is the beneficiary, focuses on the success of the
recipient (i.e. students).

Let us use the following story to elucidate further the importance of teaching strategy:

Once there was a man who bought a king-sized bed. When he arrived home, he discovered that he
cannot get the bed into the house for it was seven feet long and his door was only three feet wide.
The man was frustrated and called a friend for help. His friend told him, “You just got your
numbers wrong my friend, you see, your bed is only five feet wide but your door is six feet tall. If
you try to get it into the house this way, it will surely fit.”

A teaching strategy will never compromise a material to “fit” into the minds of students. Instead, it
is a tool that facilitates teaching and learning. It involves creativity so that educators can look at
things in a different light, to think outside the box, and to change paradigms. More than anything,
teaching strategies call for courage for not all strategies brings out the desired results.

Types of Spaces for Learning

We have established that each student inside a classroom learns differently from one another.
There are learners who will best learn through games while others through lectures and individual
reflections. Therefore, we also have to recognize that learning spaces are very important in the
acquisition of knowledge of the learners.

There are two types of spaces for learning:

1) formal and

2) informal.

Formal instruction spaces are embodied in classrooms or lecture when direct instruction is
required. Formal instruction includes lecture, discussion, question-and-answer, and lecture-
demonstration. On the other hand, informal instruction spaces refer to laboratories, field,
playground, exposure trip, games and the like. In informal instruction spaces, unstructured
activities are made present so that the learners who learn best through games, role plays and field
trips.

A Survey on What Teaching Strategy a Student Learn Values Best

In order to find a balanced and well-founded answer to the question: In what teaching strategy do
students learn best?

The researcher conducted a survey using a cluster sampling, with120 students coming from a
private tertiary institution.

The studentparticipants are between 17-20 years old. are composed of Filipino (50%), Chinese
(30%), Japanese (12%), and other Asian nationality (8%). In the survey, the students were asked to
rank 10 teaching strategies which are commonly used by their teachers and where they would learn
values best. They rank the following teaching strategies, 1 as the highest and 10 as the lowest:

1. Lecture

2. Group Discussion

3. Discussion by partner

4. Film viewing

5. Group project

6. Reflection paper

7. Written exams

8. Recitation

9. Video making

10. Community service

In the survey, it shows that lecture is still the most effective strategy in teaching values to students.
It is where the students learn positive qualities based from the concepts and experiences shared by
the teacher. The teacher may use other medium like presentation, stories, hand-outs, pictures and
others. But how a teacher deliver the content matters most in bringing about the values to be
conveyed to the students.

The second most effective strategy is the group discussion. It is where the students express their
insights with 3 to 5 group members. This activity makes a student comfortable in sharing ones
ideals and thus comments on the thoughts of other members. Through the sharing ones
experiences, the students learn values brought about by the experiences encountered by their group
mates.
The third strategy is quite related to the second strategy. Discussion by partner allows the students
to share their knowledge in a more intimate way. Instead of communicating ones ideas to a larger
group, in this activity conveying ones message is received only by a person.

The fourth strategy requires a value laden film that focuses on the specific topic the teacher teaches.
Value laden films reflect the practice of certain values in one’s day-to-day living. Films may bring
affirmation, doubt and inspiration to students.

Group project requires discussion among students but would focus not on the values but more on
the tasks at hand. Values like camaraderie, responsibility and involvement may be learned
implicitly.

Writing a reflection paper may bring out insights about one’s own values. But this can also be a
superficial way of looking at ones values. Submitting a reflection paper may be subjective for the
reason that it is graded. Some students may write a beautiful reflection paper but the content may
be flawed. Hence, this might be a good strategy but caution is necessary.

Written examination is another activity that has less impact to students in terms of learning values.
The objective type of exam may be used by the school and teachers as a tool to measure the extent
of learning inside the classroom. But this does not guarantee that a student learn much values in the
class.

Moreover, recitation may bring out what the teacher would want to hear from students but this
may not guarantee the authentic learning of students. This could be used as a means to gauge the
students’ understanding of the topic by asking the students to summarize the lessons learned from
the discussion and lecture.

Second to the last is video making. This may be a good practical activity but learning values from
video making may not be deliberately achieved. Video making with group mates may focus more on
the technical skills and less on the affective skills.

Lastly is community service. It was a surprise to find out that community service or program is the
least strategy where students will learn values. According to the survey, students find it a bit useful
because it is sometimes disconnected with their own experiences as students. Likewise, they find
community service challenging and hard that’s why this strategy is unpopular for them. Having a
low score for community service can make teachers more aware on how they process the activity.

Proposed Framework for Teaching Values

Values education is a necessary tool in order to promote positive values to the young generation and
hence preserve our cultural values. Relating all the discussions made and the teaching strategy
survey, the researcher made a proposed VIRTUE framework in order to fully develop the values
formation among the young.

Virtue is the habit of doing good. This is necessary to form positive behavior. The proposed
VIRTUE framework aims to help the students to develop good habits and thus encourage them to
practice the virtues. It is composed of different sections that will utilize the teaching and learning
experience in the classroom and thus imbibe positive values amongst students.

VIRTUE Framework
Victories of Life:

This section introduces the lesson or values to be discussed by giving examples of life’s triumphs
and by practicing the featured virtue/s. This is the human experience.

Inflame:

This part processes the human experiences by explaining the victory of life. The teacher will
encourage the students to discuss among groups or partners how experience success and victories in
life.

Rediscover:

This includes the theories and content of the lesson. The teacher may use medium and other
strategies in laying down the lesson. But the teacher must be able to process the lesson very well and
relate it to the students’ experiences in order for it to be meaningful

Trivia:

This includes some trivia about the virtue/s (eg. Etymology). This will make the lesson more
interesting and fun.

Uplifting Realizations:

Things to remember, realizations, scenarios and challenges where the realizations can be applied.
This will include graphic organizer to summarize the lesson. Reflection and group discussions may
be used to deepen the students’ understanding

Engagement:

Evaluation and activities to process the lesson which includes UbD assessment tools.

Conclusion: To Teach Values is to Respond to a Call

A man was watching news on primetime television when his five-year old son quipped,

“Father, I don’t want you to watch news anymore.”

The father was surprised and asked the little boy,

“Why don’t you like the news?”

The little boy said, “Because it has nothing but death and violence.”

The father immediately turned off the television.

The five year old boy brought to light what most adults have missed. Our world is filled with death
and violence and we are thriving in a “culture of death.” However, there is hope. We are called to
respond and rise up to the challenge. Educators are given the immense power and responsibility to
shape the hearts and minds of young people.

Educators must therefore do their ordinary duties extraordinarily well. Educators must have that
burning desire to create positive change, among students and the society, no matter how
insignificant it may seem. In fact, most teachers might not even see the fruits of their labor in their
lifetime. Yet, their consolation is that perhaps, they have inspired their students. As what Arthur
William Ward said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

To teach values is to respond to the crisis of apparent normalcy in these post-modern times.
Globalization, secularization and modernization have made the young drift away from values,
principles and beliefs and indifferent to traditional moral teachings. Educators acknowledge that
this “drifting away and indifference” of the young is a crisis, that if not addressed, can soon lead to
social collapse. Joan Chittister (2005) succinctly tells us:

“The situation [that leads to social collapse] is always more than obvious: when underneath the
regular institutional rhythms, schedules, events and organizational rituals, the tectonic plates of the
system – membership, credibility, relevance, purpose, and public effectiveness - are straining and
creaking beyond any reasonable degree of structural tolerance, that enterprise is in danger, if not of
extinction, at very least of cultural sclerosis. Then that system is in the midst of critical change –
quiet, unobtrusive, cloaked as it may be – which it may or may not survive but will surely not
survive unchanged.

Put plainly, Chittister (2005) explains that a society that does not acknowledge and respond to the
seemingly mundane problems shall soon suffer critical change. Hence, educators must seriously
take the challenge to teach values and assist the Filipino youth in the formation of an informed
conscience.

To Teach Effectively is to Have a Loving Heart

A young teacher graduated with honors from a reputable school. He has passed the licensure
examination for teachers and was immediately hired by an exclusive private Catholic school to
teach Christian Living Education to first year high school students. It seemed that everything was
going well for him. Not until the very first day of school that reality set in. He suffered a horrible
time: The students challenged him, he cannot control the class, everyone was noisy, and his lesson
plan was not put into action. What went wrong? He knew the theories and strategies but he lacked
“experience.”

The young teacher then decided to be better and sought a mentor. He shared his difficulties to his
very understanding CLE Coordinator who guided him and shared to him not just techniques but
an invaluable advice: “Love your students,” the CLE coordinator said. “It makes all the
difference.”

Great teachers love their students. This love is manifested in preparing lessons well, handling
student misbehaviours, providing opportunities for student success, engaging the students in the
learning process and so on. To teach effectively, an educator needs the right skills and tools.
However, more than anything, he or she needs a big heart. St. Francis of Sales sums it up in saying,
“You catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than a barrel full of vinegar. In other words: Love
(like sweet honey) is a very important aspect of education.
To Teach Values is to Plant Seeds

Educators who labour long and hard toward the realization of the kingdom of God can draw
inspiration from the gospel of Mark (4:26-29): Jesus also said, “In the kingdom of God it is like
this: a man scatters seed upon the soil. Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed
sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The soil produces of itself: first the blade, then the ear, then
the full grain in the ear. And when it is ripe for harvesting, they take the sickle for the cutting: the
time for the harvest has come.” Our daily efforts to form the hearts and minds of our students shall
not be in vain. The lessons that we have imparted to them will be the seeds of change. It is our hope
that when we come face to face with our Creator, we can also say the words of St. Paul “As for me,
I am already poured out as a libation, and the moment of my departure has come. I have fought the
good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness with which the Lord, the just judge, will reward me on that day; and not only me, but
all those who have longed for his glorious coming (2Tim 4:6-8)

Bibliography

Allport, G. (1950). The individual and his religion. US: The American Company

Chittister, J. (2005). The crisis of apparent normalcy. Concilium, 2005/3, 76-83

Kim, S. (2010). Do asian values exist? empirical tests of the four dimensions of asian

values. Journai of East Asian Studies. 10, 315-344

Lynch, F. and de Guzman, A. (1970). Four readings on philippine values. QC:

Ateneo de Manila University Press

Powell, J. (1967). Why am i afraid to love? USA: HarperCollins

Raths, L. 1966. Values and teaching: working with values in the classroom. Ohio:

Merrill Publishing Co.

Robb, B. (1998). What is values education and so what? The Journal of Values

Education Vol. 1

Zulueta, F. and Guimbatan, K. (2002). Teaching strategies and educational

alternatives vol. 1. Quezon City: Academic Publishing Corporation

Electronic Sources

Children learn what they live, Retrieved July 18, 2012, from

http://brightonanxietyforum.com/baf/index.php?topic=456.0
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Retrieved July 20, 2012, from

https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit2.php

Types of Human Values, Retrieved June 19, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?SixTypes-of-

Human-Values&id=2843537

Youth Survey, Retrieved June 19, 2012, from

http://www.centerforyouth.org/Encyclopedia.aspx?id=60958

Eight Types of Instructional Strategies That Improve Learning in a 21st Century World

By ASCD Guest Blogger -January 9, 201227817

In today’s world, with its rich and overwhelming amount of accessible information,
bewildering career options, uncertainty, and change, five skill areas stand out as important
for lifelong learning – being able to:

 Ask questions, formulate problems and challenges

 Search for and process information

 Think deeply and flexible

 Draw conclusions, apply to learn

 Communicate effectively.

It is the premise of this author that competency in all five skill areas, along with a
fundamental knowledge base and knowledge of one’s own skills, talents, and interests, will
significantly increase the probability that a student will be successful in college, career,
citizenship, and the ability to adapt to change.

In other blog posts, I have indicated that certain beliefs and principles about teaching and
learning support and enhance the development of these skills, and that the project-based
learning model is naturally suited to help and support the development of all five skill
areas. Other general strategies, such as Problem Based Learning and Creative Problem
Solving, are also helpful in developing these skills.

In this blog post, I want to suggest eight types strategies that I believe are extremely useful
for developing these skills. They also have the advantage of engaging students in the
learning process.
Activators and Summarizers

Activators and summarizers are what we do immediately before and after a formal
learning experience. Activators are designed “to engage students’ thinking before
instruction”. They focus students on a goal, problem, challenge or essential question,
surface student misconceptions, help students to feel some ownership in what they are
learning, and enable teachers to gather data from students and adapt lessons and units to
their prior knowledge.  Summarizers are designed “to support integration and retention of
new learning.” They help students to draw conclusions and summarize for themselves what
was important, what they have learned, how it is important, and/or how it fits with what
they already know.

Multiple types of activities can be used for both activators and summarizers, such as words
that come to mind, human treasure hunt, interviews, learning logs, ticket out the door, and
“the most important thing about…”.  A “question-categorization brainstorm” activator
also helps students build their question development skills and enables teachers to use
student-developed questions to stimulate inquiry.

The above quotes and information (except for the question brainstorm) come from two
books that overview and suggest strategies for both activators and summarizes:

Jon Saphier and Mary Ann Haley, Activators, and Jon Saphier and Mary Ann
Haley, Summarizers. Acton, MA: Research for Better Teaching, 1993. Both of these books
can be purchased from the Research for Teaching website or through Amazon.

An Internet search using the terms “activators” and “summarizers” suggests additional
resources.

Information Literacy

Information literacy is “the ability to identify what information is needed, understand how
the information is organized, identify the best sources of information for a given need,
locate those sources, evaluate the sources critically, and share that information. It is the
knowledge of commonly used research techniques.”[1] Although the term “information
literacy” is most often used by librarians, the skills associated with it are critical for living
in today’s information rich world. Information literacy activities help students to identify a
topic for research, formulate questions and problems, search for and find information,
evaluate, organize, analyze and synthesize information sources, and share results.

A search of information literacy websites highlight a number of web resources that can be
used to help implement information literacy strategies, such
as http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/;
and http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/info_literacy/

Reading for Understanding

Once a child learns basic reading skills, how can he or she be helped to build
comprehension and understanding. In this respect, every teacher is a teacher of reading.
Kelly Gallagher gives a good description of Reading for Understanding:

“…WE CAN ASSIGN READING IN OUR CLASSROOMS, GIVE STUDENTS SHALLOW

READING ASSIGNMENTS, AND HAVE STUDENTS PASS THEM. ON THE SURFACE,
EVERYTHING LOOKS FINE: THE STUDENTS READ THE TEXT AND ARE ABLE TO
ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. BUT IN REALITY DO THEY REALLY UNDERSTAND
WHAT THEY HAVE READ? THEY CAN ANSWER SURFACE LEVEL QUESTIONS, BUT
ONCE YOU ASK THEM TO EVALUATE, TO ANALYZE, TO SYNTHESIZE, THEY CAN’T
DO IT. UNFORTUNATELY, I THINK A LOT OF…[THIS KIND OF SURFACE LEVEL]…
READING IS GOING ON IN OUR SCHOOLS.”[2]

Reading for Understanding strategies help students go below the surface and find the
deeper meaning behind what is being read. They have been developed to improve reading
comprehension and the understanding of what is being read for all students in all subject
areas. They include Before-During-After reading strategies, SQ3R strategies (if you don’t
know this, look it up), first and second draft reading, interpretive discussions of text,
reflective logs, and many other similar strategies.

A number of resources can be helpful for learning reading for understanding strategies,
including:

Ruth Schoelbach, Cynthia Greenleaf, and others. Reading for Understanding. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999

Kelly Gallagher. Deeper Reading. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2004.

The ASCD series of books on Reading in the Content Areas, especially Sue Beers and Lou
Howell, Reading Strategies in the Content Areas. Alexandria, VA; An ASCD Action Tool,
2003.

Visual Learning Tools

Visual learning tools, also called graphic organizers, “assist learners…[in how to visually]
…organize and find patterns among the overwhelming amount of information available
today, as well as to make sense out of it and evaluate it”. [3] Another definition states that
visual learning tools “help students collect information, make interpretations, solve
problems, devise plans, and become aware of how they think.”[4] Multiple types of visual
tools have been developed – mind maps, webs, decision trees, analysis charts, before and
after reading charts, story maps, and many more.

These two books provide extensive information about visual tools and graphic organizers:

David Hylerle. Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge. Alexandria, VA:Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1996;
Phyllis Green, editor. Graphic Organizer Collection. San Antonio, TX: Novel Units, 1999.

Other resources include software tools such as Inspiration, and “graphic organizers”
searches provide a number of sources of information for finding and using visual tools.

“Deep and Flexible Thinking”

Thinking Deeply and Flexibly goes beyond memorization and low level inference making,
and involves numerous habits and strategies, among them open-mindedness to new
thoughts and ideas, explanation, classifying, comparing and contrasting, argumentation
and debate, interpretation, problem solving, creativity, decision making, planning, and the
use of logic and reasoning. Strategies range from the types of questions asked of students to
strategies that promote specific types of thinking, such as interpretive discussions. In
general, teachers should be familiar with a broad array of thinking strategies that promote
different types of thinking, and how to employ them in the classroom with their students.
Many resources are available for helping teachers learn to teach thinking. Among what I
consider the best, collected over the years, are the following:

Louis Raths, Selma Wasserman, et. al. Teaching for Thinking, New Edition. New York:
Teacher’s College Press, 1986 (A classic book about how to teach for thinking).

Arthur Costa, editor. Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, Third
Edition. Alexandria, VA; ASCD, 2001 (another classic).

An Internet search using the words “teaching for thinking” yields many other valuable
resources. Socratic discussion principles for classroom use can be found through Shared
Inquiry discussion procedures at the Great Books Foundation, and the Touchstones
Discussion Project.

Interactive Notebooks

With interactive notebooks, students are taught how to record, collect, and organize
information in traditional formats from a teacher, text, or additional resources, and also
are given creative, deep thinking assignments that help them to see connections, dig more
deeply into learning, do analyses, synthesize data in interesting ways, and become
independent, creative thinkers and writers. This approach is a terrific way for students to
organize a notebook so that they collect, organize, synthesize, explore, and apply
information in meaningful ways.

Practically, many teachers have students organize their interactive notebooks by using
either the left or right side of the page for recording and collecting information in
traditional ways, and the opposite side of the page for creative activities. Some teachers
have students keep one section of a notebook for notes and another for creative, higher
order thinking activities.

For more information, search “interactive notebook” on the web, and go to:
http://www.slideshare.net/elonahartjes/introducing-interactive-notebooks

Writing Process/Writer’s Workshop

Writing Process and Writer’s Workshop are two ways to significantly increase skills in
communicating through all types of writing, and at the same time use writing to enhance
the development of the five skill areas. Writing process encourages students to improve
writing gradually, over time, like professional writers do,  rather than writing all at once
and just once. The writing process consists of five stages — pre-writing activities, initial
writing, revising, editing, and “publishing” (sharing writing with others). The writing
process encourages students to ask good questions and formulate problems in the re-write
stage, process information in the initial writing phase, and so on.

In writer’s workshop, specific class time is dedicated solely to writing and students are
treated as budding authors. “As in professional writing workshops, the emphasis is placed
on sharing work with the class, on peer conferencing and editing, and on the collection of a
wide variety of work in a writing folder, and eventually in a portfolio. Teachers write with
their students and share their own work as well. The workshop setting encourages students
to think of themselves as writers, and to take their writing seriously.” [5]

Among the many sources of information about the writing process is the website:

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/

An overview of writer’s workshop by Steven Peha, Welcome to Writer’s Workshop, can be

downloaded at:

http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20(Full).pdf

Think-Pair-Share and Wait Time

One of the dangers of traditional discussions and question-answer sessions in the classroom
is that certain students who think quickly dominate. Think-Pair-Share and Wait Time
strategies enable many more students to speak their thoughts out loud, develop answers to
questions, participate in discussions, think at higher levels, and become much more
involved and engaged in the learning process. Both Think-Pair-Share and Wait Time slow
the discussion and question session down and give all students time to think through their
answers, search for appropriate information, and in general become better learners.

Search for think-pair-share and wait time on the Internet for more information; or

Go to: http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/categ.html  (there are also many other interesting

strategies at this site)
———————————-
Other strategies could be selected, but I believe every teacher should be familiar with these
eight and decide on when and whether they are worth using in their classrooms.
What are your thoughts and comments about these eight? Would you add any to this list?
Modify or subtract any? What key strategies do you believe significantly enhance learning
in a 21st century world?

[1] From the following website: http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/info_literacy/

[2] Kelly Gallagher, Deeper Reading.  Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2004.

[3] David Hylerle. Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge. Alexandria, VA: Association

for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1996.

[4] Phyllis Green, editor. Graphic Organizer Collection. San Antonio, TX: Novel Units,
1999.

[5] Steven Peha, Welcome to Writer’s Workshop. This document can be found as a PDF file
at the Teaching That Makes Sense website, www.ttms.org

Seif is an educational consultant and author. He served for 15 years as the director of
curriculum and instruction services for the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, an educational
service agency in Bucks County, Penn. He was also a social studies teacher, professor of
education at Temple University, and the director of the Pennsylvania Future Problem Solving
Program.