Trends, Networks, and Critical
Thinking in the 21st Century
Quarter 3 – Module 3:
Identifying Parts of a Whole
and Emerging Patterns in Trends
Trends, Networks, and Critical
Thinking in the 21st Century
Quarter 3 – Module 3:
Identifying Parts of a Whole
and Emerging Patterns in Trends
Introductory Message
This Self-Learning Module (SLM) is prepared so that you, our dear learners,
can continue your studies and learn while at home. Activities, questions,
directions, exercises, and discussions are carefully stated for you to understand
each lesson.
Each SLM is composed of different parts. Each part shall guide you step-by-
step as you discover and understand the lesson prepared for you.
Pre-tests are provided to measure your prior knowledge on lessons in each
SLM. This will tell you if you need to proceed on completing this module or if you
need to ask your facilitator or your teacher’s assistance for better understanding of
the lesson. At the end of each module, you need to answer the post-test to self-
check your learning. Answer keys are provided for each activity and test. We trust
that you will be honest in using these.
In addition to the material in the main text, Notes to the Teacher are also
provided to our facilitators and parents for strategies and reminders on how they can
best help you on your home-based learning.
Please use this module with care. Do not put unnecessary marks on any part
of this SLM. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises and tests.
And read the instructions carefully before performing each task.
If you have any questions in using this SLM or any difficulty in answering
the tasks in this module, do not hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator.
Thank you.
What I Need to Know
Embarking on this technology-driven age requires one to think deeply
about any emerging issue, solves problems creatively, collaborates with a team,
communicates clearly, learns fast-changing technologies, and deals with
overwhelming information. The rapid changes compel one to be flexible, to take
the initiative and lead when needed, and to produce something new and useful.
This module contains a discussion on how to identify parts of a whole,
emerging patterns as well as the causes and consequences of trends.
After going through this module, you should be able to:
1. identify parts of a whole (HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-6);
2. identify and explain an emerging pattern (HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-7); and
3. identify causes and consequences (HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-8).
What I Know
Directions: The following are statements about TREND. Write TRUE if the
sentence is correct, write FALSE otherwise. Write your answers on a separate
sheet of paper.
1. Trends are formed from the combination of things.
2. Music videos, image-sharing mobile apps, and emojis are some of the more
physical manifestations of people captivated by the visual culture.
3. A larger thing (the whole) does not consist of smaller things or parts.
4. Megatrend includes urbanization, automation and changing demographics.
5. Microtrend shows the tendency in the direction of some phenomenon that is
fairly pervasive within a given sphere of influence and lasts for only a few years
and is common to business management.
6. Macrotrends can endure for surprisingly a long time and affect most of the
society.
7. Notebook and pen are basic in documentation.
8. Interviews and friendly-group discussions (FGD) are ways to catch emerging
patterns.
9. Identifying emerging patterns can be used to introduce individuals,
organizations and communities change, improvement, transformation, and
new opportunities.
10. Documentation is the stage where examination and combination happen.
11. The important thing in documentation is the ability to physically keep
information and data wherever and whenever you may be.
12. New trends are labeled with new names or terms in the hope of popularizing a
phenomenon.
13. The tools that a trend spotter should find handy to use are categorized into
four activities such as documentation, archive or memory, analysis and
representation.
14. Tagging and cross-indexing are helpful in labeling files.
15. Once patterns are identified, trends are given irrational explanations for their
emergence or existence and are provided with a better understanding of their
cultural origins.
Lesson Identifying Parts of a Whole
1 and Emerging Patterns in
Trends
It was the great Aristotle who first claimed that the whole is not equal to the
sum of the parts, and conversely, the sum of the parts is not equal to the whole.
But the proponent of the idea of atom, who is Democritus, somehow believed that
the parts are of great significance in understanding the essence of the whole. As a
trend was born because of an idea of an individual or groups of individuals, and
these become prevalent, growing and evolving in the course of time, it is but
crucial for us to trace the movement of these growth, expansions and evolutions of
trends.
What’s In
Directions: What comes to your mind when you hear the words “emerging
trends”? Organize your thoughts using the concept map below. Write your answers
on a separate sheet of paper.
Emerging
Trends
What’s New
Directions: Explain the following key terms and ideas using your own words. Write
your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
1. mobile age
2. crisis in water and food
3. technology race
4. competing BRIC and beyond (BRIC is a group acronym for Brazil, Russia,
India and China)
5. influence of me and we
6. rise of new power brokers
7. interdependence and competition across industries
8. own the new consumers
9. generation gap
10. tension of globalization and destruction
What is It
Identifying Parts of a Whole
Trends as they grow and evolve tend to influence or give birth to other trends
and become interconnected and interrelated. It was mentioned in the previous
modules that trends are formed from the combination of things. Thus, a trend has
constituent parts of portions that are interrelated. Their influence, as well as how
the people adopt them, makes the trend viable, especially the megatrends and
gigatrends.
Take as example the Japanese animation (animé) trend that is associated with
several generations spanning decades. In retrospect, Urgel (2017) illustrated the
popularity of anime which was brought about by a number of developments such as
the ones shown below.
Manga (Japanese
Emergence of otaku Home video
Japanese pop music comics) and other
(enthusiasts) availability
adaptations
Artistic Widespread
experimentation and syndication
stylistic expansion
Information sharing
Movie Industry through the internet
Animé Development of
Electronic subtitling subcultures
Influences from Walt
Digital piracy
Disney films
Popularity of seiyuu Penetration of
(voice actors) international market
Animation technology Rise of Animation Cosplaying
English Dubbing
and innovation studios
Visual culture is another example that we experience today. It was
developed from various trends─ digital camera, smartphone, internet, Wi-Fi
technology, social media, mobile apps, computer, fashion, art, photography, to
name a few. Internet memes, infographics, and sharable videos seemed to be a
microtrend only, but they eventually became a mainstay in disseminating
information. Even large news organizations and government websites use them.
This visual culture trend which can be considered a megatrend, has evolved
further with the advent of the internet. The smartphone and Wi-Fi access greatly
helped the new form of visual culture which is subscribed to by many social media
users, if not all.
Remember that microtrends can become macrotrends if they affect more lives
and societies. Then, macrotrends can become a megatrend if it can affect a much
larger group for a longer period like a decade. Megatrends can become gigatrends if
they have everlasting effects and influences. Therefore, it is evident that the whole
which comprises the large part is made up of small things or parts. This can be
visualized below:
This was once a
microtrend which
Smart began as an idea of
Televisions connecting small
groups of people
via local area
network (LAN) and
eventually evolved
into an inter-
World network (internet)
Cashless
Transactions Wide Productivity
Tools
which was
popularly known
Web as the world-wide-
web. Now it was a
gigatrend.
Smartphone was
also once a Same is true with Social
microtrend but Smartphones Media. It was once a
then became a microtrend and currently
megatrend and is in between being a
currently is megatrend and gigatrend
already considered Android iPhone considering the scope of
a gigatrend. its influence and effects
to people’s lives.
Twitter
Mobile Apps
Productivity and Games
(Word, Excel
etc)
Facebook
Social Instagram
Media
Games
My
Space
Identifying Emerging Patterns
By simply looking at the previous diagram, you will somehow have an idea on
identifying emerging patterns of a trend. Urgel (2017) defined pattern as a design,
shape, form or configuration that emerges from repetitious appearance of lines,
curves, and behavior. According to him, in the study of trends, repetitive behavior
that gives rise to an emerging pattern is the main interest.
In order to follow and observe if a pattern emerges out of various events and
phenomena, one should have the tools necessary to detect it. According to Rehn and
Lindkvist (2013), the tools that a trend spotter should find handy to use are
categorized into four activities which are as follows:
1. Documentation means being able to record your observations which you consider
related to any trend. The primary tools for documentation, however simple, are
notebook and pen. Some opt to use note-taking features or apps on a smartphone
or tablet. The camera has also become necessary in providing visuals. Others bring
a voice recorder which is best for saving audio. Whatever tool one uses, the
important thing in documentation is the ability to physically keep information and
data wherever and whenever you may be.
Notebook and pen are basic in documentation.
2. Archive or Memory is used to easily retrieve any documentation you have
kept. Notes can be scanned or converted to a portable document format (PDF) while
digital pictures can be easily saved. Physical archiving can, of course, still be used.
There are various digital archiving systems that are available, too. Tagging and
cross- indexing are helpful in labeling files.
3. Analysis is the stage where examination and combination happen. Looking for
patterns on prospective trends can be achieved through these methods:
brainstorming, grouping, and crafting combinations. In brainstorming, you decide
which from your data is important and which can be discarded. Here, you can
confirm emerging patterns like events becoming more frequent and things
following a cycle. In grouping, you create headings where observations and data
can fall under several categories. In crafting combinations, you begin to link one
thing to another and think what could happen if these are taken step further, more
like imagining or generating new ideas. The above diagram presenting the
evolutionary aspect of a trend is an example for this analysis.
4. Presentation is representing your findings for easy understanding as a way of
analysis. You can represent your findings through, among others, a mood board
and a storyboard. A mood board is a collage of images, text, and object samples.
This is used to capture your intuition and stimulate creative discussions about
trends. A storyboard presents a narrative of possible scenarios. It functions to
connect trends to a timeline and to different contexts, something that can enable
you and others to see interesting new things. A slideshow is also another option.
Sometimes, new trends are labeled with new names or terms in the hope of
popularizing a phenomenon. Again, the sample diagram presented above is an
example of this consisting of the linkages of the influences of the root trend to the
development of new trends within the link plus the explanatory analysis.
Identifying emerging patterns can be used to introduce to individuals,
organizations, and communities change, improvement, transformation and new
opportunities.
Once patterns are identified, trends are given rational explanations for their
emergence or existence and are provided with a better understanding of their cultural
origins.
Differentiating Relationships between Causes and Consequences
A cause refers to an agent that brings about a result or a consequence. A
consequence is always traceable to a cause which can be a person, thing, principle,
motive, act, or event. There is no cause without a consequence and vice versa.
(Urgel, 2017)
Let us try to look at some of the popular fashion trends among the teenagers
these days ranging from hairstyles, clothing, and music preferences to mention a
few. Clearly a number of them, if one will try to observe, were patterned from a
dominant and prevailing trend. To date, Korean fashion trends is quite widespread
in the country. In fact, you can watch from the news almost every beginning of the
year in a certain portion of those news about the fashion trend for the year. In other
words, these news in the media somehow sets these so – called fashion trends which
will then be the baseline of fashion sales of the business sectors in the market. People
then especially the young and those who wanted to “fit in” to these popularized trends
would eventually patronize them. For almost a number of years already, Korean
culture became popular in the country especially among the young. With this, if we
will look around us, it resulted to the establishments of Korean restaurants, Korean
mini marts which boosted the small – scale entrepreneurship business. In terms of
travel, Korea became one of the popular lists for Filipino tourists.
This cause and consequential aspect of a trend does not only cover the
example mentioned above, in fact, it covers all types of trends in all categories
such as in ideologies, politics, beliefs, lifestyle, social life and many others. One
simply need to identify the emerging patterns and look at the causal and
consequential relations of these patterns in order to understand these trends.
The string of events characterizing a trend can exemplify the cause-
consequence relationship where one event may lead to another and so on. A cause
brings about one or more consequences which may be either positive or negative.
Whatever the results of a cause, the events that are noted in each result will help
produce a picture of a trend which is studied to be adopted in many life applications.
The relationship between cause and consequence is salient to strategic thinking and
analysis.
What’s More
Directions: Answer the following questions:
1. What do you think are the parts that gave way to selfie phenomenon? Explain
each part briefly.
2. Why is it useful to identify emerging patterns in looking for a trend? Cite two
examples and explain your answer concisely.
3. How will you face the new challenges brought about by global and emerging
trends in the 21st century? Please support your answer.
What I Have Learned
A. Directions: Apply what you have learned from this module. Dr. Lorenzo is a
Sociologist who is invited to deliver a short message about the emerging patterns of
trends to the Senior High School HUMSS students of Luakan National High School.
He asked you to be his lecture assistant for the talk. On your way to the event, Dr.
Lorenzo informed you that he forgot to bring his notes. While he was delivering his
lecture, he asked you to give him cues for the sequence of the topics. Help Doctor
Lorenzo by filling in the missing words to complete his lecture. Choose your answers
from the words in the box below.
analysis memory
archive pattern
Aristotle presentation
documentation similar
fads trends
longer period
Good morning HUMSS students, teachers and visitors, as the great (1)
once said, “the whole is not equal to the sum of the part,” we are all but
part of an enormous whole. However, even if we cannot comprehensively understand
the whole as a whole, we can still somehow have grasp of it through its parts. Just
like the human sciences where someday you will all venture in your college –
Psychology who ventures into understanding the human behavior and mental
process, Sociology who studies the human person as how he relates to others in his
society, Political science which look at us, humans as persons who are capable of
transforming societies into something bigger and better through leadership and
sustenance in upholding the greater good. All these are already considered as (2)
since they have already been part of our existence which are unlike (3)
which are only short – lived and don’t really lasts unless their impact
become larger and extensive like a dot which eventually becomes a line and tend to
be so influential.
You are HUMSS students, and with that I am confident that one day, those
simple (4) you do whenever you start a project based on your unique
ideas and concepts will someday become an (5) which will be looked
into and searched by your constituents, who knows, 10 years or 20 years from now,
and that simple things you started will eventually become a gigatrend in decades to
come. See what happened to Facebook? It was just a simple programming project back
in 2004, but look at it now? I would guess that more than 90 percent of you, if not
all, do have Facebook accounts.
When you start to look back at how it all began, you would realize the
significance of that (6) in all forms as long they are recorded. One should
just need to carefully see the (7) by looking at the repetitious
appearances and linkages that these trends developed and evolved into.
And guess what, what I am actually delivering to you right now at this very
moment is very necessary. A good trendspotter requires the talent of (8)
which is needed to come up with holistic perspective in spotting the emergence of
trends. Finally, (9) should also be done which, of course, is an important
means to capture your intuition and stimulate creative discussions about trends
which can be done using slide decks, diagrams, flow
charts orother (10) means.
B. ADVERTISEMENT-HUNTING
Nowadays, the average person encounters more than a hundred
advertisements a day, be it in the form of TV and radio commercials, billboards,
online promotions, and print ads, among many others. From all the advertisements
you encounter, which one caught your attention? Why? Looking at the root of it,
what was the underlying cause of the promotion? What does it target? Whom does it
target? How does it convey message to target clientele? Is the promoted product a
trend or a fad? Considering these questions, you can answer by choosing any one of
the activities listed below which you prefer most.
1. slogan- making
2. songwriting
3. poster-making (traditional
4. digital poster-making
5. concept mapping
6. poetry-making
7. collage-making
8. design a brochure or newsletter
9. essay writing
10. making graphic organizers
11. making comics strip
What I Can Do
Directions: To further establish your understanding in identifying parts of a whole
and emerging patterns in trends, do any one of the activities listed below which
you prefer most.
A. You are an environmentalist. You were doing research about the
environmental issues and trends in your area. Your friend, a local
newsmagazine editor, offered you a chance to publish your findings
through a feature article. You have to submit a draft of your article to your
editor- friend, who allotted three pages of the magazine for your feature.
You must include in your article emerging environment-related patterns
that you have observed and a projected scenario based on each trend you
have identified. Your article will be evaluated based on the rubric given at
the last part of this module.
B. You are a history teacher, and you have been invited to join a one-day
outreach program for grade 6 pupils. You are tasked to give a lecture on the
historical trends of colonialism and neocolonialism in Southeast Asia. You
are tasked to prepare either a slideshow or a one-page summary handout of
your lecture. Your work should describe or demonstrate colonialism through
its characteristics, elements, and consequences, especially in the former
colonies. You should also illustrate neocolonialism as it is observed today.
The usage of graphics and images for the slideshow presentation is
recommended. You will submit your output for evaluation. It will be evaluated
based on the rubric given at the last part of this module.
Assessment
A. Directions: Supply the missing letters to complete each word.
1. _O_UM_N_A__O_ - being able to record observations which one
can consider to any trend
2. M___RY - being able to easily retrie ve any
documentation one has kept
3. A__L_S_S - stage where examination and combination
happen
4. _AT__R_ - a design, shape, form or configuration that
emerges from repetitious appearance of
line, curves, and behavior.
5. PR_S___A_I_N - representing findings for easy understanding
as a way of analysis
6. _OO_ B_A_D - used to capture intuition and stimulate
creative discussions about trends
7. S_O_Y B_A_D - presents a narrative of possible scenarios
8. ME__TR_Nd - can affect a much larger group for a longer
period like a decade
9. G _ _ A T R E _ _ - have ever-lasting effects and influences
10. M A _ R _ T _ E N D - affect more lives and societies
B. Directions: The following are statements about identifying parts of a whole and
emerging patterns in trends. Write TRUE if the sentence is correct, write FALSE
otherwise.
11. Interviews and friendly-group discussions (FGD) are ways to catch
emerging patterns.
12. Identifying emerging patterns can be used to introduce individuals,
organizations and communities change, improvement, transformation, and
new opportunities.
13. New trends are labeled with new names or terms in the hope of popularizing
a phenomenon.
14. The tools that a trendspotter should find handy to use are categorized into
four activities such as documentation, archive or memory, analysis and
representation.
15. Tagging and cross-indexing are helpful in labeling files.
Additional Activities
Directions: Illustrate on sheets of paper scenes pertaining to four activities that a
trend spotter should find handy to use.
You did a great job finishing this
module! I hope you enjoyed
learning the topics identifying
parts of whole and emerging
patterns in trend.! Be ready for
the next one!
Answer Key
output.
the learners’
B. It depends on
15. TRUE
14. FALSE 10. similar
13. TRUE 9. presentation
12. TRUE 8. analysis
11.FALSE
10. MACROTREND
7. pattern
9. GIGATREND 6. memory
8. MEGATREND 5.archive
7. STORY BOARD 4.doc ume ntation
6. MOOD BOARD
5. PRESENTATION 3. fads
t. learners’ outpu 4. PATTERN 2. trends
3. ANALYSIS 1. Aristotle
It depends on the 2.MEMORY learners’ output.
1.DOCUMENTATION It depends on the A.
Activities: Learned:
Additional Assessment: What’s I Can Do: What I Have
14. TRUE
15. T 13. FALSE
14. T 12. TRUE
13. T 11. TRUE
12. F 10. FALSE
11. T 9. TRUE
10. T 8. FALSE
9. F 7. TRUE
8. F 6. TRUE
7. 5. TRUE
T F
6. 4. TRUE
5. 3. FALSE
T F
4. 2. TRUE
may vary. may vary. 3. 1. TRUE
Students’ answers Students’ answers T
2.
T F
1. TRUE OR FALSE
What’s More: What’s New: What’s In: What I Know:
