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National Learning Camp Overview
The National Learning Camp (NLC) aims to enhance student and teacher learning through interactive lessons based on prior educational content. The program focuses on consolidating student knowledge, updating and expanding teacher expertise, and applying research-based strategies to improve learning and teaching outcomes.
The NLC offers grade-level review lessons that are directed by the teacher and designed to be highly interactive among:
(i) students with their teacher; and
(ii) students with their peers.
The Camp lessons are grounded in the ‘Science of Learning’ framework, focusing on cognitive research and practical applications to enhance learning outcomes. Lessons are structured to reinforce foundational knowledge and skills, involve real-world problem-solving activities, and encourage higher-order thinking. The Camps also offer teachers opportunities for reflection and professional growth, encouraging the adoption of new teaching approaches and the extension of student learning through systematic review and application of knowledge.
Design Basis
A strength of the design is the focus on both student and teacher learning. The intentions and expectations of the NLC are for:
students to consolidate and enhance their thinking in topics already covered;
teachers to update, strengthen, and expand their subject knowledge in ways that encourage students to be involved in learning activities at different levels including those considered as higher order; and
teachers to enhance their pedagogical practices by focusing on selected skills, which include 21st-century skills.
Under the framework of the ‘Science of Learning’, research evidence is used to ground teaching and learning decisions around cognition research and features of a learning brain such as working memory demands, cognitive load, valuing errors, and domain-specific skills. This framework highlights a learning-focused approach where teachers go beyond what might be considered current practice in the Philippines and incorporate brain-based ideas and approaches, including 21st-century skills, to make teaching more effective in enhancing learning for all.
To further support this direction, teachers are provided with resources, time, and the opportunity to further extend their skills, knowledge, and understanding of teaching and how students learn. The review lessons are designed to apply subject content already encountered by students. Because of this, lessons do not contain repetitive, routine questions of a particular subject aspect.
Review lessons
The review lessons are based on content already encountered by students in their current grade. All lessons involve an exploration of ideas, concepts, and content. The purpose of the review lessons is two-fold:
(i) to establish in students a stronger basis for future learning development (prior to enrolling in a new Grade after the summer break); and
(ii) to enable teachers to strengthen and enrich their teaching practice in a research-based, learning-focused professional program (prior to a new academic year).
The primary focus of the review lessons concerns revising, clarifying, and then applying previously taught subject content with real-world problem-solving and/or comprehension activities. Each lesson begins with a focused content review and clarification of the material needed in the lesson to come. For students, this initial review enables them to practice retrieving and practicing important basics relevant to the lesson to come.
For teachers, this information is designed to help determine students’ subject background knowledge and skills relevant to the lesson as well as help teachers identify where to build on previous learning. This approach is different from ‘teaching’ students anew as if they have not been taught previously.
Lesson Overview
All lessons in each of the three subjects, English, Mathematics, and Science, contain five components. These are 1. Short Review, 2. Purpose/Intention, 3. Language Practice, 4. Activity and 5. Conclusion.
Timing
Approximate component timings are indicated as advice to guide the teacher in pacing the lessons. Time management involves:
moving through components at a pace that is appropriate for students;
ensuring that all components are completed in a timely, efficient, and constructive manner.
Research on student-learning quality and ‘time’ are related through student ‘time-on-task’. Time-on-task refers to when students are actively involved (engaged) in some aspect of the learning process. The suggested times for each component are intended to maximize the time available for student involvement. This will encourage the student and the teacher to work efficiently through the lesson without jeopardizing the importance of student activities such as to:
answer routine and non-routine questions,
respond to verbal questions and explanations,
interpret and use appropriate terminology,
discuss aspects with their peers,
explain or justify his/her approaches and thinking,
work productively on their own, and
listen carefully to the teacher or peers.
Establishing what is on-task time is more problematic when the teacher talks and students passively listen, such as in didactic teaching. With such an approach it is difficult to determine whether students are listening or even paying attention. Often in lessons identifying time-on task can also be problematic in case of problem-solving or intense reading and comprehension. Here, student activity is often more subtle and engaging as students need to think quietly by themselves.
However, the time allocated to components will be determined by students’ needs and strengths, but not completely. There is a need to set practical limits on the duration of the components to prevent major disruption to lessons which can have a detrimental impact on student learning. Often, the teacher should not expect too much learning when unfamiliar content is introduced to students. It is repeated exposure associated with elaboration, addressing errors, and deliberately practicing key aspects where most learning occurs.
When times are allocated appropriately, and students become familiar with the approach and teacher expectations, concept development and student skill levels are improved as well as student engagement.
Note: Care needs to be exercised in determining what engagement means. Engagement is clearer when students are doing the learning through answering questions, writing, discussing, and reading.
Key Ideas and Questioning
Critical aspects of the NLC for the teacher include questions related to learning areas, based on a key idea. The questions are offered at different levels of difficulty involving lower- to higher-order thinking, starting with questions of modest complexity up to those that require more developed reasoning.
In the lessons, students are provided with opportunities to practice solving non-routine questions to help improve their conceptual understanding by applying known content to subject-related problems.
Teacher Reflection
Teacher reflection on the lessons offers important insights to stimulate teachers and their peers to enhance their practice and the learning of their students. This includes:
new teaching approaches encouraged by lesson components that can contribute in different ways to student learning and lesson success;
the use of review lessons that help review learned material and extend student abilities in problem-solving by utilizing known information;
a focus on student concept and skill acquisition, pedagogical approaches, student errors, time-on-task, deliberate practice, and working memory demands.
Enhancement and Consolidation Camps
The Enhancement Camp and the Consolidation Camp offer students the chance to review their subject background knowledge by consolidating previously taught lessons and concepts. The intention is:
for students to have opportunities to review past work and to practice applying this knowledge of concepts and ideas through grade-related sets of questions of developing difficulty; and
for teachers to follow the given format of components with some flexibility to adjust parts of a lesson to meet the learning needs of students in their class, particularly, if students are having difficulties.
Camp Differences
In the case of lessons for students in either the Enhancement Camp or the Consolidation Camp, the lesson plans and the sets of questions are seemingly the same. These questions range from those of modest difficulty to those that require more insight and more knowledge and understanding.
There are important reasons for both Camps sharing the same content. Exploring and answering these question sets are valuable to students from both Camps, albeit in different ways. It enables students to work through a range of ideas on their own before hearing from their peers and teacher concerning the same questions – a very rich learning environment. Also, similar questions mean that expectations for students in both camps are not limited and students have the same potential for growth.
The difference between camps concerns the teaching focus, which is related to the breadth and depth of conceptual knowledge of students. It is anticipated that based on student performance within a lesson, the teacher will decide whether the class needs more practice and discussion of straightforward questions or whether extension material is more appropriate for the class.
In particular, questions marked as Optional (typically high-order questions) are more likely to be addressed in the Enhancement Camp than the Consolidation Camp, but not exclusively. It is the teacher who decides whether to include ‘optional’ questions and this will depend on student learning success and understanding at that time.
If optional questions are not used, teachers would spend that time productively. This includes reinforcing the concepts by increasing the focus on student errors and/or increasing student-student, and student-class-directed conversations.
Lower- and Higher-order Skill and Knowledge Development
In all learning, lower-order thinking is a pre-requisite for higher-order skills and knowledge development. Many students are disadvantaged in their attempts to move forward in their learning through a lack of practice and conceptual development of needed lower-order skills, knowledge, and understandings. Hence, all students benefit from a stock-take on relevant lower-order skills from previously addressed content. This helps establish a basis upon which student learning should be built.
In both the Enhancement and Consolidation Camps important lower-order content skills, knowledge, and understandings are re-visited at the beginning of each lesson. This helps ensure that potential learning obstacles are made visible to the student and the teacher. It also means that some errors in understanding or misconceptions are identified. This information is important to teachers in helping all students move forward regardless of their achievement levels.
As many questions posed are about applying content already encountered to a new problem, students have the opportunity to use their current knowledge, skill, and understanding in a practical way at their level, further developing their conceptualization and understanding of the subject matter.
Both Camps offer students the opportunity to improve their learning and conceptual development through a stepped approach that involves:
(i) reminding students of relevant lower-order skills through practice,
(ii) having students use and discuss their knowledge in sets of graded questions with an emphasis on straightforward questions,
(iii) expecting students to apply their knowledge leading to more breadth in learning,
(iv) beginning an initially focused practice on higher-order skill development.
The approach advocated to solve problems or comprehend passages extends student learning beyond simple repetitive exercise sets. For these students, the teaching part of the lesson requires teachers to review closely student solution attempts through student explanation, discussion, and questioning of fundamental aspects of topics that are typically found in the earlier questions. Teachers should be sensitive to students’ self-perceptions here as they may meet the ideas, presented in the lessons, maybe after many failures with these concepts in the past.
Nevertheless, these students should become aware of the more difficult questions as teachers allow them to consider links or connections between concepts previously taught. There is great value in problem-solving for students to have time to read the problem and then be able to indicate in their own words, what the problem is about.
Finally, it is important that students in the Enhancement and Consolidation Camps become aware of what their students know, where it is progressing, and how to build on student skills and knowledge. Teachers need to be nurturing and supportive of this development and continually look for evidence of success and growth. Teachers also need to encourage students to persist, continue to practice individual aspects and use any mistakes/errors they make as an opportunity to learn more. These are important features of a successful learning journey.
Lesson Components: Short Overview
Lesson Component 1 (Lesson Short Review)
Component 1 offers teachers the chance to:
settle the class quickly;
review previously encountered information;
address previous content in the form of a few targeted questions that are relevant to the current lesson;
note what students already know;
elicit answers from the class to reinforce the important content needed for the lesson; and
address briefly issues that may arise.
The questions set for the Short Review section of a lesson are designed to remind students of the knowledge and skills developed when first studying the topic area, which is relevant to the lesson.
Lesson Component 2 (Lesson Purpose/Intention)
This component offers teachers a chance to acquaint students with the purpose/intention of the lesson. It is valuable if students see a link here with their prior knowledge or experience, especially if the teacher can connect it with the responses and levels of student understanding evident in Component 1.
In addition, this component is an appropriate time to address what students might expect/aim to achieve, i.e., their lesson goal(s). Teachers should clarify the learning intention for the students as well as what success will look like. (Note: The degree of success or partial success of student learning in the lesson should occur as part of Component 5.)
Lesson Component 3 (Lesson Language Practice)
Component 3 concerns language use – speaking, hearing, listening, and comprehending. The focus is on words or phrases that are to be used in the lesson.
The language practice suggested has been identified by considering the whole lesson and identifying those words/phrases that have the potential to cause difficulties for students through speech, listening, or understanding. Typically, the language identified is restricted to less than 6 words/phrases so that there will be enough time to use a variety of approaches of practice within the time available.
Lesson Component 4 (Lesson Activity)
Component 4 has three aspects, 4A, 4B, and 4C.
In the case of the Learning Camp activity, Component 4 addresses the key idea for the lesson. It is about students applying known content to solve real-world problems. This requires students to interpret/understand the correct meaning of the ‘stem’, a stimulus, (such as a passage/text or diagram or the first part of the problem or story) before answering questions of differing degrees of complexity related to the stem.
Students are first presented with the stem in 4A and are given the time/chance to interpret its meaning. Then in 4B and 4C, two separate sets of questions related to the same stem are asked.
4A Reading and Understanding the Stem
4A involves understanding the language of the stem. The purposes, here are for the teacher:
to model fluent reading of the stem (first)
to identify any unfamiliar language for the student (possibly addressed in Component 3)
to read the passage or describe the figure, etc. and
to hear and experience fluency in reading the stem.
4B Solving the First Set of Questions
4B involves a set of questions associated with the stem. Students will need to refer to the stem as they prepare to answer the set of questions. Students write down responses or attempts at each question. It is important that every student responds to all the questions. It is expected and accepted that students would make errors, which provides teachers with important information concerning students’ learning needs. A critical procedural action here for teachers is the importance of all students starting on the same set of questions, at the same time.
When the students are finished, or sufficient time has been allocated, the teacher marks the questions. This can be achieved by student answers or approaches to the questions and by explaining or justifying their reasons. Time should be allocated to student discussion, explanation, and reasoning about answers.
4C Solving the Second Set of Questions
4C offers a new start for students regardless of how they performed in Component 4B. The structure is very similar to Component 4B, i.e., undertaking a new set of questions related to the same stem. In addition, the lesson structure allows a refresh as 4C presents a new starting point for the student. This structure also allows all students in the class to start a new activity at the same time.
This approach serves two purposes for teachers. First, it enables them to group the learners, direct them to resolve learners' issues, and start afresh at the same time. Second, it offers teachers a way to extend their students' problem-solving practice where different sets of questions can be used with a single Stem. This is an efficient way to incorporate more problem-solving or comprehension practice on specific content into a lesson.
Lesson Component 5 Lesson Conclusion
Component 5 has a high metacognitive aspect for students – students thinking about their thinking – which can be further enhanced by teacher modeling. Component 5 is designed to offer a student-focused overview of the main intentions of the lesson. In particular, the focus is about helping students reflect on their progress and achievement (or partial achievements) of the lesson intention as well as their understanding development during the lesson.
It builds on comments from Component 2 about teacher expectations. There is a chance here to confirm student progress during the lesson. A teacher may use a diagram, picture, or some aspect of the lesson as a catalyst to stimulate student discussion and reflection.
NOTE: A fuller description of the components and features of the lessons is provided in the Learning Camp – Notes to Teachers Booklet. It is recommended that these notes are read and discussed by teachers as they provide a further basis to understanding the structure of the lessons and the pedagogy.