21st Century Skills in the K-12 Curriculum Framework for Science

The Journey Continues!

Hi there! Welcome back to my very own website, I am josh, and let me share with you another journey that I had ventured as a student at Universidad de Sta. Isabel under the Teacher Education Program.

So what will this page be all about? Well, it's simple! I will be sharing to you some of my insights, reflection, and lessons learned for each time I had the urge to reflect and share some salient take away as a student.

In the advent of the COVID19 Pandemic, Teaching and learning is made more difficult and the acquisition of knowledge may seem to be off the chart- in the early times with COVID19. To equip Pre-service teachers with the right set of attitudes, skills, and knowledge to teach in the future I had the chance to experience a lot of experiential and practical learning which I know had helped me since then.

At the end of my 4 years in college, I hope and do wish that in my service as a teacher in the future I may be able to embody and live out the Vincentian Identity and charisma to my lovable students.

Making a Daily Plan!

The 21st Century Teacher and Learner

As a springboard for our lesson/ discussion, we have the PowerPoint on the left as our driving lesson source. We got to learn the innumerable 21st-century skills and that of the 21st Century skills for teaching and learning.

The PowerPoint is from the Department of Education which highlighted/ emphasized the importance of acquiring and developing these skills over the course of the 12 years in Education- as preparation in Higher education and that of the real world.

A Responsible Steward of Nature

Aside from the intellectual skills expected to be developed upon accomplishing science in the k to 12 is the affective skill- responsible steward of nature. This coincides with Universidad de Sta. Isabel’s core values, which translates to Respect for God’s creation, which means “Reverence and care for God’s creation and promotion of ecological sustainability” (USI Student Handbook, 2018, pg. 6). This means that the subject does not account for intellectual skills but also for handling or taking good care of nature or the environment. To add, ever since I was a child, I already love and fond of planting and cultivating land. Before, back in my home province, Albay, we had a small front yard which we are free to cultivate and decorate with plants. I remember I once grew a jackfruit there!

21st Century Skills in the

K-12 Curriculum Framework for Science

(21st Century Skills the curriculum wants to develop for learners )

Critical/ Creative problem solver. At the end of the 12 year curriculum, students who are graduate are to be equipped with critical thinking skills that enables them to act and participate in the real situations of the natural world, not just as a passive citizen but as an active citizen who deliberately knows how to act and make decisions accordingly to the cause and effect of the phenomena. This skill is also important to students, as this function as a key “to deal effectively with social, scientific, and practical problems” (Shakirova, 2007, p. 42). Further, as a student training to be a teacher in the future, this is also included in the expected skills required to surface in the teaching and learning process- skills. Critical thinking should be a skill not new to teachers as this will guide the teacher at pressing situations occurrences- the teacher should be able to act immediately upon underestimated situations- and being a critical thinker will enable the teacher.

Innovative/ inventive thinker. As cited in the 21st century skills for the teaching and learning. Innovation should be a skill not new to both the teachers and the students, as this facilitates flexibility and adaptability of both the teacher and the students of the real world situations. Likewise, students should be able to develop this as a manifestation of the alignment of the aims of the subject- students to be scientifically, technologically, and environmentally literate- in coming up with researches and inventions that integrate science and technology either in addressing problems of the environment or of the community.

An Informed decision-maker. This directly develops the skills in the 21st-century skills for teaching and learning- Collaborative inquiry to solve real and relevant problems. As manifested in one of the science approaches- The Inquiry-based approach- students are to work with students to make decisions and concepts based on their hypotheses. Teachers are also to work with other stakeholders in shaping the curriculum- does imply informed decision-making within the stakeholders.

Effective communicators. This is both recognized in the k to 12 classifications of 21st-century skills and 21st century skills for the teaching and learning as an important skill to be developed at the end of the science curriculum in the k to 12. As communication plays a vital role in effective teaching and learning, skills related to this and that of its enhancements should also be a part of the curriculum. Hence, effective communication means being able to communicate (either contextually) lesson content to the students a simpler language or manner, where it is comprehensible to them.

The K to 12 Curriculum Guide Science (Grade 3 to Grade 10)

Science-CG_with-tagged-sci-equipment_revised.pdf