Selection and

Organization of
Content

"There are dull teachers,

dull textbooks, dull films,
but no dull subjects."
- Anonymous

Focus Questions:
What guiding principles must be observed in the selection and organization of content?

What is the structure of the subject matter that we

teach?

How can students be helped in the construction of a more

enriched knowledge-base?
What strategies can be employed for teaching conceptual
understanding, thinking skills in the different levels, and
values?

Introduction
What knowledge is truly essential and enduring? What is worth
teaching and learning? Our leaders in the basic education level came
up with the Philippine Elementary Learning Competencies (PELCs)
and Philippine Secondary Learning Competencies (PSLCs) in 2001.
The "intended" content of what we teach is laid down in such
document. This means that we are not entirely free in the selection of
our content. They are a "given." But how they are organized and
presented in the classroom, ultimately depends on you. Here are some
principles to guide you.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and

Organization of Content
1. One guiding principle related to subject matter
content is to observe the following qualities in
the selection and organization of content:

Validity

Teaching the content

that we ought to teach according to
national standards explicit in the Basic
Education Curriculum; it also means
teaching the content in order to realize
the goals and objectives of the course as
laid down in the basic education
curriculum.
(see figure)

Significance What we
teach should respond to
the needs and interests of
the learners, hence
meaningful and
significant.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and

Organization of Content

Balance Content includes not only facts but also concepts and
values. The use of the three-level approach ensures a balance of cognitive,
psychomotor, and affective lesson content. A balanced content is something
that is not too easy to bore the above average student, neither not too
difficult to turn off the average. It is something that challenges the student.
To observe the principle of balance, no topic must be extensively discussed
at the expense of other topics.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Self-sufficiency Content
fully covers the essentials.
Learning content is not "mile-wideand-inch-deep." The essentials are
sufficiently covered and are
treated in depth. This is a case of
"less is more."

Interest

Teacher considers
the interest of the learners, their
developmental stages and
cultural and ethnic background.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Utility Will this content be of use to the
learners? It is not meant only to be memorized for
test and grade purposes. What is learned has a
function even after examinations are over.

Feasibility The content is

feasible in the sense that the
essential content can be covered
in the amount of time available
for instruction. A guaranteed and
a viable curriculum is the first in
the school- related factors that
has the greatest impact on
student achievement. (Marzano,
2003)

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

It is observed that there is so much content to cover
within the school year, so much so that teachers tend
to rush towards the end of the school year, do
superficial teaching and contribute to non-mastery of
content. This is probably one reason why the least
mastered competencies in national examinations
given to pupils and students are those competencies
which are found at the end of the Philippine
Elementary/Secondary Learning Competencies
(PELC/PSLC).

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

2. At the base of the structure of cognitive subject
matter content is facts. We cant do away with facts but
be sure to go beyond facts by constructing an
increasingly richer and more sophisticated knowledge
base and by working out a process of conceptual
understanding.

Here are a few ways cited by

cognitive psychologists (Ormrod,
2000) by which you can help your
students:

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Providing opportunities for experimentation our so-called
experiments in the science classes are more of this sort - following a
cook book recipe where students are made to follow step-by-step
procedure to end up confirming a law that has already been
experimented on and discovered by great scientists ahead of us
instead of the students coming up with their own procedure and end
discovering something new.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

After teaching your students how to cook

a recipe following the procedures laid
down in a cookbook, allow them to
experiment with mix of ingredients.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Presenting the ideas of others While it is

beneficial for you to encourage your students to
discover principles for themselves, it will not
jeopardize your students if you present the ideas
of others who worked hard over the years to
explain phenomena.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Emphasizing conceptual understanding
Many a time, our teaching is devoted only to memorization
of isolated facts for purposes of examinations and grade. When we
teach facts only, the tendency is we are able to cover more for
your students to commit to memory and for you to cover in a test
but our teaching ends up skin-deep or superficial, thus
meaningless.
If we emphasize conceptual
understanding, the
emphasis goes beyond
facts. We integrate and
correlate facts, concepts,
and values in a meaningful
manner.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

The many facts become integrated into a less number of
concepts, yet more meaningful and consequently easier to
recall. When we stress on conceptual teaching, we are
occupied with less, but we are able to teach more
substantially. It is a case of "less is more!" This is precisely
the emphasis of the Basic Education Curriculum

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Example: What Do Mommies Do?

Responsibility
Love of family
Cooking
Nutrition
Health
Measurement
recreation and play

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Here are some specific
strategies that can help you
develop conceptual
understanding in your
students: (Ormrod, 2000)

Organize units
around a few core
ideas and themes.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Explore each topic in depth for example, by

considering many examples, examining cause-effect relationships,
and discovering how specific details relate to more general
principles

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Explain how new ideas relate to

students own experiences and to
things they have previously learned.

Guiding Principles in the Selection and Organization of Content

Show students through the things we

say, the assignments we give, and the
criteria we use to evaluate learning that
conceptual understanding of subject matter
is far more important than knowledge of
isolated facts.