In line with the 21st century learning, teachers have an important role in facilitating critical thinking skills that can be seen through their pedagogies in teaching. It should be evident that the teacher uses variety of teaching strategies which promotes the enhancement of students’ higher-order thinking skills or also known as “HOTS”. From the review of previous lesson to making generalizations and abstractions about the lesson, the teacher should not just use the typical question and answer strategy, instead, she must develop games, activities, and even rewards that could help the students understand the facts, infer them, and connect them to other concepts. Through these, their understanding about the topic increases and will allow them to think “outside the box.”
Meanwhile, a learner-centered approach views learners as critical- thinkers which make use of their prior experiences, knowledge and ideas in taking new information and learnings. Among the teaching philosophies of education, progressivism is one of those concepts that tackles the importance of problem-solving approach in the teaching-learning process. Basically, it is a student-centered philosophy which believes that ideas, knowledge, and concepts should be tested by experimentation, and learning comes from finding answers from questions. This philosophy values scientific method of teaching and allows individuals to have their own beliefs which are valuable to the learning process. Just like in teaching Science facts, it is about exploration and experience. Teachers act as facilitators in a classroom where students explore, and infer solutions to existing problems and bridge up facts and concepts to real-life experiences. Among the teaching-learning strategies, this includes small groups debating, custom-made activities, journals, and learning situations. By focusing on the uniqueness and abilities of the learners, teachers can boost students’ educational experiences to learn and realize their potentials.
By: Jade Angelique G. Casupanan | Teacher II | BNHS
