HITTING THE BULL'S EYE BUT OFF THE MARK? (PART 1)

UNPACKING THE CONTENT OF INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES: THE THREE-LAYER CONTENT
-- Written by Jezreel Madsa

Hitting the bull's eye is very indispensable for teachers in navigating the course of the students' learning process. If teachers fail to hit the target, it would render the whole structures of their objectives an outright failure; this is so, since it misses to hit what is supposed to be hit by their preliminary objectives. Not only does the objectives would fail, but the learning of the students would likely spawn confusion in behalf of the students.

In the same vein, even if the target is hit, yet the teacher fails to merit consistency on the scores of the learners, it would eventually make his assessments problematic at some point or in a greater level.

This binary plight has been the dilemma of which several teachers have been facing as they initiate their lesson planning and instructions.

What considerations does the teacher have to make in order to avoid this untoward problems? First, they must unpack the CONTENT of the intended learning outcomes:

But let's face it. When we unpack intended learning outcomes, what actually are we unpacking? Each intended learning outcome consists of two elements; namely, (1) content and (2) cognitive behavior.

The purpose, nonetheless, of unpacking learning outcomes, is to allow the teacher to be placed on a vantage point wherein he may see and understand the content and the cognitive rigor of the curriculum as it moves through unhampered by any variables starting from Curriculum to Instruction and ultimately to Assessment. 

The Content 

The word "content" is a commonplace for teachers to mention out almost in every line of conversation. Just like when one is asked, "What are you teaching today?" they virtually replied in terms of content. An English teacher might say, "I am teaching verb moods"; a Math teacher would say, "I am teaching Basic Polynomials"; and a History teacher might say, "I am teaching the History of Lapu-lapu." So there you go, this general idea of content is what we often hear among teachers in their conversation.

Practically, that's exactly what is meant by content, but so far as our unpacking of Intended Learning Outcomes is concerned, we have to be clear and specific. To this end, we need to bring into consideration the three layers of content: 

(a) Explicit Content-- The subject matter directly referred to in a statement of the intended learning outcome. 

(b) Implicit Content-- The prior knowledge and skills students need to engage with the explicit content.

 (c) Conditional Content -- Specific circumstances, contexts, or materials through which the student will engage with the explicit content.   

When unpacking of content layers can be guided by these few questions:

1.) What is the "what" of the intended learning outcomes? (Explicit Content)
This is basically the content of the Intended Learning Outcomes

2.) What prior knowledge should they have to engage with the "what" ? (Implicit Content) 

This refers to the pre-requisite knowledge of the student before they engage into the explicit content. Say for example, a student has to learn addition & substraction first, before he ever get himself enmeshed with Algebra and Trigonometry. 

3.) And what conditions, content, or material are necessary and facilitative for students to engage with the "what" ? (Conditional Content)
Teacher has to take into account the conditions and materials needed for the engagement of students with the Intended Learning Outcomes. Say for example, you are assigning students of Experimentation Activities; however, some students could not afford to buy the tools required for experimentation. As a result, they just do the experimentation manually. Of course, this is not facilitative because they lack the resources needed for the materialization of the content being learned.

Reference:

Christopher R. Gareis, "Teacher-made Assessment" p.53