Thematic instruction is the organization of a curriculum around macro “themes.

” Thematic
instruction integrates basic disciplines like reading, math, and science with the exploration
of a broad subject, such as communities, rain forests, river basins, the use of energy, and so
on.

Thematic instruction is based on the idea that people acquire knowledge best when
learning in the context of a coherent “whole,” and when they can connect what they’re
learning to the real world. Thematic instruction seeks to put the teaching of cognitive skills
such as reading, mathematics, science, and writing in the context of a real-world subject that
is both specific enough to be practical, and broad enough to allow creative exploration.

Thematic instruction usually occurs within an entire grade level of students. Teachers of all
the different subjects taught in that particular grade work together as a team to design
curriculum, instruction methods, and assessment around a preselected theme. Typical steps
include:

Choosing a theme–Themes often involve a large, integrated system (such as a city, an

ecosystem, and so on) or a broad concept (such as democracy, weather, and so on).
Instructors often strive to connect the theme to the students’ everyday life. In some cases,
students participate in choosing the theme or themes.

Designing the integrated curriculum–The teachers involved must organize the learning
objectives of their core curriculum (both process skills and content knowledge) around the
theme. In the study of a river basin, for instance, math might involve calculating water flow
and volume; social studies could look at the nature of river communities; science might
study phenomena like weather and floods; and literature could study books and novels that
focus on rivers, such as the works of Mark Twain. The initial design requires considerable
work on the part of teachers. Again, sometimes students help design the curriculum.

Designing the instruction–This usually involves making changes to the class schedule,
combining hours normally devoted to specific topics, organizing field trips, teaching in
teams, bringing in outside experts, and so on. Encouraging presentation and
celebration–Because thematic instruction is often project-oriented, it frequently involves
students giving collective presentations to the rest of the school or the community.
Plus, students commonly create extensive visual displays.

Thematic instruction can be a powerful tool for reintegrating the curriculum and
eliminating the isolated, reductionist nature of teaching around disciplines rather than
experience. It requires a lot of hard, initial design work, plus a substantial restructuring of
teacher relationships and class schedules.

Learning Outcome:

● The use of Thematic teaching in basic education

● How important learning:
* Planning Instruction
* Integrated Multidisciplinary Thematic Unit
* Integrated Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit
* Interdisciplinary Teaching Team

From the picture below, think of a Theme in Araling Panlipunan and explain or write lessons
that can be adaptive to four other subjects.

Processing Question
1. Think of a theme or a lesson in Araling Panlipunan?
2. Show in a way that the theme can be adaptive or used in other subjects or disciplines.
3. What are the advantages in using Thematic Teaching

Learn this
Thematic Learning

What is a thematic approach?

This is a way of teaching and learning, whereby many areas of the curriculum are
connected together and integrated within a theme. It allows learning to be more natural
and less fragmented than the way, where a school day is time divided into different subject
areas and whereby children practice exercises frequently related to nothing other than what
the teacher thinks up, as he or she writes them on the chalkboard. It allows literacy to grow
progressively, with vocabulary linked and with spelling and sentence writing being
frequently, yet smoothly, reinforced. It guides connected ideas to follow on easily. It is,
after all, how we, as adults, learn new things. Don’t we start at a point of interest and
branch out from it like ripples from a stone thrown in the water? Thematic learning (often
synonym with thematic instruction) is an instructional method of teaching in which
emphasis is given on choosing a specific theme for teaching one or many concepts . It is
based on integrating various information and using it to demonstrate the topic. Pedagogy of
thematic learning is based on its exploration of broad areas in one theme.

Basics of Thematic learning

Thematic learning is based on the idea that knowledge acquisition is efficient among
students when they learn in the context of a coherent and holistic way and when they can
associate whatever they learn to their surrounding and real life examples. Thematic
instruction seeks to put the cognitive skills such as reading, thinking, memorizing, and
writing in the context of a real life situation under the broad aim to allow creative
exploration.

Steps of Thematic learning

Under the thematic learning instruction, organization of curriculum can be based on
Macro or Micro theme depending upon the topic to be covered. Main steps included.
• Deciding a theme: Theme can be decided by teacher and sometimes by students and it can
be a smaller concept (e.g. village, mother, climate etc.) to a large and integrated system
(e.g. ecosystem, atmosphere etc.)
• Integration of theme with existing curriculum: Next step of thematic learning is designing
the theme in an integrative ways to existing curricula keeping the skill and content
knowledge in mind.
• Designing Instructions and co-curricular plans: This step include organizing other
resources and extracurricular activities for demonstrating the theme (e.g. field trip or visit
to botanical garden).
• Group Activities and discussion: Group activities and discussion enable students to
participate and reach on a shared perspective of the theme. This also helps in creative
exploration of the subject.
• Significance of thematic learning

Thematic learning is a newer concept in pedagogy. It is proved to be a powerful

instructional method for integrating various concepts in curriculum by daily life examples
and experiences. Thematic learning helps in promoting learning with understanding and
discourage rote learning.
Thematic teaching (also known as thematic instruction) is the selecting and highlighting of a
theme through an instructional unit or module, course, or multiple courses. It is often
interdisciplinary, highlighting the relationship of knowledge across academic disciplines and
everyday life

Steps for Planning Instruction

Steps for preparing a lesson plan Identify the learning objectives. ...
Plan the specific learning activities. ...
Plan to assess student understanding. ...
Plan to sequence the lesson in an engaging and meaningful manner. ...
Create a realistic timeline. ...
Plan for a lesson closure.
Specific steps to cover when planning instruction include: Creating a personalized lesson
plan calendar. This will help a teacher visualize and organize instruction. Creating detailed
unit lesson plans, which should include objectives, activities, time estimates, and required
materials.
 Thematic units are units of instruction that address a central theme. These are the
instructional units that lead to the development of integrated study. Thematic units
facilitate the crossing of boundaries between two or more disciplines
• Guidelines in preparing thematic units
1. Choose a learning area in any grade/year level .
2. Draw the content from the learning competencies.
3. Identify the theme for the chosen learning competencies.
4. Identify the disciplines/learning area that can help enhance the development of the theme
and the supporting learning competencies.
5.Select the appropriate teaching model/alternative teaching strategy that can be utilized in
the conduct of the unit of study.
6. Use graphic organizers if needed
7. Prepare appropriate readings for the core as well as for the other subtopics drawn from
other disciplines/ learning areas.
8. Use authentic assessment in the unit of study.
9. Provide learning tasks that are integrative and interactive.
10. Focus all learning tasks to the theme of the unit of study.

A Thematic unit is the organization of a

curriculum around a central theme. In other words, it's a series of lessons that integrate
subjects across the curriculum, such as reading, social studies, science, language arts,
etc. that all tie into the main theme of the unit. Interdisciplinary integration as defined is
a method used to teach a unit across different curricular methods, disciplines. Simply
put it is a way to incorporate a topic or subject throughout different classes.
Interdisciplinary team organization is a way of organizing the faculty so that a group of
teachers share(1) the same group of students, (2) the responsibility for planning, teaching,
and evaluating the curriculum and instruction in more than one academic area, (3) the same
schedule, and (4) the same area of the learners and teachers. Interdisciplinary teaching can
prepare students to solve real-world, multi-faceted problems related to sustainability. It can
come in a variety of different formats, from fully integrated courses to courses that
are linked by themes

Common to all types of interdisciplinary teaching is the benefit students and faculty
receive from learning about multiple perspectives, which has value for retention, student
engagement, transfer, and spurs systems thinking and working as a team

Thematic teaching
1. Thematic teaching starts with the identification of a THEME, the underlying concept that
allows for the structure and organization of specific content across disciplines. The THEME is
the topic of interest that provides the core for group activities. It helps learners see
meaningful connections across disciplines or learning areas (SUBJECTS). More importantly,
THEMES provide relevance for the learners by drawing together concepts under one
umbrella.
2. Lessons could be studied thematically in social studies, e.g., environmental hazards,
wars and conflicts, human rights violation, economic progress and the like. These themes
could be developed also in reading, language, music, physical education and art. Moreover
the dynamics of interactive teaching can produce themes that are meaningful, interesting
and cohesive.
3. THEMATIC means that the same topic is used to develop the teaching plan
(CONTENT AND INSTRUCTION) for each of the different subjects in which students are
enrolled. Presented in this unit are two models in presenting thematic units: 1. the
integrated multidisciplinary thematic unit 2. the integrated interdisciplinary thematic unit
4. Both approaches use the following steps in planning instruction (Kellough, 2003): Select a
suitable topic or theme Select goals of the unit Select suitable specific learning objectives
Detail the instructional procedures Plan for pre assessment and assessment of student
learning Provide for the materials for instruction
5. This is a modification of the unidisciplinary teaching unit which addresses a single
discipline. This attempts to combine two or more disciplines into one single approach.
Likewise, it draws related topics from multiple disciplines. For example, when geography is
considered a core, related topics could be drawn from other disciplines to supplement
the content of the core. In the process, however, the disciplinary boundaries are still
retained as well as the discipline's identity.
6. Topography of the Cordillera Administrative Region (Geography) CORE Ethnic
Communities in CAR (Anthropology) Governance of CAR (Political Science) Livelihood of the
People in CAR (Economics)
7. This unit gives a sense of cohesiveness and structure to student learning and avoids the
piecemeal approach that might otherwise unfold. Kellough (2003) explains that the
interdisciplinary unit is a tool used to link the learning experiences of students in many ways
to engage them fully in the learning process.
8. Friegberg (2000) points out that interdisciplinary units can help achieve the following
objectives: Emphasize that the process of learning is sometimes best pursued as an
interconnected whole rather than as a series of specific subjects. Encourage students to
work cooperatively in partnership and in small groups that focus on the social values of
learning. Teach students to be independent problem solvers and thinkers. Assists students
to develop their own individual interests and learning styles. Help students find out what
they need to know and what they need to learn rather than always expecting the teacher to
give it to them.
9. The interdisciplinary teaching team on the school-based level could be two to five
teachers from different subject areas working together to plan a study. Makabayan is
interdisciplinary and its teaching team includes the teachers teaching Social
Multidisciplinary Approach

A multidisciplinary approach focuses primarily on different disciplines. Teachers, who employ

this approach may create standards from the disciplines within them. There are many
different ways to create a multidisciplinary curriculum, and they tend to differ in the level of
intensity of the integration effort. It can be recalled that the previous Restructured Basic
Education Curriculum (RBEC) is a best depiction of a multidisciplinary approach Curriculum
(RBECO (Araling Panlipunan, Values Edd Ma MAPE and TLE)

were integrated along with a theme termed Makabayan an integrated subject served as a
laboratory of life a learning area that stressed the development of social empathy and
commitment for common good Grades in these disciplines were usually computed to
comprise the general grade Makabayan as a discipline. At the end of the week, the four
discipline collaborated to design a culminating activity along with the give theme that
connected these four discipline areas the following the structure of Makabayan that used
the multidisciplinary approach centered on a given theme.

Interdisciplinary Approach

In this approach to integration, teachers organize and capitalize the curriculum around
common learning across disciplines to emphasize interdisciplinary skills and concepts. The
disciplines are identifiable, but they assume less importance than in the multidisciplinary
approach. For example, in teaching Filipino as a discipline, the teacher hones students'
language skills while resorting to content and topics in Araling Panlipunan. Below is an
illustration of interdisciplinary structure. Therefore, there are times that a teacher in Filipino
teams up with a teacher in Araling Panlipunan to teach a lesson in Araling Panlipunan while
she teaches the needed skills in the Filipino 1 subject.