2011

Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum
It is a widely accepted idea that mathematics at the middle school level is not widely integrated. Students find difficulty in seeing the real world application of textbook mathematics. We will use 21st century skills as a framework to help integrate math into other subjects. 21st century skills application and integration of mathematics curricula will help students create more meaning from lessons and connections across subjects.

Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer
EDL 639 12/15/2011

Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................... 3 21st Century Skills ................................................................................. 3 Communication ................................................................................ 4 Critical Thinking................................................................................ 5 Creativity.......................................................................................... 5 Collaboration ................................................................................... 6 Assessment ...................................................................................... 6 Piecing It All Together ......................................................................... 7 An Enhanced Curriculum ....................................................................... 8 Application: Quilting Across Subjects ............................................... 10 Project Outline: Quilting Across Subjects ............................................. 10 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 12 Works Cited ......................................................................................... 13

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Introduction
Imagine a typical middle school math classroom. What images come to mind? Students are in rows, the teacher is at the front lecturing for the entire class. Students are not working together, the teacher is writing on the board. A child responds to homework review with an alternate solution and is immediately rejected; cited for having not properly attempted the problem. When the math lesson ends, students put away math materials to begin a different subject. In this typical math classroom setup, students do not have the opportunity to think critically, communicate effectively, collaborate meaningfully, creatively solve problems, or make connections across subjects.

21st Century Skills

It is a widely accepted idea that mathematics at the middle school level is not widely integrated. Students find difficulty in seeing the real world application of textbook mathematics. We will use 21 st century skills as a framework to help integrate math into other subjects. 21st century skills application and integration of mathematics curricula will help students create more meaning from lessons and connections across subjects. Some scholars note that math as a singular subject fails to engage the right side of the brain and that having the brain involved in all activities tackling meaningful challenges is vital for survival in the 21st century (Gasser, Five Ideas for 21st Century Math Classrooms, 2011). (Bruer, 1999) (Pink, 2006)

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity, an d Collaboration are the 4 Cs outlined in the 21st century skills initiative. We believe these words form the framework of an improved integrated middle school math curriculum. When these 21st century skills are in place and paired with the integration of subject areas, learning becomes more significant to students. As illustrated in the model, students are the central focus when a classroom is built on the 4 Cs and integrated subjects; this leads to increased knowledge construction and meaningful learning.
Communication

Students will provide oral presentations of their findings or strategies they have discovered. These presentations may be formal or informal in nature. Informal presentations may consist of justifying a discovery within a group. It can be more formal through the use of graphs, tables, charts, diagrams and may incorporate technology through the use of PowerPoint, Prezis, and Excel. Giving students a role and voice in their learning allows a paradigm shift from a teacher-directed instructional emphasis to one where students are more actively involved in the learning process could lead to better integration of multiple subj ects (West, VasquezMireles, & Coker, 2006). Students will have the opportunity to exhibit personal learning to classmates in a way that the teacher may not have thought about. This builds student interest, engagement, and self direction. (Jacobs, 2010) (Skills, 2011) If a student builds meaningful understanding from a classroom lesson, that student is more likely to remember information,

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

relay information, and to teach other students. Creating student buy-in is a way to create self responsibility and increases efficacy of teaching and learning. (Skills, 2011) (Jensen, 2000)
Critical Thinking

Students will use reason, problem solving skills, and various strategies to solve real life problems. By immersing [students] brains in problems that can be solved in a myriad of ways, students will be able to create more connections to past understanding and current applications (Jensen, 2000). Problem-based learning will allow students to see failure as part of the problem-solving process. We as teachers need to produce a climate where failure is viewed as an experience from which to learn and not one of which to be ashamed (Jensen, 2000). Students will be able to learn from mistakes, how to critically think through problems to gain insight, and form logical, well thought through conclusions.
Creativity

Teachers will need to be creative in their classrooms. They will need to plan activities, or lessons, that include various subject matter and real-life problems that relate to the students. In confronting real-life problems, students will experience the joy and selfsatisfaction of finding viable solutions to problems that others have not yet solved (Jensen, 2000). Students will need to be creative in their ways to solve the problems, communicate their findings, and work within a team. When students can solve problems creatively or find creative ways to perform tasks, knowledge construction builds. (Jacobs, 2010)

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer Collaboration

Having respect for diversity of opinions and working well on a team are competencies a 21st century learner will need to uphold. Providing students the time to collaborate with their classmates promotes these skills. Collaboration allows students to capitalize on each others skills and to refine their problem solving process. Comparing their solution process promotes deeper understanding and emphasizes the skills we wish to teach (Gasser, Five Ideas for 21st Century Math Classrooms, 2011). Teachers also need time to collaborate with their colleagues in order to develop effective teaching strategies. Collaboration seems futile when taught and not practiced.
Assessment

In an education world of assessment, how can we assess these 21st century skills? Students and teachers will set high standards and goals. They will monitor their own understanding and learning through self-assessment and reflecting on work. Examples of how to organize and document these thoughts or reflections include portfolios and journals. 21st century skills should not be assessed using multiple choice type tests; the richness of understanding and connection building brought about by this initiative is not one that can be tested in the traditional format. These skills for life must be honed and molded using innovative techniques. Teachers often perform these types of assessments, although they go unnoticed in the current climate of standardized testing. (Skills, 2011)

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Piecing It All Together

An aspect of 21st century skills is social responsibility. When students are communicating in a collaborative setting, differences in opinions will arise. Students will need to resolve differences through dialogue which means development of commitment and capacity to resolve conflict without violence (Bolotin Joseph, 2011). Teachers and students may have to think creatively of ways to incorporate classroom concepts into community service projects. Using inquiry based problems; teachers can incorporate injustice and social justice issues. Students will, therefore, need to think critically in order to resolve these issues. During this process they will gain respect for human rights and environmental stewardship. (Bolotin Joseph, 2011) Quilting Across Subjects (detailed later in this paper) is our example of how to integrate all of these ideas.

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

The Proposed Integrated 21st Century Model of Curriclum

An Enhanced Curriculum
The 21st Century Skills initiative, in all its vogue popularity, is not a new idea to the world of education. This concept has risen in popularity recently due to the Partnership for 21 st Century Skills initiative led by corporations with global influence. According to the initiatives framework, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a vision for student success in the new global economy (Skills, 2011). This initiative is easily correlated to the ideas of Dewey and progressive education. As a similar idea with shiny new packaging, 21st Century

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Skills reiterates many of the tenets of progressivism. Dewey advocated that integration of learning across subject areas increases meaning and; therefore, knowledge construction. (Sadker & Sadker, 2001) Dewey also focused on self direction, collaboration, and problem solving. (Sadker & Sadker, 2001) These ideas are represented in the 21st Century Skills initiative in much the same manner. When students learn using collaboration and creativity, knowledge construction is at its most effective. (Guccione, 2011) These ideas have been reformatted from Deweys progressivism to the 4 Cs. The buzzwords can be used as a framework for enhancing a middle school math curriculum.

The 21st Century Learner This seemingly obvious conclusion has many advocates, including the North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction. In addition to helping students create meaning and make connections, the NCSDPI also states that integration improves performance and outcomes
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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

because of the connections made and knowledge constructed. (North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction, 1997) Another advocate for integrated learning notes that an integrated curriculum engages teachers, stimulates students, (Meinbach, Fredericks, & Rothlein, 2000) and also enables teachers and their students to make connections between real life and their classroom learning experiences (Bailey, 2000) (Caskey, 2001).

Appli cation: Quilting Across Subjects

In addition to the theoretical enhancement of a math curriculum, we felt that an actual activity using 21 st century skills via integration of subject areas would demonstrate our position more fully. As aforementioned, we decided to use Quilting Across Subjects as a cross content encompassing project. Without integration, students do not make such meaningful and worthwhile connections in and between subjects and to real life. Each discipline has unique characteristics, and there are natural junctures and overlaps that are suitable for integrated curricular investigations (Jacobs, 2010). Quilting Across Subjects uses all of the 4 Cs interwoven with social responsibility to integrate multiple subject areas and create a truly meaningful conglomerate project.

Project Outline: Quilting Across Subjects

Students will make quilts to auction off to charity at the end of the year. Subjects integrated: Math, History & Social Studies, English, Science, Life Skills, Technology, and Social Responsibility & Community Service Each subject is integrated throughout the project in the following ways:
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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Math: Geometry, Algebra, Measurement and number sense Geometric principles: tessellations, transverse lines, parallel lines, equal measurements, angles, coordinate plane, geometric shapes, perimeter, area, etc Algebra: Slope of interior line, slope when angles are known, trigonometric ratios , etc Measurement: perimeter, area, geometric shapes, unit conversions, etc Number Sense: Unit conversions, common sense pricing, promotion, sales, percentage, etc

History & Social Studies Significance of quilts in US and foreign countries, Aids quilt, African vs. European vs. Middle Eastern vs. Eastern quilting styles, cultural characteristic of each, etc (e.g. Quilting Bees) Symbolism and/or controversy associated with quilting patterns and styles (e.g. Scottish crests, Kenyan political patterns)

English Reading o Students read book about quilting patterns for design of quilt and storybook involving quilting (e.g. The Patchwork Quilt by Jerry Pinkney) Writing o Students write short story, autobiography, or some writing that is then inscribed onto fabric to make one of the quilts (this quilt may remain in classroom as art) o Students write a report of the entire process, historical context, why they chose what they chose, etc Science Thermodynamics learn about insulation Fabric types natural vs. synthetic Experiment tensile strength of polyester vs. 100% cotton thread, using thermometer, create environment to test warmth retention of different fabrics, fire retardation, etc
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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Life Skills Students from originating class and collaborating class* organize, plan, and execute auction at the school/community center Coordinate with outside sources in order to create auction *Coordinate with older students in a Home Economics course for sewing execution of quilts Oral and visual presentation at the auction of report on quilting process, historical context, etc

Technology Students research online about quilts, history of quilting, and production/design for a group report to be written and presented at the end of project

Social Responsibility/ Community Service Auction proceeds go to charity of classes choice Charity must be picked based on democratic decision and backed up with research

Conclusion
Once again, imagine a scenario in a math class where these principles and ideas are used. Instead of the student being rejected by the teacher and being in a non responsive classroom environment, the students classroom is now a place for inquiry, critical thinking, effective communication, collaboration, problem solving, and making connections across subjects. Using the framework of 21st century skills to integrate mathematics across multiple subject areas, educators enhance not only the curriculum, but the quality of knowledge construction of the student.

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Group Curriculum Deliberation

How 21st Century Skills and Integration Enhance a Middle School Math Curriculum Elizabeth Ayers, Erikamarie Burk, Holly Cronin, Candice McKinney, Mike Walizer

Works Cited Bailey, L. (2000). Integrated curriculum: What parents tell us about their children's experience. The Educational Forum , 64 (3), 236-242. Bolotin Joseph, P. (2011). Cultures of Curriculum. New York: Routledge. Bruer, J. (1999, May). In search of... brain-based education. Phi Delta Kappan , 648-657. Caskey, M. (2001). A lingering question for middle school: What is the fate of integrated curriculum? Childhood Education , 97-98. Gasser, K. W. (2011). Five Ideas for 21st Century Math Classrooms. American Secondary Education 39(3) , 108-116. Guccione, L. M. (2011). In a World of Mandates, Making Space for Inquiry. The Reading Teacher, 515-519. Jacobs, H. H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Alexandria, Virginia. Jensen, E. P. (2000). Brain Based Learning. San Diego, CA: The Brain Store Publishing. Meinbach, A., Fredericks, A., & Rothlein, L. (2000). The complete guide to thematic units: Creating the integrated curriculum. Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon Publishers. North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction, R. (1997). Arts Education K-12: Integrating with Reading, Writing, Math and Other Areas of the Curriculum. Raleigh: State of North Carolina. Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind. New York, NY: Penguin Group, Inc. Sadker, D. M., & Sadker, M. P. (2001). Comparing Philosophies of Education. In Teachers, Schools, and Society (pp. 127-135). McGraw-Hill. Skills, P. f. (2011, March). Framework 21st Century Skills. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://p21.org/storage/documents/1.__p21_framework_2-pager.pdf West, S. S., Vasquez-Mireles, S., & Coker, C. (2006). Mathematics and/or Science Education: Separate or Integrate? Journal of Mathematical Sciences & Mathematics Education , 11-18.

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