Curriculum for 21st Century Learners

Written byKaren Green &

Amanda Dressing

Identity

Sustainability

Social Justice

Curiosity

Community

Change

Necessity

Creativity

Inter@ct consists of 28 comprehensive, meaningful and relevant units of work for primary aged students living and learning in the 21st Century.

Inter@ct is delivered online through the eUP (electronic Unit Planner) website.

Teachers are supported with engaging and contextually relevant ways in which to teach conceptual understandings, skills, and behaviours that will prepare students for life.

Each Concept is explored developmentallyacross Levels 1-4. Ideas are built on andexpanded as students move from level to

level.

This developmental approach ensures thatcontent is not repeated and is built on tomatch the maturity and readiness of

studentsat each level.

“It’s good to have an end to journey towards,

but it’s the journey that matters in the end.”

Ursula K LeGuin

The first of the Inter@ct Units that are available have been designed around the concept of Identity.

The content areas being inquired into across the 4 levels are: Nutrition and food choices, Processes that support wellbeing, Self-awareness and Safe practices.

The Habits of Mind for this unit are: Taking responsible risks and Thinking about thinking

Appropriate numeracy and literacy application tasks have been included to ensure that students are able to see the integration of mathematics and literacy skills within their lives.

Teachers are encouraged to add more Literacy and Numeracy tasks as they see fit.

Each unit is designed as a guided

inquiry where teachers areencouraged to pursue students’

questions while at the same time

meeting mandated standards.

Each unit has specific tasks that supportteachers in promoting a classroom cultureof thinking and inquiry, where studentsquestions are valued.

Teachers are encouraged and supportedwith strategies to provide opportunities forstudents to answer their own questions aswell as those posed as Essential Questionswithin Inter@ct.

Immersion

Pretests

Gathering student questions

As Inter@ct provides teacherswith a rich and well constructedcurriculum, they have more timeto spend on the important job ofmodifying tasks to best suit theneeds of specific students

Each task within Inter@ct has a Guided Reflection.

These are designed to allow for timely, targetedopportunities for students to consider how they

aregoing ‘as’ learners.

This reflective practice supports the development

of metacognitive capacity which is an essentialingredient of the thoughtful, life long learner.

The interactive nature of this program allows teachers to add tasks to further enhance the units based on the needs of, and opportunities available to, particular students and learning environments.

In most cases teachers will wish to write additional skill specific units to complement the Inter@ct unit e.g. fractions.

Teachers are advised of the numeracy and literacy links within each unit to help inform their skill specific teaching.

Habits of Mind are defined by their authors ArtCosta and Bena Kallick as ‘Ways to behaveintelligently when you don’t know the answer.’

Within each unit, tasks are written to explore 2Habits of Mind. This ensures that each Habit

istaught explicitly within the 2 year Scope andSequence of Inter@ct Units.

Within each unit there are resources provided

in the ‘attachment’ section. These resourcesinclude project sheets, stimulus photos,rubrics etc.

Each of these resources have been constructed

specifically to support the tasks and to saveteachers time

Video clips of students being taught the range of thinking tools and cooperative tools that are provided in the Toolkit are continuously being added to Inter@ct.

Videos are also provided to help explain the theories underpinning the various ‘best practice’ inclusions in the Inter@ct units.

Access to eUP and this unit will be available to all schools represented here today by Monday morning.

You will have access to it until close of business the following Monday 25/10, during which time, you can use it, manipulate it, play with it etc.

Inter@ct units have been written from a global perspective that will allow for

compliance with curriculum standards world wide.

The most challenging areas for teachers to ‘teach’ within VELS have been given a definitive and appropriate focus with the Inter@ct units.

Available to all schools purchasing/ordering Inter@ct Units prior to Friday 29 October 2010

Max 2 participants per school (bring laptop with wireless capability)

Registration available on-line at www.eup.com.au

Wheelers Hill InternationalLess than five minutes off either Eastlink or Monash Freeway

8.30 Tea/Coffee sign –in for a 9am start and 12 noon finish.