21st Century Framework

A Proposed Curriculum for the 21st Century
Review by Sean Leugers

    This system proposes an updated curriculum that is designed for modern educational needs.  The subjects are the traditional Math, Science, Social Studies, Language, etc.  The program expands on these subjects in an attempt to weave them together.  Where the program separates itself from the traditional curriculum the most is the Learning and Innovation Skills.  Here, students work on creating, communicating, and critical thinking skills.

    The program also caters to Life and Career skills.  This is an excellent divergence from the traditional educational path.  Its estimated that 60% of workers in the US are not working in their educational field.  College seniors are noted for two things; excitement about graduating and anxiety about their future.  Where will you go, where will you work, how will you get that job.  The traditional curriculum in high school and college leaves this unanswered.  These are addressed by the program in with its section on what I would refer to as professional career abilities. 

    With 21st Century Framework's curriculum, students should be able to take control of their future much more capably.  It seems like the program picks up on the ideas of Tony Wagner and puts it into action.  Having said this, it remains to be seen if the claims have the data to back them up. 

    The 21st Century Framework appears to be a Progressive philosophy painted with modern language.  Although it appears that the program is forward thinking, it is actually an old philosophy developed in the 1920's by Pragmatists.  The Progressive education developed by John Dewey was a reaction to what was seen as an ineffective school system.  We find ourselves in a similar situation today and it seems that Progressivism has reemerged.  This may be a way for students to develop the necessary skills to compete against global workers who have been gaining jobs that had been in the US. 

Global Achievement Gap Review by Sean Leugers

    Tony Wagner chronicles his experiences trying to find out what is wrong with the American education system.  He says that the education system is not broken, its obsolete.  "Schools haven't changed; the world has (kindle loc. 295)."  The high stakes testing has not improved education or accountability, it has made it worse.  Teachers teach to the tests, students memorize content without knowing how to think critically. 
    There are two achievement gaps that he references.  The first is the gap between suburban, rural, urban, whites, minorities, and socioeconomic conditions.  This is the one that receives the most attention, however the second has much more importance; the gap between the best schools and the rest of the world.  The US is behind and other countries will continue to increase their lead.  The jobs will continue to flow overseas because more qualified people exist outside the US.  This is Wagner's focus - the global gap.
    Schools stifle creativity.  Creativity, discovery, and inquiry are valuable learning methods.  Effective ways of cultivating these tools is through hands on activities such as exploratory lab exercises.  Wagner says that he sees too little rigor in classrooms.  Teachers do not challenge students to explain their answers.  Teachers do not like when students challenge them on a topic. 
    The Scientific Method is more important than the content of science.  In the unending quest for better performance, teachers are often forced to push content.  Content is not as important as knowing how to find it, how to analyze it, how to use it, and how to create.  I have witnessed this in my own life.  I took Molecular Biology in 1997.  In 1999, it was obsolete.  A process called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was developed and made radical changes to the field of Molecular Biology.  Many more changes occurred afterwards. 
    In order to understand the needs of future workers, Wagner consults business leaders about what they look for in prospective employees.  The responses are shocking; they need people who can think critically.  He had expected content as many people would.  Unfortunately, the very skills business leaders are looking for are being pushed aside and the things that will be obsolete soon are being pushed ahead.
    Wagner casts a very dim light on the education system in the US.  Unfortunately, he is correct.  According to TIMMS  (2007), a national report on test scores shows the US near the bottom in Math and Science among developed nations.  Though he disagrees with all of the formalized testing, the report shows a continuing downward trend.  The often quoted report, A Nation at Risk, described the "rising tide of mediocrity" found in schools.  Almost 30 years later, it seems that we are still there.

Intro to Life Science Video

Law Class Comments

    The student presentation was the most effective way of presenting legal reviews.  I would not have changed how we did the Law review class.  Legal reviews can be very drab and difficult to learn.  The best way to overcome that is to use the tools already possessed by the class.   In addition to the excellent class learning and researching, this method also had a side effect of the presenters finding intricate nuances that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
      The student presentation method was the best way of presenting all of these cases because this method encompassed reinforcement, feedback, and cooperative learning.   According to H. J. Walberg's (1984) research, reinforcement first, feedback was number four, and cooperative learning was seventh in importance of effect size for all instructional factors on student learning.  As a class, we used very effective instructional methods for learning about the legal cases.  The presentations allowed the class to provide feedback to each other.  As the class discussed each case, students provided feedback and reinforcement. 
    The lesson was constructed very well from the start and the talents of the class were effectively used for successful learning.  Having the students choose which case they would present was an excellent way of providing interest and enthusiasm for each case.  Using the interests and enthusiasm of both the presenters and the class produced class learning that might not have happened with any other method.  The group learning that resulted produced constructive class discussion.  When students presented their cases, the passion that each student had for the case was noticeable.  This produced a higher level of learning because the rest of the class picked up on the presenters' passion.  Falk et al. (1998) showed that students show significantly higher learning outcomes when the enthusiasm level is higher. 
    The presentation method was the clear cut winner in terms of learning achievement capabilities for the legal case reviews.  Few methods can cover as many effective techniques under one method as this one.  When teachers can harness the enthusiasm of the class, they should use it.