This is an example of the 21st century curriculum design. A curriculum that is a higher order intellectual quality tasks, a curriculum that makes use of the social environment as the tool for learning and the learners develop the social regard and concern and develop action and solve problems in the community.

1. 21st Century Curriculum Design Methusael B. Cebrian

2. Theme: “The World is our Classroom” Subject: Statistics Level: 4th Year Textbook: Introduction to Statistics 3rd Edition by Ronald E. Walpole Materials: Ruler Pencil and Eraser Ballpen Calculator Drawing Sheet

3. Learning Objectives: To be able to translate the crime data provided by the City Police Office from 2008-2009 into Graphic representation, provide accurate Interpretation and present it back to the different stakeholders in the society such as the City Police Office, Local Barangays, Schools, Local Civic Groups and the Local City Government.

4. Scenario: Crimes are alarmingly on the rise in the city, local television station have shown that most of their newscast airtime were spent on crimes committed on a daily basis. The City Police Office does not have statistical tools to interpret the crime data they have. But they know that most crimes are committed by people in their teens and early 20’s. So to encourage, participation and awareness among the students, the City Police Office is inviting High School and College Students to Help the City maximize the information they could get from their data. This will also cut cost from the City Police Office in acquiring and training of personnel’s in the use of statistical software.

5. General Performance Task: To gather Crime Data from the City Police Office from 2008-2009 and translate the data into Graphic representation, Interpret the result and presented a recommendation to the Chief of the City Police Office.

6. Learning Episode 1: Write a letter addressed to the Chief of the City Police office, requesting access to crime data from 2008-2009 as part of the academic requirements. The students will volunteer to provide a graphic representation and accurate interpretation of the Crime Data and it will be presented back to the City Police Office.

7. ASSESSMENT TASK:

8. Learning Episode 2: Consolidate all the data separating different crimes such as kidnap, theft, homicide etc. Tally all the number of crimes separated by its nature of crime and month occurred. Identify the top 5 crimes in City.

9. ASSESSMENT TASK:

10. Learning Episode 3: Divide the class into 6 collaborative groups.

11. Learning Episode 4: 5 groups will work on the top 5 crimes. Plot the occurrence of the crime per month and indicate the number of crimes committed. Identify the Mean, Media, and Mode of the crimes. Compute for the Variance and Standard Deviation. Identify the different crime occurrences using the Linear Regression and Time Series. All computations must be coupled with a graphic (histogram) presentation. Group members can verify the accuracy of the results in consultation with the teacher using the statistical software

12. ASSESSMENT TASK:

13. Learning Episode 5: The excess group will work on the other crimes not included in the top 5 crimes. Plot the occurrence of the crime per month and indicate the number of crimes committed. Identify the Mean, Media, and Mode of the crimes. Compute for the Variance and Standard Deviation. All computations must be coupled with a graphic (histogram)

14. ASSESSMENT TASK:

15. Analysis Higher Order Intellectual Quality Curriculum This curriculum will never be a 21st century, higher order intellectual quality curriculum if it does not quality to the basic requirements of what a 21st century curriculum should be. The Curriculum Design must reveal the different areas which the curriculum belongs. A curriculum that takes on the present challenges of the society and integrating that into the classroom application where the learners become flexible critical thinkers, collaborative communicators, visionary leaders, information managers and active community members. These are the qualities of learners that we want to produce as teachers of the 21st century.

16. Social Regard for Learning The very first domain in the National Competency Based Teacher Standard (NCBTS), states that the learner must be able to connect classroom learning to the social environment. Hence, the learner to see that the society outside the classroom is the practical test for all the knowledge the learner has acquired in the school. This will develop a sense of participation and understanding to the needs of the society and become part of the solution to the problem.

17. In this curriculum, Social regard for learning had been the foremost requirement in its design. The curriculum integrated the biggest problem in the community, In this case the alarming rise of crimes in the City, the curriculum is design such that the learner will be able to see for themselves these problems, analyze the cause of the problem and provide recommendation based on their assessment of the situation. The learners are given the chance to participate in the community, thus making them part of the solution instead of the problem. Since it is believed that most of the crimes are committed by people in their teens and 20’s, making them part of the crusade is already a big step forward.

18. Authentic Task The learning task does not rely on what the textbook has provided, the textbook only served as the reference and a guide by the students. The task is real time and cannot be placed on a textbook, the problem we have tackled in this curriculum design might not be applicable to some other community, and thus a different authentic task should be created. In a bookish type of instruction, the examples are not relevant to the students thus making them bored in participating in the learning activity. The students are not to be blamed for that behavior because the learning task is too bookish, routine and rudimentary in nature.

19. An authentic task like this takes on societal challenges that the learners can easily verify and relate to, and bringing the classroom instruction to that end. In this curriculum design the societal problem is a present one, which is the alarming rise of crime in the city. And the students’ task would be to interpret the data and present it back to the different stakeholders in the society such as the City Police Office, Local Barangays, Schools, Local Civic Groups and the Local City Government.

20. Diversity of Learners In this curriculum design, the learners will be working collaboratively with a group regardless of their race, color or creed. Diversity is in fact being promoted in order to allow the students to share their own personal experiences that are related to the learning tasks. Likewise, learners of different learning abilities and skills will be able to work together with peers in order to achieve their objectives.

21. Multiple Intelligences Collaboration is intended to group people together to work on a specific task. Hence, learners with different experiences, skills and learning abilities are part of the group. In this curriculum design, learners with different multiple intelligences will be able to work well in this kind of learning environment because they can contribute to the completion of the learning task using the skills they are more confident to work with. In this curriculum design, five out of eight multiple intelligences identified by Dr. Howard Gartner are included among these are:

22. Linguistic Intelligence Learner with high aptitude for language will be able to contribute to the success of the learning task. The very first learning task in the curriculum design is for the students to transmit a formal communication letter to the Chief of the City Police Office requesting access to the crime data for interpretation. In this learning task, learners that are very good in crunching numbers would find it hard to construct a grammatically correct letter, much more when the recipient is the Chief of the City’s Police force. Learners that are good in words and language will be the one to handle the task of constructing a formal letter.

23. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence This is a statistics subject which is focused on numbers, huge volume of crime data are to be provided by the City Police Office as part of their Learning Task. Students with this kind of intelligence can provide an expert skill in crunching numbers and interpretation of the results. While all of the students are expected to become proficient on the subject, learner with high aptitude for numbers will be able to excel easily.

24. Spatial Intelligence One of the requirements in the curriculum design is for the students to construct a graphical representation of the crime data. Students with high aptitude for drawing and other spatial abilities will be able to contribute to the success of the learning task. The learners at their own predisposition may add colors to the graph to give emphasis on a specific time or crime.

25. Interpersonal Intelligence Given the collaborative nature of the curriculum design, learner with good skills in interpersonal relationship will be able to support to the success of the learning task. They may even be in fact, be the key to the unity and smooth working relationship with other members of the group. Learners with this kind of intelligence will even excel in the learning task since the environment provided is designed for communication and active participation of every member.

26. Intrapersonal Intelligence Number crunching subjects are the favorite arena for learners with this kind of intelligence, the curriculum design being a statistic subject will enhance the ability of learners who are capable of working silently. Most of the learners who are intrapersonal are the ones who are good in numbers, they may not be good in communication but they can certainly work with huge volume of numbers to crunch. These learners are self believers and smart, they can produce results when given a task and allowed to work alone or behind the limelight.

27. Learner and Learning Centered The curriculum is design where the teacher would only act as the facilitator of learning. Students will be working in a collaborative environment where the learner can be actively involved. In this type of environment, the learners are the once who evaluate, make decisions and be responsible for their learning. They likewise master the lesson by constructing knowledge themselves. In this type of environment, the learners work together and cooperate with each other. The individual learner’s skills and abilities complement each other, the learners does not compete with each other but instead work together in order to complete the task.

28. Metacognition The curriculum is design to be metacognitive in nature, meaning each group while expected to come up with the same answer to statistical questions and interpretation of the data, they may vary in terms of approach to the solution of the entire learning task and to the recommendation they may submit at the end of the entire task.

29. The learners develop their plan of action, at the initial stage of the activity; the different collaborative groups may differ in their plan for action. During the execution of the plan the learners continue to monitor and evaluate whether they are on the right track and continue until they complete the learning task. At the end of the activity the learners will be able to interpret the results of the computations and submit their own recommendations to the teacher. The different collaborative groups while doing and working on the same raw crime data may differ in their recommendations to solve the societal problem which is the alarming rise of crime in the city.

30. Transactional Approach This curriculum is designed to allow students to work actively, interpret and reorganize knowledge in individual ways. The teacher simply acts as the facilitator for learning. In this type of environment knowledge comes as the result of the student’s collaborative activity and not sourced to the book. The book only serves as a reference and guide but the students will be working on an “Authentic Task”.

31. Likewise the activities is not limited to a single learning task but can be multiple, this allows the students to function based on their multiple intelligence. This type of environment is not restrictive as compared to a “transmissionist” approach, it gives room for the learners to work and improve on their task as they progress. Furthermore, the learning task of the students is assessed using authentic assessment.

32. Integrative Learning This curriculum is specifically designed as integrative in nature, meaning we don’t just simply do exercises found in the statistics textbook but we venture out to find practical applications for the subject. In this curriculum design, the students went to the City Police Office to access crime data gathered from 2008-2009, interpret the result and submit recommendations back to the City Police Chief and to the different stakeholders in the society.

33. In an integrative curriculum, the world is the classroom; the classroom is just a meeting place to discuss practical applications to the subject. Teacher-focused instruction is only limited to core learning activities that is usually done at the start of the lesson and at each end of the topic. In this type of learning the teacher only provides directions, encourage the students as role organizers and initiator and processor of learning processes.

34. Likewise, in an integrative curriculum it is not limited to statistics but may integrate various subjects into the whole curriculum design. In this case, English is integrated as part of the learning episodes. The very first learning episode is for the students to write a communication letter to the Chief of the City Police force requesting access to the crime data.

35. Transformed Teaching This curriculum is designed as a curriculum of the 21st century. 21st century education is designed to meet 21st century needs and produce products that are fit for the 21st century knowledge economy. Among the most important part of a 21st century curriculum is its ability to adapt to the present societal needs and allow the learners to critically examine their lives and to take action to change societal conditions. A transformed teaching allows the learners to critically analyze, reflect, participate and contribute to the betterment or solution of the problem. This also enables the learners to find opportunities and look beyond the problem in sight.

36. In this curriculum design, the most pressing societal concern is the alarming rise of crimes in the city. Which the students themselves understand and can easily relate to, that is why the curriculum is designed to bring the classroom outside the walls of the school facility and start becoming problem solvers, troubleshooter and analysts to help the community deal with the problem. This fundamentally puts the future of the society in the hands of its future leaders without them controlling the helm of decision making. In a sense, he learners are on the job training status.

37. Higher Order Thinking This curriculum is design for higher order thinking, the learner are not expected to do rote memorization or perform routine and rudimentary tasks but rather to analyze the situation, synthesize the given information and evaluate options for recommendation. The learners are given real world situations and problems and it is up to them to analyze the situation and provide solution to the problem. In this way, the learners become visionary leaders, collaborators, information managers and even out-of the box thinkers. Their solution to societal problem may not be even found or at least mentioned in their textbooks.

38. Academic Engagement When the learners are tasked to perform things that they can literally see or relate to, the learners become attentive and perform their learning task well compared to doing exercises written in the book that are not relevant to the daily lives of the students. The learners become attentive and participant because their grade depends on their outputs. The collaboration of group members results to active participation in the learning task, thus enabling the group to complete the activity with optimum performance.

39. Problem Based Curriculum This curriculum design enables the learners to identify societal problems and contribute to the solution of the problem. The solution to the problem may vary depending on the idea, belief or ideology of the learners. Based on the information gathered by the group, they can identify ways to deal and solve the problem. There no single correct solutions requiring the construction of knowledge by the students. Also, the learners can make their own plans, develop their own rules and argue among them whether the plan is appropriate. And finally the learners can focused on the development of skills needed for solving real world problems.

40. Proof of Learning Professor IkujiroNonaka emphasized that unless the participants/learners can make new strategies, plan for action and practice new skill, the participants haven’t learned yet. The learners can only prove their learning or have developed new knowledge if they can manipulate and interpret the crime data provided as well as provide interpretation of the data and submit recommendation that would help solve the problem.

41. Authentic Assessment This curriculum is designed to assess the authentic task of the learner with an authentic assessment. The authentic task as mentioned previously, is a task that relates the learning activity to the real life situation or problem within the society in which the learner belongs. These types of tasks can never be found on textbooks because societal problems changes from time to time while the book is updates only after a year or two.

42. The authentic assessment adopted in this curriculum design is the Product Oriented Assessment, where the learners are assessed based on the product they were able to come up with. The criterion for assessment is based on the quality of the output of the learners. The product oriented assessment is the best authentic assessment for use in this curriculum design because the learner will be creating graphs, solve problems and interpret the result of the data. These products are the manifestation of the knowledge the learners have acquired through collaboration.

43. Action Plan Role of the Stakeholders in the Curriculum After completing the learning task of interpreting the raw crime data and presenting it in a graphical Representation together with the Recommendation the students will present it to the various stakeholders in the community. Hereunder is the plan for the dissemination of information to the various sectors of the community concerned;

44. City Police Office- since they are the source of the information, they are given a chance to get the interpretation first. Group of students will present it to them in order also to verify the crime data. They will provide recommendation to the City Police to improve their service in terms of handling the crime rate.

45. Local Barangay- of course the barangay has the role to play since it is within their vicinity. This can be done through organizing a forum within the barangay in order for the community people to be informed. In a very simple way they can also give recommendation to minimize crime rates.

46. Different High Schools in the city- most of the persons who are involved in committing crimes are those high school students. That is why it is very important to inform the school with the interpretation of the crime data in order for them to be aware. The school can provide various activities in order to shift students’ mind and be more productive rather done being involved in crimes. The school is given copies of interpretation for them to act on it. Students can set for a meeting to present their data and if not they can just provide the tabulation and interpretation.

47. Local Civic Groups- they are groups of people that also be given the interpretation of crime data. They can create activities for the youth in order to minimize the crime in the community. - They can take actions if they are informed of the data.

48. City Government- it is very important for them to know about the interpretation of crime data since they are also concern about this thing. They have the bigger share of action because they are the one handling the people in the community. If to set a forum or meeting would not be possible, students can just send the copy of interpretation of information for the city government to be aware. But as much as possible, it would be a great advantage if students can meet the officials in person so that they can explain the information if ever they are very complicated to understand.

49. Resources: Curriculum Development (2008) By Dr. June P. Salana Dr. Rolando A. Bernales