Project and Product Description:
This curriculum development project began as Phase II of the Problem Solving and Critical Thinking in Mathematics (PSCTM) Professional Development Project sponsored by District 200 in Wheaton, Illinois. In 1989, two teams--one from the Edison Middle School mathematics department and one from several schools representing the District 200 gifted program--initially participated in a yearlong National Science Foundation-funded Teacher Enhancement Project directed by Cathy J. Cook and Claudette M. Rasmussen. The Edison team continued by becoming involved in a second project funded by Educational Service Center 10 through an Illinois Scientific Literacy grant. During this second project, Edison teachers designed and sequenced lessons for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary mathematics curriculum for grades 6-8 at Edison.
The Edison team's participation in and subsequent implementation of the curriculum and instructional strategies learned from these two projects prompted a District 200-sponsored project with the goal of involving additional teams of teachers across the district in grades 2-8. During the 1991-92 school year, 34 teachers from eight schools participated in the District 200 PSCTM Professional Development Project. During the 1993-94 school year, an additional 43 teachers participated. In 1994-95, 30 teachers participated; those teachers represented all 11 elementary schools and two out of three middle schools.
In the spring of 1992, grade-alike groups of Project participants met with Cathy Cook to begin to outline an interdisciplinary curriculum based on problem solving for each grade level. Both mathematics content and processes were developmentally sequenced within a particular grade level; they also were articulated and coordinated between grade levels. During the summer of 1992, two grade-level teams--one at third grade and one at fifth grade--developed a curriculum by writing and developmentally sequencing approximately 40 lessons for each grade level. During the summer of 1993 (and continued during the 1993-94 school year), curriculum units were drafted for second, fourth, and sixth grades, and the third and fifth grade manuals were perfected.
The writing teams' primary goal was to enhance student learning and motivation by creating curriculum (lessons) that not only connected to students' real-life experiences but also facilitated integrative relationships within the curriculum across all content areas. Each team also attempted to write and sequence lessons to make links between thinking processes within different content areas. The teachers on each grade-level team organized their curriculum around an interdisciplinary framework. They integrated problem solving, critical thinking, and social/collaborative skills by developing a central idea and quarterly subthemes. They were able to reorder curriculum topics in numerous subject areas into complementary and connected units of study. In each curriculum manual, the teachers explained their particular grade-level philosophy or the thinking behind their planning and writing.
Through this project, several products were developed, including the following:
These initial two curriculum "products" are truly the result of a multiyear collaborative effort. Since 1987, more than 800 teachers and 125 different schools in a ten-county region in northern Illinois have participated in the PSCTM Professional Development Project. The curriculum units have been written for use by those teachers who took part in the Project. Although these lessons have been designed, customized and/or adapted, and specifically tailored to meet the needs of the second through sixth grade teachers and students in District 200, they are the result of continued refinement and ongoing revision.
For information on how to obtain samples of the grade-level curriculum units and other related products, contact Barb Youngren at youngren@ncrel.org
Project Co-Directors:
Barb Youngren and Judy Vandermeulen
Second Grade Writing Team:
Barbara Youngren and Sue Lewis
Third Grade Writing Team:
Clarinda J. Schwenk and Sue Lewis
Fourth Grade Writing Team:
Joyce Fischer, Patti Woods
Barbara Youngren and Lisa Palacios
Fifth Grade Writing Team:
Denise Goshert, Barbara Moore, and Lisa Palacios
Sixth Grade Writing Team:
Kim Rumrey and Judy Vandermeulen