RISD is rewriting all its curriculum to address changes required by the state-mandated Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that replaces Essential Elements in fall of 1998.
The TEKS philosophy encourages students to understand concepts and practice using skills, not “just” memorize data. RISD’s curriculum rewrite will integrate technology into all subject areas and link them to national standardized and TAAS tests.
Here’s an example. A fourth grade math Essential Element states: recall multiplication facts. A corresponding TEKS reads: represent multiplication and division situations in picture, word and number form. So students will use language skills to explain math answers.
For example, students are given this problem: Circle the number (.08, .8, .080, .008000) that has the greatest value and explain your answer. Three students circle .8.
Student 1 explains: .8 is 8 tenths. .08 is 8 hundredths. .080 is the same as .08. .008000 is 8 thousandths.
Student 2 explains: It has the greatest value.
Student 3 explains: The .8 is greatest because it has no zeros before the number or after the number. The more zeros the lesser it is.
Student 1 demonstrates understanding of the concept. We don’t know what Student 2 understands and Student 3 doesn’t understand that zeros after the 8 are irrelevant.
In addition to comprehension, the new TEKS curriculum will imbed technology in all subjects, so skills such as keyboarding or using the Internet will no longer be stand alone classes. To support this integration, RISD is incorporating exciting new hardware and software into the instructional process.
Consider the eternal question about those two pesky cars, one leaving Los Angeles going 50 mph and the other leaving Miami on Tuesday. By using TI92 graphic calculators, students can see (and hopefully grasp) the concepts of speed and time to project exactly when these two cars will collide on LBJ freeway.
Students can also conduct Internet research about the effect of seatbelts on accident rates and prepare a multi-media presentation, complete with charts, graphs, sound and color. Thus, what used to be a “simple” math problem back in the olden days, can become a lesson in language, social skills, scientific analysis and technology presentation skills.
In the curriculum rewrite, RISD will convert TEKS expectations into teacher-friendly lesson plans, graphics for presentation stations, suggested research sources and software support systems for classroom use. In short, we’ll give all teachers tools to use the new software and hardware.
Our goal is to enhance comprehension and problem-solving skills so students can be competitive in college admissions and ultimately the 21st century.
