Monkey Trial Project: 21st Century Skills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjKpD7qh7Ac&feature=email

This video gives a glimpse into what an integrated unit looks like and and the types of skills that are a part of the process. I remember covering the topic being covered in this video in grade 9, but our class was not granted near the amount of freedom to go through the thought process as this class. The debate between intelligent design and evolution is not as controversial as it was once, but it is still worthwhile to teach this example of knowledge changing society's traditional views. Allowing students to learn about this iconic topic of belief versus scientific evidence through their own research is a great way to facilitate student sharing and demonstrate respectfulness of each others knowledge.

The group element was an aspect of an integrated curriculum that was useful to see. It appeared that the students were genuinely challenging each others conceptions of how to successfully present their argument to the rest of the class and even the school board. Bringing about conflicting ideas about the content and the presentation of that content seemed to cause students to re-evaluate their notions and then reach a general consensus. I feel that creating a learning environment in which students feel comfortable not only sharing their ideas, but also giving constructive criticism to their peers, is vital for learners to transcend from being subjects of knowledge to builders of knowledge. Introducing students to group collaboration and continual re-evaluation of their group's stance on real-world issues is how I think preparing young people for the challenging and troublesome problems of the world will realistically be overcome. Big issues will not be solved by isolating thinking, so education needs to take the benefits of group work seriously and allow for sound ideas to take form through the process of group questioning and valuable arguments.

I am definitely inspired by this video to create a similar student-directed unit for my students. I would definitely consider the monkey trial topic, but if it were a younger grade I would perhaps look at designing a unit like the social movement in the United States as they would more likely be able to grasp the idea of equality more than the incompatibility of evolution with creationism. I am confident that my students someday will be able to take the initiative to dig deeper into a subject out of their own curiosity and desire for a stronger knowledge base like the students in this video appeared to be doing.