MTE 533 Current Trends Paper

Current Trends Paper
Melissa Scholtes
MTE/533
February 9, 2015
Antoinette Gravely

Current Trends Paper
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have affected the teaching of mathematics and science in several ways. In transitioning from No Child Left Behind to CCSS there have been two main changes that are responsible for affecting how teachers deliver mathematics and science instruction. With these new standards, there has been a shift in curriculum focus and a shift in the types of assessments used. These changes have greatly affected the lessons and teaching techniques used at all grade levels.
The CCSS provide a clear set of shared goals and expectations for the knowledge and skills that students need at each grade level; however, they don’t dictate how teachers should actually teach the content (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2015). This means that teachers can interact with students, evaluate as students’ progress through the content, and tailor lessons as necessary to meet the needs of individual students. The standards now stress conceptual understanding of big concepts and require the use of integration to draw connections. Additionally, in requiring students to understand a concept in a relational manner compared to an instrumental manner, teachers will need to begin to ask students to justify, explain, and apply their knowledge to evaluate whether or not it was understood.
This has led to a fundamental change in teaching mathematics and science. Teachers now need to incorporate literacy, and intentionally use it in math and science lessons. This is done by scaffolding literacy skills from reading and writing standards into lessons; it requires a balance between literacy instruction and traditional math and science activities (Miller, 2013). An approach like this allows for students to use a mixture of literacy, problem-solving, and reasoning skills to study a concept in more depth.
Additionally, teachers “perceive the new standards as requiring them to teach more conceptually and incorporate more mathematical communication, problem-solving, and exploration into their teaching” (University of Rochester, 2013). Due to this, the way that concepts are taught has shifted from teachers addressing isolated content and objectives to teachers focusing on learning progressions and a more coherent curriculum. Instead of rushing to cover multiple topics, teachers are able to address content in more depth, which requires teachers to explicitly show connections to students. This shift enables teachers to place emphasis on big concepts and thinking skills instead of basic skills (Martin, Sexton, & Franklin, 2009). With this, teachers have begun to create lessons that push students to use higher-level thinking and writing components, requiring them to develop and use reasoning, problem-solving, and application skills (Van de Walle, Karp, & Bay-Williams, 2013).
As a natural progression, teachers use more interactive teaching techniques compared to relying heavily on direct instruction. This shift in teaching techniques enables teachers to be more responsive to student interests and questions, to mediate the classroom environment, and in the process to “seek students’ point of view in order to better understand their present conceptions for use in subsequent lessons” (Martin et. al., 2009, p. 58). Additionally, teachers are also requiring students to evaluate their own ideas to build reasoning and literacy skills, which ultimately develops individual learners (Van de Walle et. al., 2013).
Finally, new standards have affected the way that assessments are incorporated and used when teaching mathematics and science. They have become interwoven with teaching, occurring in the form of teacher observations of student work and exhibitions (Martin et. al., 2009). Additionally, assessments are used to encourage students to articulate and clarify their ideas, rather than simply selecting the correct supplied choice.
Overall, the CCSS have greatly affected the way that mathematics and science are taught. Teachers are focusing on big concepts and learning progressions, which allows them to determine the order of instructional experiences that will support movement towards understanding and application of concepts (Van de Walle et. al., 2013). They are also taking a more constructivist approach due to the need to develop reasoning, problem-solving, and application. Finally, teachers are incorporating new assessments into math and science lessons to help students strengthen reasoning and literacy skills. As a whole, the CCSS have affected the way that teachers provide instruction in a positive manner, enabling students to move towards relational understanding.

Resources
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2015). Mathematics Standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/
Martin, R., Sexton, C., & Franklin, T. (2009). Teaching science for all children: An inquiry approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Miller, A. (2013). Common core in action: How two teachers are implementing common core. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-in-action-science-andrew-miller
University of Rochester. (2013). New testing for common core state standards impacts classroom practices for math teachers. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131021155629.htm
Van de Walle, J., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J. (2013). Elementary and middle school mathematics: Teaching developmentally (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.