1. Curriculum for 21 st Century Learners Written by Karen Green & Amanda Dressing

10. Identity Sustainability Social Justice Curiosity Community Change Necessity Creativity

12. Inter@ct consists of 28 comprehensive, meaningful and relevant units of work for primary aged students living and learning in the 21 st Century. Inter@ct is delivered online through the eUP (electronic Unit Planner) website.

13. Teachers are supported with engaging and contextually relevant ways in which to teach conceptual understandings, skills, and behaviours that will prepare students for life.

14. Each Concept is explored developmentally across Levels 1-4. Ideas are built on and expanded as students move from level to level. This developmental approach ensures that content is not repeated and is built on to match the maturity and readiness of students at each level.

16. “It’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it’s the journey that matters in the end.” Ursula K LeGuin

17. The first of the Inter@ct Units that are available have been designed around the concept of Identity. The content areas being inquired into across the 4 levels are: Nutrition and food choices, Processes that support wellbeing, Self-awareness and Safe practices. The Habits of Mind for this unit are: Taking responsible risks and Thinking about thinking

19. Appropriate numeracy and literacy application tasks have been included to ensure that students are able to see the integration of mathematics and literacy skills within their lives. Teachers are encouraged to add more Literacy and Numeracy tasks as they see fit.

20. Each unit is designed as a guided inquiry where teachers are encouraged to pursue students’ questions while at the same time meeting mandated standards.

21. Each unit has specific tasks that support teachers in promoting a classroom culture of thinking and inquiry, where students questions are valued. Teachers are encouraged and supported with strategies to provide opportunities for students to answer their own questions as well as those posed as Essential Questions within Inter@ct.

22. Immersion Pretests Gathering student questions

23. As Inter@ct provides teachers with a rich and well constructed curriculum, they have more time to spend on the important job of modifying tasks to best suit the needs of specific students

24. Each task within Inter@ct has a Guided Reflection. These are designed to allow for timely, targeted opportunities for students to consider how they are going ‘as’ learners. This reflective practice supports the development of metacognitive capacity which is an essential ingredient of the thoughtful, life long learner.

25. The interactive nature of this program allows teachers to add tasks to further enhance the units based on the needs of, and opportunities available to, particular students and learning environments. In most cases teachers will wish to write additional skill specific units to complement the Inter@ct unit e.g. fractions. Teachers are advised of the numeracy and literacy links within each unit to help inform their skill specific teaching.

26. Habits of Mind are defined by their authors Art Costa and Bena Kallick as ‘Ways to behave intelligently when you don’t know the answer.’ Within each unit, tasks are written to explore 2 Habits of Mind. This ensures that each Habit is taught explicitly within the 2 year Scope and Sequence of Inter@ct Units.

27. Within each unit there are resources provided in the ‘attachment’ section. These resources include project sheets, stimulus photos, rubrics etc. Each of these resources have been constructed specifically to support the tasks and to save teachers time

28. Video clips of students being taught the range of thinking tools and cooperative tools that are provided in the Toolkit are continuously being added to Inter@ct.

29. Videos are also provided to help explain the theories underpinning the various ‘best practice’ inclusions in the Inter@ct units.

30. Access to eUP and this unit will be available to all schools represented here today by Monday morning. You will have access to it until close of business the following Monday 25/10, during which time, you can use it, manipulate it, play with it etc.

31. Inter@ct units have been written from a global perspective that will allow for compliance with curriculum standards world wide.

32. The most challenging areas for teachers to ‘teach’ within VELS have been given a definitive and appropriate focus with the Inter@ct units.

36.  Available to all schools purchasing/ordering Inter@ct Units prior to Friday 29 October 2010  Max 2 participants per school (bring laptop with wireless capability)  Registration available on-line at www.eup.com.au www.eup.com.au  Wheelers Hill International Less than five minutes off either Eastlink or Monash Freeway  8.30 Tea/Coffee sign –in for a 9am start and 12 noon finish.