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Steven K. Crain
2 July, 2017
TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
Integrating 21st Century fluencies into everyday activities and lessons is essential in order
to develop these crucial skills in modern students. By using these skills daily, whether the
student is explicitly told they are using them or not, immerses the student in the new fluency,
which is one of the most effective ways to master a new skill or language (Fortune, 2012).
Having to constantly use those skills in a wide range of real-world and simulated tasks
encourages deep knowledge and proficiency. Teachers that consciously plan their lessons with
those fluencies in mind and how to use those fluencies in the lesson to achieve the standards as
well as become more fluent in the 21st Century fluencies will have students that are more
In this assignment, we identified some Colorado Standards and developed ideas using the
TPACK framework that helped students move toward mastery of the standards as well as
increase their fluency in one of the 21st Century Fluencies (Graham, Kereluik, Koehler, Mishra,
& Shin, 2013; Churches, Crockett, & Jukes, 2012). We then adapted and developed lessons and
activities that would increase student understanding and proficiency toward both the standard
and a 21st century fluency. After the adaptations were completed, one of the modified activities
was selected to be taught to a class where they would complete the activity and produce some
evidence that they are understanding the standards and becoming more proficient.
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
The interconnected Solution Fluency Students are given a scenario where they have
its people and places. part of the world chosen at random. They will
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
sets/156/i-want-getinvolved) or other
discover processes.
Purpose and Information Fluency Students identify credible online sources (Easy
US government. sites
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/eas
ybib-
toolbar/hmffdimoneaieldiddcmajhbjijmnggi)
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
participation to addressed.
or policies
students choose.
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
Analyze a geographic Media Fluency Students use online videos, articles, and social
the people.
resources like
https://topnonprofits.com/vision-mission/ to
gather ideas.
Design, analyze, and Global Digital Students develop a long term financial goal
apply a financial plan Citizenship (This is and create a budget that will help them
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
determination.
A lesson was taught to a student using the Colorado State Geography Standard The
interconnected nature of the world, its people and places, which integrated Solution Fluency,
which is multi-level problem solving. The student was tasked with researching a logistical
problem of moving a camel from Denver, Colorado, USA to a church in Los Alamos, CL. The
student had to define the problem, discover information about the problem and conditions, dream
up solutions (called brainstorm in the assignment), design the solution that would be
implemented, and then reflect on what they learned from the exercise.
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
BR AI N STORM
DISCOVER SOLUTIONS
Relevant information about my object:
It eats a wide variety of plants and can eat tough and hard
- AI R TR AVE L
plant parts that other animals can't chew or digest. It prefers
salty plants. - L AN D TR AVE L
Water - OC E AN TR AVE L
Oxygen * AME RI JE T
Student Organizer 1
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
Student Organizer 2
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
The lesson was conducted online with video chat, instant messaging, file sharing, and
screen sharing through Skype. The student received the graphic organizer and was given a brief
summary of the steps in Solution Fluency and instructions on the scenario and her task to
complete, which was to develop a logistical solution to move a camel from Denver, Colorado to
Los Alamos, Chile by a route that was fast and within a reasonable budget. The student then
started using online search engines, shipping websites, and other online resources to define the
problem, discover information about her cargo, her destination, geographic barriers between the
origin and the destination, customs information, and other factors that a real-world logistician
would have to take into account to achieve their objectives in this scenario. The role of the
teacher in this scenario was to help guide the student to perform better searches and to follow the
Solution fluency process in order to solve the problem presented (Churches, Crockett, & Jukes,
2012).
When the student started, they were not familiar with Solution Fluency, but said that they
were familiar with using online search tools to find information. That was soon tested as the
student discovered that the solution would require much more information than they had
previously thought. Through the discovery phase, they learned that a lot of information was
available online, but since this was a piece of non-standard cargo, much of the information didnt
necessarily apply to this situation. This prompted a change in how they used the search engines,
by refining their search parameters to include additional words like livestock, import export
licenses, and dropping some specific terms like camel to return different results that would
get more useful information. By learning how to manipulate search terms to discover more
information, the student was able to increase the knowledge base in the discovery phase and
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
identify potential roadblocks and potential enablers that would hinder or help the achievement of
the objective. From the information, the student was able to dream potential solutions and
ultimately design a solution that would meet the requirements and could actually work in the
real-world.
One change for future lessons that could enhance the experience would be to have the
students develop two solutions to the problem and then create a cost/benefit analysis table of
both solutions to determine which solution would better fit their stated objectives and their
unstated objectives (humane treatment of animal, time, space, amount of effort, etc.). This would
help the students understand that there is usually more than one solution to any problem, it is just
a matter of finding a solution that would better fit all their goals. Another change to implement in
the future would be to have the students explain why they used a particular search engine and
why they used the specific terms that they did initially. By having the student self-reflect on their
thinking process and how they are currently using the technology, the student can start to
understand how to manipulate the technology that they are using in order to adjust the type and
The student was able to use available online resources and search engines to successfully
complete her objective: Shipping a camel from Denver to Los Alamos. The student organized the
thought processes and information learned through the use of a graphic organizer and laid out a
plan that factored in various obstacles that could hinder the achievement of her objective. She
also learned how to adjust search parameters and use that information to search for more
information, which led the student to discover previously unknown information and potential
solutions to the problem. The student, intrigued by the unusual nature of the exercise, put forth
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
more effort than in previous lessons and tried to find the best solution to the problem and seemed
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TPACK ADAPTATIONS TO 21ST CENTURY FLUENCIES
References
Churches, A., Crockett, L., & Jukes, I. (2012). Literacy is not enough: 21st-century fluencies
Fortune, T.W. (2012). What the research says about immersion. Retrieved 29 June, 2017 from
http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/documents/ImmersionResearch_TaraFortune.html
Graham, C. R., Kereluik, K, Koehler, M. J., Mishra, P., & Shin, T. S. (2013). The Technological
http://www.punyamishra.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/TPACK-handbookchapter-
2013.pdf
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