Should Grade 4 students learn about menstruation? Should they use calculators for math?
Education Minister David Eggen spoke to students at Morinville Community High School Wednesday to get some answers as part of the province's ongoing curriculum review.
Eggen announced this June that his department would rewrite the Kindergarten to Grade 12 arts, language arts, math, social studies, science, and wellness curricula over the next six years. These documents guide what gets taught in Alberta's schools.
Eggen said he came to MCHS Wednesday to talk to students about the curriculum review and check out the school's CTS programs.
"It's very important that we integrate curriculum with post-secondary education and jobs," he said in an interview.
"We know that good jobs begin with a good education, and we want all Albertans to succeed and have the education they need to be a part of a more diverse economy in this province."
Eggen had kicked off the next phase of the curriculum review the day before with the launch of a comprehensive online survey. Some 6,000 people had taken it after just 24 hours, he said.
The survey asks residents about the amount of emphasis that should be placed on different topics. It asks whether the Grade 4 health curriculum should place more or less emphasis on the physical changes of puberty, for example, and whether math should focus more on mental calculation or calculators. The survey also asks if high schoolers should learn computer coding and if social studies students should learn more about democracy and the Iroquois Confederacy.
Eggen urged a crowd of about 70 students to take the survey, saying that they had absorbed and interacted with the curriculum in a much more profound way than anyone else in the province.
"I need to hear from you to figure out how we can rewrite the curriculum," he said.
"Let me know what you think is working in education."
Students weigh in
Grade 12 student Natasha Kryger spoke to Eggen about the math curriculum.
"There's a lot of people even in my grade that can't do simple math in their head, and that's a skill that comes up in any job you have," she said in an interview.
She also recalled how her Grade 4 teacher said he would not teach long division as he felt the rest of the class wouldn't get it, even though that's a skill you need by Grade 12.
"It's kind of disappointing to see that someone in Grade 12 can't do simple math that is supposed to be a life skill."
Kryger said basic math skills such as multiplication and division should receive greater emphasis in the curriculum. She also said that calculators should not be needed prior to Grade 5.
"If you offer it to (students) too early, then they're not going to want to learn how to do it on their own."
Grade 12 student Wallace Hutton spoke to Eggen about how the school system often talks down to the trades and tells students they need degrees to get anywhere.
"That limits the opportunities of kids who'd rather get out of school and get right into the workforce," he said in an interview.
Hutton said he hoped to see an expansion of the registered apprenticeship program and more emphasis on science, technology and engineering skills in schools.
Biology teacher and St. Albert resident Neil Korotash showed Eggen the hydroponics setup his urban agriculture students had made.
"The biology curriculum is content-heavy right now," he said, with Bio 30 students expected to master, among other subjects, the nervous, endocrine and reproductive systems in addition to Mendelian genetics.
"There's so much to do."
Korotash said he'd like to see more of an emphasis on core skills such as problem solving, communication and collaboration, and the inclusion of more project-based learning.
The survey runs until Nov. 18, Eggen said. Responses from it will be combined with advice from an expert panel and focus groups to create drafts for public review.
Residents can take the survey at www.alberta.ca/curriculum-survey.aspx. They can also register for a focus-group session, four of which are being held in Edmonton in the next two weeks.
