Talents Unlimited and the Common Core
The Common Core Standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be well positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
The Talents Unlimited Model of Critical and Creative Thinking Skills focuses on metacognition; thinking about thinking. Talents Unlimited centers on higher order thinking skills that move students beyond recall and understanding. By integrating the Talents Unlimited behaviors with the standards, students are able to analyze and apply the knowledge and information gained in the classroom to real world situations.
By teaching the processes needed to be successful in the 21st century work force, including Productive Thinking, Communication, Forecasting, Planning, and Decision Making, teachers trained in Talents Unlimited lead PreK-12th grade scholars to become innovative, self-directed and resilient leaders. Our students are confident because they are prepared for the world in front of them, regardless of the path they choose for their future.
Following is an example of how the Talents Unlimited format can be used to teach a 4th grade science standard by increasing rigor by moving vertically up Bloom’s taxonomy.
Grade 4: Structure, Function, and Information Processing
4-LS1-2 Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways. *
Remembering
Productive Thinking: List many, varied, unusual animals that receive information
Productive Thinking: List many, varied, unusual sources of information that an animal might receive
Understanding:
Forecasting 2: What would be the many, varied causes for an animal to react to information received?
Apply:
Productive Thinking: Give many, varied, unusual ways information is transferred from one living thing to another
Communication 5: List the five senses. For each sense, give at least one type of information the body receives through that sense.
Productive Thinking: In cooperative learning groups, think of many, varied, unusual ways you could model (show) how an animal receives information through their senses, processes the information and then responds.
Analyze:
Decision Making: After your group has completed the Productive Thinking activity where you generated many, varied, unusual ways you could model a system of information transfer, use your Decision Making talent to decide which example you would like to use in your group project. Make sure to have at least 3 criteria questions to help you choose the best model.
Forecasting 1. One way information is transferred is through speaking and hearing. What would be the many, varied, causes for a person to respond to information they hear in a different way than was intended by the person talking?
Forecasting 2: What would be the many, varied effects of a person misinterpreting information given to them?
Evaluate:
Decision Making: If you had use of only one of your senses, which do you feel would be the most important. Complete the Decision Making graphic organizer to make the decision.
Group students by similar responses, i.e., everyone who chose the sense of touch would go to one group.
With your group, create a debate that includes facts you know about your chosen sense, to convince the other groups of your preferred sense. Make sure you have evidence and data to support your opinion.
Create:
Planning: Students have decided on the best model to demonstrate how animals receive, process, and respond to information. Use the Planning Talent to make a plan for their model.
Productive Thinking: Using only pictures or symbols, design a poster to explain the system of information transfer
*Taken from the Next Generation Science Standards