K-8 math and science

Piece by piece, the Connecticut State Department of Education has rolled out its model math and science curricula for kindergarten through eighth grade — it’s the first time the state has ever been tasked with doing so.

“That is a new approach for the State Department of Education. Previously curricula wasn’t developed, that was a local control approach and process, though the state would provide guidance,” Irene Parisi, the chief academic officer for CSDE, said.

Parisi said the curricula were designed using Connecticut Core Standards approved by the State Board of Education in 2010 and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Parisi said the curriculum consists of overlapping disciplines between science, math and English language arts.

“There’s cross-cutting concepts as we say, which means it cuts across science and mathematics,” Parisi said. “But then there’s the core ideas that they have to develop.”

For example, core concepts in mathematics advance through the grade levels, Parisi explained.

“The idea of numeracy and measurement and geometry, this carries from kindergarten all the way through. Those topics continue and progress through each grade, but then increase in complexity as you go from grade to grade and they build upon those previous concepts,” Parisi said.

She explained that the science curriculum helps students develop engineering and data interpretation skills while facilitating learning through questions.

“With science, there’s an inquiry approach and just really engaging in those driving questions about science: What do you wonder? What do you notice? And what models can you create so that you can visualize?” Parisi said.

The Model Math Curriculum is now available for kindergarten through eighth grade and the Model Science Curriculum is available for third through eighth grade. All materials are available on Goopenct.org.

“Goopen CT, that’s our commitment to be an open education resource state. And that platform is our digital library of all of our model curricula,” Parisi said. “Once we publish it, we make it accessible for all learners, adult and student and families, because we believe in sharing that information and providing access to all of the model curriculum.”