disseminate information instead of students discovering information and applying it to a
real world situation. The Observation Tool (Appendix C) reflects that teachers should act
like facilitators instead of depositors of content, in order for a more authentic learning
experience to occur. T1 indicated in one of the lesson plans high level thinking skills such
as students being able to research hydroelectric dams in order to construct a biome
project. In Teacher 2’s classroom, students were aware of the skills they were using to
complete various problem based learning activities, but did not discuss how those skills
may be beneficial to their future careers or real life scenarios. In both classroom
observations, the researcher did not see a deep connection between real world and the
learning that would be deliberately designed by the teacher.
Is there alignment between the components of 21 st century learning, the articulation of
the school’s vision and the actual instructional practices in the classroom?
Research question 4 delved into whether there was alignment between the desired
21 st century context of rigor, relevance and resources and the actual instructional
practices of the teachers. Teacher 1 defined that meaningful technology integration is to
“use those resources in the context of authentic learning, to differentiate and research…”
However, there was not sufficient evidence of this practice in the classroom. The
district’s vision does focus on acquisition of technology tools that was affirmed by its use
in the classrooms. However, technology usage only occurred on a level where students
were employing low level thinking skills. In the interview process, the teachers described
that the reluctance of teachers to integrate technology into everyday learning was based
on the once limited and recently growing computer accessibility. The administrator