Anderson Jupiter, Donald Fuentes, and Cindy Mendoza interview Somerville's Environmental Coordinator, Vithal Deshpande, digitally recording with a Flip video camera. Part 4 in a series on Somerville Schools William C. Shelton (The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.) Andy, Bruno, and Franklin are designing a TV game show about math. Jaemie, Jennifer, Nicole, and Graziella are developing media products on specific ways Somerville can respond to climate change. Patrik, Henry, and Kelvin are making a comic about fractals.

They are seventh and eighth graders.

Their projects require them to integrate the different academic subjects that they are studying. Working in small groups, they learn nonacademic skills as well, such as teamwork and leadership.

They are part of an innovative interdisciplinary media program implemented throughout Somerville Schools' middle grades for the first time this year. The program aims to prepare students for success in the 21st Century workplace.

Over the course of their work lives, individuals in their generation will have over a dozen different jobs. Rapidly changing technology and markets will make many of their skill sets obsolete several times over the course of their careers, obligating them to continually learn new skills.

What will endure are requirements for skills associated with critical thinking and working in teams. Critical thinking goes beyond simply knowing facts and concepts-the way that subjects were taught in my day.

It involves recognizing and defining problems, gathering information, interpreting data, appraising evidence, generating alternative solutions, testing them against pragmatic criteria, and making decisions.

School Committee members, parents, teachers, and administrators had these trends in mind when they conducted a strategic planning process during the winter of 2007. One of the five goals that emerged was to create a program to prepare students for 21st Century demands, beginning in the middle school.

In January 2008, Assistant Superintendent Vince McKay convened a task force to develop the program's guidelines. They studied best practices, visited other schools, and incorporated all of the current research about how students learn best. This past summer, they wrote the curriculum in a teachers' and administrators' workshop, and they began it in September.

Charlie LaFaucie, Director of Library and Media Services, says that the aim is to get students working on interdisciplinary real-world projects that make learning meaningful and fun. To conduct the projects, students must integrate subjects like Math, English, Science, and History into a body of knowledge that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Each subject enlivens and illuminates the others. Science teacher Scott Weaver reports that the difference that this makes is apparent in standardized test scores.

Early in the year, teachers select themes to be studied, small groups are organized around topics, and students submit individual project proposals. Examples of this year's themes are the Bill of Rights, folk tales and mythology, and climate change. Although they work as a team, each student blogs on a student website about his or her own work, and each must complete a culminating project.

During the year, team members divide up responsibilities that contribute to both the work of the team, and to each student's project. One member of the East Somerville School's climate-change team is producing a video that summarizes what they have learned. Another is creating a magazine mock up. A third is in charge of a website.

Team member Jaemie Rodriguez likes the program because students choose what they want to do. Jennifer Gutierrez has more fun working in a group. Nicole Girard says that working together, the groups have more brainpower. Graziella Fernandez agrees: other people in the group give you ideas that you wouldn't have thought of yourself.

Each week, the teams participate in a media class taught by a library media specialist. Media lab coordinators deliver hands-on technology training. Teachers support the projects' content, while the media staff support their platform.

Teachers and staff work with the same students over a two-year period. Math teacher Jack O'Keefe says that it takes two months just to get to know a student, but over a two-year period he can much better understand a student's learning curve.

All the teachers whom I spoke with see more energy in the classroom and more excitement about learning. They see the program as a work in progress that will be continually improved as they themselves apply critical thinking to their shared experience. Already, the program is breaking new ground, keeping Somerville Schools on the innovative leading edge.