Health Literacy in the Mathematics Classroom: The Iowa Core Curriculum As An Opportunity to Deepen Students’ Understanding of Mathematics

By 2012, all high schools in Iowa will be required to incorporate the new Iowa Core Curriculum, followed by elementary and middle schools in 2014 (Iowa Department of Education, 2009). The Iowa Core Curriculum addresses the question: How is Iowa\u27s educational system preparing our youth for successful lives in the 21st-century global environment? (Davidson, 2009). It consists of core content standards, and identifies essential concepts and skills for content areas. The Iowa Core Curriculum also includes the ―21st Century Skills‖ of ―health, financial, technology, and civic literacy, and employability skills. These skills are to be infused into existing subject matter rather than taught as separate stand-alone subjects