A holistic view of the updated middle school mathematics curriculum with the perspective of 21st century skills

This research aims to holistically examine the secondary school mathematics curriculum published in 2024 in the context of 21st Century skills. The study was conducted with a descriptive model. Research; It was conducted using the document review method, which is a qualitative research method. In the study, 2024 secondary school mathematics course curriculum texts were used as data. While document analysis, Partnership 21st century skills prepared based on the for 21 Century Skills (P21) skill classification were used. These skills; It is classified under three main headings: learning and innovation skills, information, media and technology skills, and life and career skills. According to the research results; In the section on the field skills targeted by the program's themes, conceptual skills and tendencies, inter-program components and interdisciplinary and inter-skill relations; highest frequency; It belongs to critical thinking and problem solving skills (88). Social and intercultural skills (50) come second, and communication and cooperation skills (48) come third. In the field of learning outcomes and process components of each theme in the curriculum, it is seen that there is an accumulation of critical thinking and problem solving skills (73) with the highest frequencies and creative thinking and innovation application skills (32) and little space is given to other skills. In the field of learning evidence (measurement and evaluation), it is seen that productivity and responsibility skills (21) are included the most, followed by communication and cooperation skills (13) and information literacy skills (11). It has been observed that in the field of teaching-learning practices, communication and collaboration skills (135) are mostly included, followed by critical thinking and problem-solving skills (86), and then social and intercultural skills (72). In the differentiation area of the program, it is seen that information-communication technology literacy skills (29) are the most included, followed by productivity and responsibility (28) and communication and cooperation (26) skills. It has been determined that all 21st century skills are included in the curriculum of the 2024 secondary school mathematics course, but the frequency of each skill varies. It has been determined that while some skills are given a lot of space, some skills are rarely seen. In particular, information, media and technology skills are the skill areas least included in the 2024 program.