Wednesday, December 8, 2010

21st Century Skills and Themes

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) is a national organization that was developed to encourage and support the readiness of all our students for the 21st century. The organization promotes the use of the three Rs - reading, writing, arithmetic - along with the four Cs - critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. It is all an effort to improve the education of our students, but also aid in our global competition with other countries as a society. P21 also attempts to build an association among education, business, government, and community by teaching skills and concepts in schools that will help our students be successful in the real world.

The P21 organization has developed a framework for instilling these ideas into today’s curriculum that includes a number of key elements and support systems. But it begins with the mastery of core subjects including English, world language, mathematics, science, economics, geography, history, and government and civics. While integrating them with 21st century themes of Global Awareness (understanding diversity); Financial-Economic-b\Business-and Entrepreneurial Literacy (understanding role of economy in society); Civic Literacy (understanding governmental processes and implications of civic decisions); Health Literacy (understanding national public health, safety issues, and preventative measures); and Environmental Literacy (understanding the environment, society’s impact upon it, and environmental issues).

Additionally, the P21 developed a series of student skills and outcomes that need to be developed for be successful in the 21st century. First, specific learning and innovation skills were identified centering on the 5 Cs - creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration. Next, information, media, and technology skills should be developed including information literacy (access, evaluation, use, management), media literacy (analyze, creation), and ICT literacy (apply technology effectively). Finally, life and career skills are essential for our students to be successful. This includes having characteristics of flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross cultural skills, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility.

In order for our students to acquire these skills, there are certain support systems that need to be present to help our students mature. For example, 21st century standards need to be created that focus on this content, emphasize deep understanding, and engage students in real world examples during problem solving. Assessment of 21st century skills supports a balance of standardized testing with formative and summative classroom assessments, while also developing a student portfolio of work displaying their mastery of these skills. 21st century curriculum and instruction should focus on providing opportunities across content areas, using innovative learning methods, and integrating school and community. Meanwhile, 21st century professional development concentrates on the teachers encouraging communication among them, expanding their ability to identify student learning styles and strategies to use with them, and creating a balance between direct instruction and project oriented methods. Finally, 21st century learning environments includes having students learn in relevant, real world contexts, access to quality learning tools and technologies, and support of community and international involvement in learning.

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