Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 -21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning

I’ve been interested in 21st century skills for several years now, ever since I realized the traditional way of teaching isn’t reaching the students. In my research to learn more I came across the organization: Partnership for 21st Century Skills located at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/. They have put together a plan that connects curriculum and 21st century skills. Just as we've heard about the 3 R's of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the 21st century skills are called the 5 C's. These are critical thinking, creative problem solving, communications, collaboration, and cross cultural relationship building. Let’s take a closer look at these skills. Critical thinking and creative problem solving are skills that we need to learn to help us understand the world around us and interact with it. Communications and collaboration are skills that help us work and interact with others in our work and learning situations. Cross-cultural relationship building is something that is important in our global economy.

I’ve been working with my students for several years using group work (collaboration), having them journal and reflect on their answers (critical thinking), and doing problem solving as individuals and partners. Last year, my class connected on ePals (cross cultural relationship building) with a South Korean class and we did video chat (Skype) with the teacher. One evening five of my students connected with students from that classroom. The time difference offered some interesting challenges.

In an article posted in the Toronto Star (Canada) on Aug. 9, 2009 called No More Pencils, Lots More Fun they take you to a school district that is changing the learning culture in their school. They have changed the pedagogy of the school. In the article a statement is made that is a great explanation of why to make this change and I quote: “Jim Greenlaw, dean of the faculty of education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, says education is moving away from the "transmissional" – where teachers simply impart information – to transactional, or working together, and even to transformational, where it changes students' lives. "And if you are a fair teacher who gives students something interesting to do, then you can be more demanding because they are more interested," he says.”

Lifelong Learning is a very intriguing subject. I say that because so many people like to throw that term around, but have no clue what it means. As an example, my elementary school has that in its mission statement, yet it’s a traditional school, which lectures, uses mostly worksheets, and is constantly testing the students. I find that when they get to me the students think learning comes from a worksheet and I have to undo that philosophy.

Dr. Terry Paulson gives an interesting perspective on Lifelong Learning. Although his talk is more for an adult audience, his points are well made on its importance. He mixes some historical statements with an understanding of today’s changing world and how we should be as learners.