The partnership for 21st century
skills is a website found at http://www.p21.org/index.php that promotes the knowledge
of 21st century knowledge and skills to be effective citizens, workers, and
leaders. This is a very helpful website that shows how to incorporate 21st
century skills into all core content areas. I was excited to see that
California is one of the partner states. California has created an education
technology blueprint describing how California is going to improve the quality
of its education using technology.
The
website emphasizes the skills that students need to have to be successful in a
global community and workplace. They believe in fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs. The 3Rs
refer to all core subjects. The 4Cs refer to the skills needed, critical
thinking, communication, collaboration, and, creativity (P21, 2014). They believe that all curriculum
can be taught using these 4Cs. I found the science skills map very useful. It
shows examples from each skill needed, the outcome created, and an example of
how it would look for three different grade levels. The way the information was
clearly laid out, I found it very easy to understand. I was able to see how I
could incorporate more of the 21st century skills into my science classroom. A
good question I could ask before a lesson or activity is to ask the students
which 21st century skill is being addressed.
I
disagree with the fact that computer and digital literacy was not included as a
core subject. Without a good knowledge of computers and related technology,
students would not be able to learn any of the 21st century skills. Many
students know how to go onto the Internet to watch a YouTube video or go on a
social media site but they lack the skills needed to find even simple research.
Students know to Google something to find information but the sheer number of
sites that come up can be very overwhelming to many students especially at a
middle school. Once students have the information, they still have a difficult time
knowing what to do with the information and how to present it. With a strong
background in computer and digital literacy, students would find the skills
needed to be a 21st century citizen easier to learn and demonstrate.
After
reading through this website, I know that there is still a lot of work I need
to do in order to be an educator of 21st century skills. I know I have
incorporated more of these skills this year in my teaching than ever before. I
hope next year to be able to incorporate more of these skills to better prepare
my students for a global community and workplace. As an educator, I think we
all want our students to be successful and the best person they can be.
References
Partnership for 21st century skills found at: http://www.p21.org/index.php
Checking to see if anyone can post.
ReplyDeleteI found your disagreement very intriguing. Without the knowledge of computers their goals would not be able to be met. I know that there has been legislation saying that we must teach computer skills in our schools but it is not very specific in how to do that. Maybe this group is assuming that the the basic computer skills are being taught in all schools. As our discussion posts stated it is hard to teach these basic skills if our schools do not have the required technology. In my school my students get one marking period of computer technology. I would imagine many schools have the same thing but maybe schools need to have a class dedicated simply to the use of computers. What do you think?
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