Watch a Prezi presentation about 21st Century Skills
Core Content or 21st Century Skills: It’s Not Either/Or
by Dorcas Parson
The United States educational system is at a crossroads. With an average ranking of 17th compared to 39 other countries (Pearson Education, 2012), educators across the nation see the need for reform. The question is what kind of reform is needed, and how do we achieve it?
The” latest and greatest” idea for reform is implementing a curriculum of “21st century skills.” 21st century skills are the pedagogical model that fuses educational technology and life process skills, with core content. This ideally will enhance the learning experience for all students, preparing them for the global world in which we now live.
As in all reform movements, there are those who love and those who criticize the idea of implementing the 21st century skills. Critics suggest that 21st century skills are nothing new and time spent teaching those skills would be better spent on core content, such as English or mathematics. Familiar so-called 21st century skills include critical thinking and collaboration. Other skills, especially in the communication realm, have 21st century implications. The ability to effectively synthesize information from digital sources is a relatively new skill that we must teach students.
Conversely, those who believe that teaching 21st skills requires little content understanding may also miss the mark. Andrew Rotherham and Daniel Willingham, (Rotherham is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students and Willingham who is Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and researches application of cognitive psychology to K-12 education)(2009) state in their article 21st Century Skills: The Challenges Ahead,
Devising a 21st century skills curriculum requires more than paying lip service to content knowledge. Outlining the skills in detail and merely urging that content be taught, too, is a recipe for failure. We must plan to teach skills in the context of particular content knowledge and to treat both as equally important.
In short, the question is not either/or when it comes to teach our students core content or 21st century skills, but rather why not both simultaneously. In Curriculum 21:Essential Education For a Changing World, Heidi Hayes Jacobs (2010) remarks, “To make the 21st century skills meaningful to specific learners, the key is to translate them into highly discrete classroom applications connected to assessment types and to the curriculum content.”(chapter 2)
But how do we get there? How do we move as an educational community to achieve this balance between content and skills? There are simple ways to implement the power of 21st century skills into the classroom.
· Realize that integrating 21st century technology does not diminish skills or
content, but enriches both.
· Get comfortable with technology. There are many free Web 2.0 tools on the
internet. Ask for technology assistance from a technology specialist, other tech
savvy teachers or just play with the tools. Get comfortable with the technology
before introducing it into the classroom.
· Start at your own speed to incorporate 21stcentury techniques into your
classroom. Take a concept, determine your learning outcomes, look for a real
world application, and design a project that can utilize technology. Create an
exciting project that will challenge students!
· Search for ways to reach out to the global community. Incorporate how other
cultures deal with the content you are teaching. Consider connecting your class to
other classes around the world using web tools such as ePals.
· Teach internet literacy. The internet is a wonderful tool to enhance learning, if used
properly. Visit commonsensemedia.org to find information about digital curriculum
and citizenship.
· Incorporate inquiry based learning into the classroom. Create learning experiences
utilizing problem-based or project-based learning that includes discoveries of
concepts, as opposed to passive learning.
· Promote collaboration within your classroom as a valuable tool. As the old adage
goes “Two heads are better than one.”
· Be patient with progress. Implementation of 21st century skills takes time.
Content coupled with educational technology and life process skills will help build traits that develop a deeper, richer understanding necessary today for students to succeed. It only takes educators who are willing to say yes to both.
Pearson Learning. (2012) [Index of education ranking of 40 countries]. The learning curve.
Retrieved from http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/index/index-ranking
Rotherham, A.J. & Willingham, D. (2009). 21st century skills: The challenges ahead. Educational
leadership, 67(1). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/[email protected]
Jacobs, H. H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential education for a changing world. [Kindle DX version] Retrieved from Amazon.com