21st Century Skills

Kids always have a general curiosity about the world. Children ask questions, make discoveries, and are encouraged to become lifelong learners. What’s different between years ago and today?

Bob Regan explains that Partnership for 21^st Century Skills offers the skills needed that we as teachers need to teach. These include thinking and problem-solving, interpersonal, collaborative and self-direction skills, global awareness, and others. Again, the question is, what is different about years ago and today?

Many of the skills seem obvious to me in terms of what children should be taught. It’s almost funny that Regan is coining skills like problem-solving skills as new. I guess these skills aren’t new, but in a 21^st century world, they need to be taught in a new way.

Today’s technology needs to be fully integrated into all curricula so that students learn these skills and incorporate them within their learning. Today’s technology gives kids the opportunity to learn more about their questions. Children can research and find answers on the internet. Teachers can incorporate videos or pictures that make the curricula more meaningful, just as Dewey says learning should be. It is our job as teachers to envelop the curriculum with technology and incorporate it into classroom learning. Students need to keep up with the times so that they enter the world with knowledge of skills that will continue to keep them as lifelong learners.