THE WOODLANDS THE WOODLANDS
CHRISTIAN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY A C A D E M Y AUGUST 28, 2015
What are 21st Century Skills? - by Steve Zeal, School Principal 21st-century skills, 21st-century learning, 21st-century education, 21st-century learners… These phrases are all around us. What do they mean? What’s different in this century? Why are they necessary? Why are they important to Woodlands Christian? Over the next three weeks I plan to address these questions. The new millennium was ushered in by a dramatic, technological revolution. We live and teach in an increasingly diverse, global, and complex society. Today’s students from kindergarten through college represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. On average, current college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives. Our students’ lives have changed radically and they are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.
The skills needed by today’s students are far greater than those required just a decade ago. Students today must be able to analyze and evaluate information, solve problems, and communicate effectively across a wide variety of platforms. Skills and learning that were designed to prepare students for work and life in the industrial economy need to be rethought and reengineered to serve the needs of students in this century. Simply put, the broad idea of 21st-century education/learning revolves around the notion that schooling as we have known it for the last 150 years must change to keep pace with the demands of the new world. A world that that has been transformed by technological advances, the knowledge revolution, and a global economy. Next week I will be examining what constitutes these 21st century learning skills, and how we are incorporating them into our teaching and learning at Woodlands Christian.
References h"p://www.marcprensky.com/wri3ng/Prensky/-‐DigitalNa3ves,DigitalImmigrants-‐Part1.pdf h"p://cae.org/images/uploads/pdf/CLA_Student_Guide_Individual.pdf h"p://www.p21.org/about-‐us/p21-‐framework
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