Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Society free essay sample

Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Society An Educator’s Guide to the â€Å"Four Cs† Great Public Schools for Every Student T able of Contents An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs A n E d u c at o r ’ s G u i d e t o T h e F o u r C s Letter from Dennis Van Roekel 2 Introduction 3 The Importance of Teaching the â€Å"Four Cs† 5 The â€Å"Four Cs† 7 1 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 8 2 Communication 13 3 Collaboration 19 4 Creativity and Innovation 24 Frequently Asked Questions 31 Next Steps and Conclusion 32 Additional Resources This is true for civic life as much as it is for work life. In the 21st century, citizenship requires levels of information and technological literacy that go far beyond the basic knowledge that was sufficient in the past. With a host of challenges facing our communities, along with instant connectivity to a global society, civic literacy couldn’t be more relevant or applicable to the curricula in our schools. We will write a custom essay sample on Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Society or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Global warming, immigration reform, pandemic diseases, and financial meltdowns are just a few of the issues today’s students will be called upon to address. Today’s students must be prepared to solve these challenges. In addition, workforce skills and demands have changed dramatically in the last 20 years. The rapid decline in â€Å"routine† work has been well documented by many researchers and organizations. At the same time, there has been a rapid increase in jobs involving nonroutine, analytic, and interactive communication skills. Today’s job market requires competencies such as critical thinking and the ability to interact with people from many linguistic and cultural backgrounds (cultural competency). P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 5 The Importance of Teaching the â€Å"Four Cs† An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs Our ever changing workforce creates a critical need for innovation. Ken Kay, CEO of EdLeader21, remarked, â€Å"Today’s students need critical thinking and problem-solving skills not just to solve the problems of their current jobs, but to meet the challenges of adapting to our constantly changing workforce. † Today, people can expect to have many jobs in multiple fields during their careers. The average person born in the latter years of the baby boom held 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 44, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 3 The new social contract is different: only people who have the knowledge and skills to negotiate constant change and reinvent themselves for new situations will succeed. 4 According to a 2010 study — the American Management Association, the AMA 2010 Critical Skills Survey — the â€Å"Four Cs† will become even more important to organizations in the future. Three out of four (75. 7 percent) executives who responded to the AMA survey said they believe these skills and competencies will become more important to their organizations in the next three to five years, particularly as the economy improves and organizations look to grow in a global marketplace. Additionally, 80 percent of executives believe fusing the â€Å"Three Rs† and â€Å"Four Cs† would ensure that students are better prepared to enter the workforce. According to these managers, proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic is not sufficient if employees are unable to think critically, solve problems, collaborate, or communicate effectively. 5 century. This guide is intended to help you understand the fundamental aspects of the â€Å"Four Cs† and how you can implement them into your instruction. Reflections Throughout this guide, you will be asked to reflect on some key questions that will be useful to your practice. In this introduction, we would like you to reflect on the following questions: What can you do in your classroom to better prepare your students for the challenges of 21st century citizenship? How can educators become more intentional and purposeful about critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity as competencies our young people will fully possess by the time they graduate from their K-12 education? How can educators work collaboratively to improve their students’ performance of the â€Å" Four Cs†? It is clear that the â€Å"Four Cs† need to be fully integrated into classrooms, schools, and districts around the country to produce citizens and employees adequately prepared for the 21st P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 6 An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs The â€Å"Four Cs† In this section, you will find an overview of each of the â€Å"Four Cs†: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. Each of the â€Å"Four Cs† has a section on: ? The Importance of the â€Å"C† ? The Definition of the â€Å"C† ? How the â€Å"C† is Related to Other Skills ? Ways to Integrate the â€Å"C† into Your Classroom ? Reflections on the â€Å"C† ? Resources on the â€Å"C† P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 7 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving A n E d u c at o r ’ s G u i d e t o T h e F o u r C s Critical thinking has long been a valued skill in society. Today, every student—not just the academically advanced— needs it. While critical thinking and problem solving used to be the domain of gifted students, now it’s a critical domain for every student. The Importance of Critical Thinking The link between critical thinking and education is obvious: one can’t learn well without thinking well. Critical thinking contributes to career success, but also to success in higher education. In research conducted for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Oregon professor David T. Conley finds that â€Å"habits of mind† such as â€Å"analysis, interpretation, precision and accuracy, problem solving, and reasoning† can be as or more important than content knowledge in determining success in college courses. 6 Teaching critical thinking and problem solving effectively in the classroom is vital for students. Learning critical thinking leads students to develop other skills, such as a higher level of concentration, deeper analytical abilities, and improved thought processing. Today’s citizens must be active critical thinkers if they are to compare evidence, evaluate competing claims, and make sensible decisions. Today’s 21st century families must sift through a vast array of information regarding financial, health, civic, even leisure activities to formulate plausible plans of action. The solutions to international problems, such as global warming, require highly developed critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. In everyday work, employees must employ critical thinking to better serve customers, develop better products, and continuously improve themselves within an ever-changing global economy. Economists Frank Levy and Richard Mundane have described the new world of work in which the most desirable jobs—the ones least likely to be automated or outsourced—are those that require expert thinking and complex communication. 7 According to the AMA 2010 Critical Skills Survey, 73. 3 percent of business executives polled identified critical thinking as a priority for employee development, talent management, and succession planning. 8 Definition of Critical Thinking Critical thinking and problem-solving can be defined in many ways, but P21 defines critical thinking as follows:9 Reason Effectively Use various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc. ) as appropriate to the situation P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 8 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs Use Systems Thinking Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems Make Judgments and Decisions Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims, and beliefs Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes Solve Problems Solve different kinds of unfamiliar problems in both conventional and innovative ways Identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions (See the â€Å"critical thinking rubric† created by the Catalina Foothills School District as an example: http://rubrics. metiri. wikispaces. net/file/view/ Catalina_Foothills_Critical_Thinking_Rubric-1. doc) Related to Other Cs While the importance of critical thinking is paramount, its connection to the other Cs is equally important. Leading experts on critical thinking stress its connection to creative thinking skills. According to philosophers Richard Paul and Linda Elder, â€Å"†¦sound thinking requires both imagination and intellectual standards. † When one engages in high-quality thinking, one functions both critically and creatively; one produces and assesses, generates and judges the products of his or her thought. 10 Critical thinking also draws on other skills, such as communication and information literacy, to examine, then analyze, interpret, and evaluate it. According to educator Thomas Hoerr, the very notion of intelligence has changed. We no longer rely on the limits of our single mind to access the information resources we need to solve problems. 11 Problem solving has always involved teamwork and cooperation. Today, however, open source programs, wikis, blogs, and other Web 2. 0 technologies enable total strangers divided by space and time to collaborate. Successful problem solving in the 21st century requires us to work effectively and creatively with computers, with vast amounts of information, with ambiguous situations, and with other people from a variety of backgrounds. Ways to Integrate Critical Thinking into Your Classroom P21 forged alliances with key national organizations that represent the core academic subjects, including social studies, English, science, geography, world languages, mathematics, and the arts. These collaborations resulted in the 21st Century Skills Maps that illustrate the intersection between core subjects and 21st Century Skills. This section includes examples of what critical thinking skills might look like in core academic content classrooms. These examples, drawn primarily from the aforementioned content maps, demonstrate how critical thinking and problem solving can be integrated into classroom teaching and learning across a variety of grade levels and disciplines. P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 9 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs Arts – 4th Grade Students individually articulate different ways to interpret the same musical passage. Students then compare the various interpretations and determine which one is most effective, taking into account age-appropriate considerations such as the style and genre of the music. amenities at each park, campsites available, recreation opportunities, etc. ) along with data about population in the state. Groups develop case studies to advocate for additional culturally and linguistically responsive amenities at their state parks using documentation such as maps, examples from other parks in other states, etc. World Languages – 4th Grade English – 12th Grade With the job title omitted, students read various job/career advertisements and then match the appropriate job title to the ad. Students are divided into groups. Each group is asked to investigate 3-5 different career/job sites and identify the jobs and careers that are in high demand in a particular city, region, or country. Students present their findings to the class. In small groups, students create a plan for involving students in making technology decisions in the school. The process may include gathering student input from surveys, establishing a student advisory committee, using students to help provide tech support or other services to the school, evaluating cost/value ratios, and fundraising proposals to support their recommended strategies. These plans should be used in a presentation to the principal or the school board. Science – 8th Grade Students research how the physical and chemical properties of different natural and humandesigned materials affect their decomposition under various conditions. They compare their findings to the material evidence used by scientists to reconstruct the lives of past cultures, as well as create a map of their classroom as a future archeological site (including written descriptions of artifacts and what they imply about the cultures) discovered by scientists. The students plan and conduct scientific investigations and write detailed explanations based on their evidence. Students compare their explanations to those made by scientists and relate them to their own understandings of the natural and designed worlds. Geography – 8th Grade Students are assigned to groups to research information about a specific state park (different Social Studies – 12th Grade In groups, students explore how selected societies of the past used their natural resources for fuel (e. g. , England’s use of its forests at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution) and the economic impact of that use. Students use videoconferencing (e. g. , www. skype. com) to collect information from relevant government officials about the use of corn for biofuel instead of food and analyze the environmental and economic implications of this use. Students use district-approved wikis to publish the results of their research. Using sound reasoning and relevant examples, students analyze the historical evolution of a contemporary public policy issue, place it within a cultural and historical context, and use a digital publishing tool to report their work. P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 10 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs Mathematics – 12th Grade Students explore the napkin ring problem: if a hole of height â€Å"h† is drilled through the center of a sphere, the volume of the portion of the sphere that remains does not depend on the size of the original sphere; it depends only on h. They share and critique their insights into why this is so. Then students explore mathematician Keith Devlin’s 2008 discussion of the problem at www. maa. org/devlin/devlin_04_08. html, where Devlin provides the full computation and explains why some solutions posted online are incorrect. Students explore solutions currently appearing online and assess which solutions are accurate and which are not. Resources on Critical Thinking The following list of critical thinking resources is divided into â€Å"General Resources† and â€Å"Classroom Resources. † Use these resources to help generate dialogue and action in your classroom, department, and school. General Resources The Foundation for Critical Thinking The Foundation and its related entities aim to improve education in all subjects at every level by providing information, research, and resources on critical thinking. This site provides excellent background resources on the subject of critical thinking. Reflections on Critical Thinking www. criticalthinking. org As you begin to integrate critical thinking into classroom practices, consider the following questions: Classroom Resources How can you model critical thinking/ problem solving for your students? What kind of learning environment is necessary to emphasize problem solving skills in your classroom? What could you do to make critical thinking and problem solving more intentional and purposeful in your classroom? How can you encourage students to be better critical thinkers and problem solvers? How can you and your colleagues work collectively to prioritize effective higher order thinking pedagogy across classrooms? Catalina Foothills Critical Thinking Rubric Catalina Foothills School District created a series of rubrics to assess student critical thinking skills. They measure critical thinking skills such as comparing, classifying, inductive and deductive reasoning, error analysis, and decision making. http://tinyurl. com/ydteapw Council for Aid to Education’s (CAE’s) Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) and College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA) These assessments from CAE measure analytic thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, and written communication skills. The CWRA is available for high school use. Access the scoring rubric at http://tinyurl. com/2vh3ugo. http://www. cae. org/content/pro_collegework. htm. P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 11 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs Critical Thinking Lesson Plans – University of North Carolina (UNC) These lesson plans integrate critical thinking into core academic subjects such as science, English language arts, social studies, geography, and others. http://tinyurl. com/3w3a8e8 FIRST LEGO ® League Rubrics The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics program not only focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), but also stresses teamwork and collaboration, communication skills, creativity, and innovation and critical thinking. There are several rubrics here that help measure the 4C’s. http://tinyurl. com/3urrave Helping Students Learn Critical Thinking Skills This general purpose, well-organized Web site provides examples of how to help students develop effective inquiry skills, argument structure, reliability, and reasoning skills. http://tinyurl. com/3kyqcpn Isaksen and Treffinger’s Model for Critical and Creative Thinking Scott Isaksen and Donald Treffinger developed a six-stage, critical and creative thinking model that is outlined in their book, Creative Problem Solving: The Basic Course (1985). Their model is briefly described in this PDF: http://tinyurl. com/3wmsc3a, and in this article: http://tinyurl. com/ydv82hz. P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 12 Communication A n E d u c at o r ’ s G u i d e t o T h e F o u r C s Expressing thoughts clearly, crisply articulating opinions, communicating coherent instructions, motivating others through powerful speech—these skills have always been valued in the workplace and in public life. But in the 21st century, these skills have been transformed and are even more important today. The Importance of Communication Students must be able to effectively analyze and process the overwhelming amount of communication in their lives today. Which information sources are accurate? Which ones are not? How can they be used or leveraged effectively? The power of modern media and the ubiquity of communication technologies in all aspects of life make teaching strong communication skills even more important. While education has always emphasized fluent reading, correct speech, and clear writing, there is evidence that students are not mastering these most basic skills. In the report, Are They Really Ready to Work? , employers note that although oral and written communication are among the top four skills they seek in new hires, all graduates are lacking in these areas. High school graduates fare the worst, with 72 percent of employers citing this group’s deficiency in writing in English, and 81 percent citing their deficiency in written communications. Almost half of employers said employees with two-year degrees were still lacking skills in these two areas, while over a quarter of employers felt four-year graduates continued to lack these skills. 12 Additionally, there are now â€Å"global teams† that work together in business. Linguistically and culturally effective communication is essential to contribute successfully to these teams. And as technology gives rise to global work teams that span time zones, nations, and cultures, it is imperative that tomorrow’s graduates communicate clearly and effectively in a variety of languages. Communication skills are especially critical in the expanding service economy—estimated to be 81 percent of jobs by 2014—where relationships with customers and fellow employees are of vital importance. Linguistically and culturally effective listening, empathy, and effective communication skills are essential skills for every person in the service economy. Economists Levy and Mundane offer further evidence of the importance of communication in today’s workplace. Because complex communication involves explanation, negotiation, and other forms of intense human interaction, jobs that require these skills are not as likely to be automated. 13 P r e pa r i n g 2 1 s t C e n t u ry S t u d e n t s f o r a G l o b a l S o c i e t y 13 Communication An Educator’s Guide to The Four Cs Definition of Communication Communication can be defined in many ways, but P21 defines communication skills as follows:14 Communicate Clearly Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions Use communication for a range of purposes (e. g. to inform, instruct, motivate, and persuade) Use multiple media and technologies, and know how to assess impact and their effectiveness a priori Communicate effectively in diverse environments (including multilingual and multicultural) A â€Å"communication rubric,† created by the Amphitheater School District, can be found here: http://www. p21. org/route21/index. php? option=com_jlibraryview=detailstask=d ownloadid=849 Communication and Collaboration While it is important to emphasize communication skills, it can be difficult to separate them from the other Cs—especially collaboration. As represented in the 21st Century Skills Framework, communication competencies such as clearly articulating ideas through speaking and writing are closely related to collaboration skills, such as working effectively with diverse teams, making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal, and assuming shared responsibility for collaborative work. Communication cannot be effective unless the message is received and understood. Research backs up the importance—and interconnection—of communication and collaboration as well. In her work with young children, Professor Carol Seefeldt found that â€Å"social skills and communication skills go hand in hand. Children who look at the child they are talking with, who understand t