To conclude, I am going to present some examples of strategies to introduce the 21st century skills in the school. To do so, I am going to be using the educational spider web of van den Akker
Location: use not only the classroom, the different areas of the school can be a learning space (hallways, outdoor, etc.). Students need to be in real situations and real scenarios in order to fully learn.
Time: Do not limit the lesson to last one hour, by making periods of time, you give freedom to all the students to plan their work.
Assessment: Employ assessments to gauge student understanding.
Aims and objectives: develop critical thinking; introduce the 21st century skills in the curriculum as an objective and aim.
Contents: Implement the framework across grades and subject areas.
Learning activities: Use interactive strategies that compel students to participate in classroom activities. Offer multiple opportunities for practice.
Teacher role: Develop classroom environments suitable for debate, inquiry, and experimentation. The teacher is not the one saying if something is right or wrong, he/she is the guide who help the students to get their answers.
Materials and resources: real elements, materials that allow the students to develop their 21st century skills (games, drama, etc.).
Grouping: heterogeneous groups and cooperative work groups.
The four pillars hat they should take into account are:
- Knowledge in Key subjects: broaden the lesson’s topic in order to introduce real-world application problems and skills, thus the subjects are going to be cross-disciplinary.
- Learning and innovation skills: learn some skills that are going to be useful for their future.
- Information media and technology skills: the new technologies are innovating each second; therefore, students need to learn some competences that help them learn through life.
- Life and career skills: students should learn some social competencies, such as work ethic, to act in a good way in their work environment and daily life.
There are different lists of 21st century skills. I have chosen the Colorado list:
- Critical thinking
- Information literacy
- Collaboration
- Self direction
- Invention