Many high schools in my school district participate in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills initiative. I was somewhat familiar with the organization, but not with their website. The website defines the organization’s vision and mission of the educational needs of the 21st century and showed how participating schools apply this vision and goals into their classroom practice. The site shows examples of schools, teachers, students, and communities nationwide involved in fascinating project-based learning environments as well as provide teachers with strategies and activities on student collaboration and teaching critical thinking and problem solving skills.
What I found intriguing is the ongoing content vs. skill debate between Ken Kay, president and co-founder of P21, and other educational leaders, E.D Hirsch and Daniel T. Willingham. Willingham criticizes P21’s assumptions about learning and debates critical thinking and problem solving skills are interrelated with content. To think critically, students require a deep understanding of the subject. Kay disagrees. He feels students need to learn how to think critically in different settings including the workplace and technology helps this process.
I’m sure there is a balance, a middle ground between the two schools of thought. Can we use technological tools to teach a student to think deeply, to think critically? Is it all or nothing?
References
VonZastrow, C. (2009, March 2). Do we have to choose? Partnership for 21st Century Skills<>. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org
Toppo, G. (2009, March 4). What to learn:'core knowledge'or 21st century skills'? Partnership for 21st Century Skills<>. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org
Willingham, D.T. (2009, March 2). Flawed assumptions undergird the program at the partnership for 21st century skills. Britannica Blog. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/03/
flawed-assumptions-undergird-the-partnership-for-21st-century-skills-movement
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It's interesting to hear your perspective because you are familiar with the organization. Hats off to your district for being involved already! When I first read this week's blog assignment I thought I needed to prepare for controversial information, but I was pleasantly surprised to see appropriate debates about topics relevant to education, such as the content vs. skill debate you mentioned. I'm not sure exactly where I side with this but I do think that we can use technological tools to teach a student to think deeply in some situations. It may not always be appropriate, but could be at other times. My district uses the STAR test to assess online a students "reading level". Teachers question the validity of this test but today I saw a new side to consider. The very top reader in my 2nd grade class is reading at a 5th grade level but when she takes this STAR test, she scores at a first grade level. No wonder people question the validity! Today I brought her to a one-on-one situation to give her a chance to improve her score. Using the technology we had with the computer program, I taught her how to think before clicking on an answer! It was a tedious task at first and I could tell she was frustrated, but reading and re-reading and even re-reading again before submitting an answer really improved her score! I don't think the issue at hand is so much if we can use technology to teach our students to think, but rather if we know HOW and if we WANT to!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that high schools in your area part of the program! Are they involved in many of the activities or is the concept new to your district? I would love to see more states, including my own, become involved.
ReplyDeleteI think we could find a balance to use technological tools to teach critical thinking. Finding the balance is a challenging task, but I believe that is what we are trying to do as “students” of technology. Quite honestly, I do not think that we could ever replace the classroom teacher completely with technology. Even with the class we are taking, where everything is done by computer, we still have a “real-life” teacher who guides and facilitates the class. Of course 10 years ago who would have thought we could be sharing classes with others from all over the country and even the world?
My hope is that teachers continue to use technology as a tool for instructional practice. I want to learn how to choose the best tool for a particular lesson. Even though many of the schools in my district have the latest technology and adequate PD that explains its operation, most teachers face the challenge of how to appropriately integrate the technology into their lessons. These decisions are becoming easier as we share our successes and frustrations.
ReplyDeletethat is great your district is a member. I had never heard of this organization until this application. the debate you speak of is interesting, it is the old what came first the chicken or the egg conundrum. Personally, I agree with your assessment there has to be a middle ground. We cannot just abandon traditional content for technology and we cannot continue using the same educational infrastructure taht we have been using for the past 50 years.
ReplyDeleteI love the project-based learning strategy! I really appreciated seeing that on the website along with the strategies teachers can use to help teach students how to participate effectively in this style of learning. Once students have a foundation for using these 21st century skills, teachers will be able to build upon that and create an atmosphere where students are using higher level thinking skills and teamwork on a regular basis. I think that the incorporation of technology into this process is possible and beneficial to students. The more we afford our students the opportunities to use technology alongside critical questions the more I believe we will find that they will surprise us with what they are capable of doing.
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