I Communication skills: Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through interaction

Inquiry focus: How can students communicate through interaction

• Give and receive meaningful feedback

• Use intercultural understanding to interpret communication

• Use a variety of speaking techniques to communicate with a variety of audiences

• Use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and audiences

• Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences

• Interpret and use effectively modes of non-verbal communication

• Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers

• Participate in, and contribute to, digital social media networks

• Collaborate with peers and experts using a variety of digital environments and media

• Share ideas with multiple audiences using a variety of digital environments and media

Inquiry focus: How can students demonstrate communication through language?

• Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information

• Read critically and for comprehension

• Read a variety of sources for information and for pleasure

• Make inferences and draw conclusions

• Use and interpret a range of discipline-specific terms and symbols

• Write and for different purposes

• Understand and use mathematical notation

• Paraphrase accurately and concisely

• Preview and skim texts to build understanding

• Take effective notes in class

• Make effective summary notes for studying

• Use a variety of organizers for academic writing tasks

• Find information for disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiries, using a variety of media

• Organize and depict information logically

• Structure information in summaries, essays and reports

• Understand and implement intellectual property

• Create references and citations, use footnotes/endnotes and construct a bibliography according to recognized conventions

• Identify primary and secondary sources

II Collaboration skills: Working effectively with others

Inquiry focus: How can students collaborate?

• Use social media networks appropriately to build and develop relationships

• Practice empathy

• Delegate and share responsibility for decision-making

• Help others to succeed

• Take responsibility for one’s own actions

• Manage and resolve conflict and work collaboratively in teams

• Build consensus

• Make fair and equitable decisions

• Listen actively to other perspectives and ideas

• Negotiate effectively

• Encourage others to contribute

• Exercise leadership and take on a variety of roles within groups

• Give and receive meaningful feedback

• Advocate for your own rights and needs

III Organization skills: Managing time and tasks effectively

Inquiry focus: How can students demonstrate organization skills?

• Plan short and long term assignments; meet deadlines

• Create plans to prepare for summative assessments (examinations and performances)

• Keep and use a weekly planner for assignments

• Set goals that challenging and realistic

• Plan strategies and take action to achieve personal and academic goals

• Bring necessary equipment and supplies to class

• Keep an organized and logical system of information files/notebooks

• Use appropriate strategies for organizing complex information

• Understand and use sensory learning preferences (learning styles)

• Select and use technology effectively and productively

IV Affective skills: Managing state of mind

Inquiry focus: How can students manage their own state of mind?

• Mindfulness

  • Practice focus and concentration

  • Practice strategies to develop mental quiet

  • Practice strategies to overcome distractions

• Perseverance

  • Demonstrate persistence and perseverance

  • Practice delaying gratification

• Emotional management

  • Practice strategies to overcome impulsiveness and anger

  • Practice strategies to prevent and eliminate bullying

  • Practice strategies to reduce anxiety

  • Practice being aware of body-mind connections

• Self-motivation

  • Practice analyzing and attributing causes for failure

  • Practice managing self-talk

  • Practice positive thinking

• Resilience

  • Practice ‘bouncing back’ after adversity, mistakes and failures

  • Practice ‘failing well’

  • Practice dealing with disappointment and unmet expectations

  • Practice dealing with change

V Reflection: (Re-)considering what has been learned; choosing and using ATL skills

Inquiry focus: How can students be reflective?

• Develop new skills, techniques and strategies for effective learning

• Identify strengths and weaknesses of personal learning strategies (self-assessment)

• Demonstrate flexibility in the selection and use of learning strategies

• Try new approaches to learning and evaluate their effectiveness

• Consider content (What did I learn about today? What don’t I yet understand? What questions do I have now?)

• Consider ATL skills development (What can already do? How can I share my skills to help peers who need more practice? What will I work on next?)

• Consider personal learning strategies (How efficiently and effectively am I learning? What can I do to become a more efficient and effective learner? How can my understanding of personal strengths and weaknesses help me develop my own strategies for learning?)

• Consider ethical, cultural and environmental implications

• Keep a journal to record reflections

VI Information literacy: Finding, interpreting, judging and creating information

Inquiry focus: How can students demonstrate information literacy?

• • Collect, record and verify data

  • Access information to be informed and inform others

  • Make connections between various sources of information

  • Understand the benefits and limitations of personal sensory learning preferences when accessing, processing and recalling information

  • Use memory techniques to develop long term memory

  • Present information in a variety of formats and platforms

  • Collect and analyse data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions

  • Process data and report results

  • Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on their appropriateness to specific tasks

  • Understand and use technology systems

  • Use critical literacy skills to analyze and interpret media communications

VII Media literacy: Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information

Inquiry focus: How can students demonstrate media literacy?

• • Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media [including digital social media and online networks]

  • Demonstrate awareness of media interpretations of events and ideas [including digital social media]

  • Make informed choices about personal viewing experiences

  • Understand the impact of media representations and modes of presentation

  • Seek a range of perspectives from multiple and varied sources

  • Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats

  • Compare, contrast and draw connections among (multi)media resources

VIII Critical thinking: Analyzing and evaluating issues and ideas

Inquiry focus: How can students think critically?

• Practice observing carefully in order to recognize problems

• Gather and organize relevant information to formulate an argument

• Recognize unstated assumptions and bias

• Interpret data Evaluate evidence and arguments

• Recognize and evaluate propositions

• Draw reasonable conclusions and generalizations

• Test generalizations and conclusions

• Revise understanding based on new information and evidence

• Evaluate and manage risk

• Formulate factual, topical, conceptual and debatable questions

• Consider ideas from multiple perspectives

• Develop contrary or opposing arguments

• Analyze complex concepts and projects into their constituent parts and synthesize them to create new understanding

• Propose and evaluate a variety of solutions

• Identify obstacles and challenges

• Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues

• Identify trends and forecast possibilities

• Troubleshoot systems and applications

IX Creativity and innovation: The skills of invention – developing things and ideas that never existed before

Inquiry focus: How can students be creative?

• Use brainstorming and mind mapping to generate new ideas and inquiries

• Consider multiple alternatives, including those that might be unlikely or impossible

• Create novel solutions to complex problems

• Use lateral thinking to make unexpected connections

• Design improvements to existing machines, media and technologies

• Design new machines, media and technologies

• Make guesses and generate testable hypotheses

• Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products or processes

• Create original works and ideas

• Practice flexible thinking – arguing both sides of an argument

• Use visible thinking strategies and techniques

• Propose metaphors and analogies

X Transfer Utilizing skills and knowledge in multiple contexts

Inquiry focus: How can students transfer skills and knowledge among disciplines and subject groups?

• Utilize effective learning strategies in subject groups and disciplines

• Apply skills and knowledge in unfamiliar situations Inquire in different contexts to gain a different perspective

• Compare conceptual understanding across multiple subject groups and disciplines

• Make connections between subject groups and disciplines

• Combine knowledge, understanding and skills to create products or solutions

• Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies

• Change the context of an inquiry to gain different perspectives