The Four Cs of 21st century learning, also known as the Four Cs or 4 Cs, are four skills that have been identified by the United States-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) as the most important skills required for 21st century education: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.
Critical Thinking is employed when students do any or all of the following:
There are many opportunities for Critical Thinking to be employed and evaluated in a classroom setting, and here are a few examples:
Students solve problems through investigation, experimentation, and reflection
Creativity means more than just drawing, painting or writing music. It can more effectively be defined as innovation and originality in any context. Creativity also includes:
Creativity has an important place in all classes, not just the arts. Some examples include:
Students take risks by coming up with new ideas and
Students must be able to effectively analyze and process the overwhelming amount of communication in their lives today. Communication can be difficult to separate from the other Cs (especially collaboration). Communication cannot be effective unless the message is received and understood. The ability to communicate clearly includes:
Communication is a vital aspect of any classroom. Here are a few examples:
Collaboration has been accepted as a skill that’s essential to achieve meaningful and effective results and has become increasingly clear that is not only important but necessary for students due to the rise of technology. Collaboration is when students do any or all of the following:
Collaboration is a key ingredient to student success in today’s global society. Here are a few examples: