21st Century Skills
definition of 21st century skills
21st Century Skills are defined as those soft skills that students need to learn and just know in order to succeed in the world today that is globally connected at every level. These skills enhance learning and are qualities that employer expect students to have acquired during their time at school. The six main 21st century skills are Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking/Inquiry, Global Awareness, Problem Solving and Technology Use.*
Collaboration is one's ability to successfully work with partners or teams by displaying individual contributions, such as flexibility, willingness to participate, and recognition of group and individual efforts and success. It is important for students to learn how to work with diverse groups with the increased globalization of companies and the workforce.**
Communication is the ability to clearly articulate oneself through different manners, including orally, in writing, nonverbally, and digitally. It also involves being active listeners and who can demonstrate respect in a vaiety of settings.**
Critical Thinking/Inquiry involves the ability to interpret information and make informed decisions based on the given information. It is the ability to look at a problem or situation and determine what is the most logical way to proceed.**
Global Awareness is knowledge that students need to learn that not everyone is like them and that thinks are done differently in various places. Learning that you need to be respectful of the differences among societies is important to becoming a global citizen.*
Problem Solving is the application of the ideas and processes that result from strong critical thinking/inquiry. It is important that an effective resolution of a specific problem or goal is determined taking into consideration all the components of a problem or goal.**
Technology Use is the students increased use of not only a computer, laptop or tablet, but also the students are required to learn a variety of interfaces to configure parts of the game-based learning programs, type, navigate through pages within websites, learn different commands, upload images and documents, develop a greater understanding of how to successfully navigate various programs.*
**Kereluik, Kristen, et al. “What Knowledge Is of Most Worth.” Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, vol. 29, no. 4, 2013, pp. 127–140., doi:10.1080/21532974.2013.10784716.