Best take on “21st century skills” I’ve seen
By Craig Jerald in a report by the Center for Public Education:
The need for traditional knowledge and skills in school subjects likesee also a discussion by Jay Mathews of the Washington Post.
math, language arts, and science is not being “displaced” by a new set
of skills; in fact, students who take more advanced math courses and
master higher math skills, for example, will have a distinct advantage
over their peers.
courtesy of Joanne Jacobs.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Hi Kevin,
Have you ever checked out this site?
http://www.rogerschank.com/
It’s a blog, etc. from a former learning sciences professor. His rhetoric can be heavy (e.g., we should abolish all school subjects and focus on real-world skills), but I find it interesting/challenging. I don’t think necessarily that we have a 21st century skills problem (it seems that our nation’s young people have no problem learning those skills in their free time) but I do wonder if we need some sort of rethinking of the status quo in terms of what courses we teach on the K12 level.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I’ll check it out. Roger Schank is an interesting character, particularly to himself. This old book review provides some sense of that, I think: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/books/strategies-of-the-head.html?scp=8&sq=roger%20schank&st=cse