Research paper 21st century skills

1. University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla
Department of English
Research Paper
“21st
Century Skills”
Nicolle M. Ayala Mercado
846-09-0357
Prof. Arlinda López
EDPE 4005- L11
November 18, 2015

2. 2
Table of Content
Topic Page
Introduction…………………………………………………………………….3
21st Century Skills Findings ………………………........................................4-8
Reflections on the findings…………………………………………………...8-9
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...9-10
References…………………………………………………………………….10

3. 3
Introduction
Our world is changing every day and the routine jobs of yesterday are being replaced by
technology. The jobs that are growing in the 21st century require knowledge management, abstract
reasoning, and personal service. The modern workplace requires workers to have broad cognitive
and affective skills. Often referred to as 21st century skills. These skills include being able to solve
complex problems, to think critically about tasks, to effectively communicate with people from a
variety of different cultures and using a variety of different techniques, to work in collaboration
with others, to adapt to rapidly changing environments, good conditions for performing tasks, to
effectively manage one's work, and to acquire new skills and information on one's own. This
research paper presents findings and reflections on “Assessing the 21st century skills” book ,
“Education Landscapes in the 21st Century: Cross-cultural Challenges and Multi-disciplinary
Perspectives” book, “Standards for the 21st-century Learner in Action” book, “Secondary
Education in the 21st Century” book, and “Technology-based Assessments for 21st Century
Skills” book. The term "21st-century skills" is generally used to refer to certain core competencies
such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving. These are skills that
schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world (Partnership for the 21st century).
Learning in the 21st century has taken on new dimensions with the exponential expansion of
information, ever-changing tools, increasing digitization of text, and heightened demands for
critical and creative thinking, communication and collaborative problem solving. To succeed in
these global society, our learners must develop a high level of skills, attitudes and responsibilities.
Findings

4. 4
The National Research Council (U.S.) did three workshops on the topic 21st century skills.
The first workshop was presented in 2007 and was designed to examine the skills required for the
21st century jobs. The second workshop was, presented in 2009 and was designed to explore
demand for these type of skills considering science education goals and 21st century skills, models
in science instruction to develop the skills and the science teacher enthusiasm towards the 21st
century skills. The third workshop did research on assessment strategies to asses these skills:
problem solving, critical thinking, effective communication with people from different cultures,
work collaboration, adaptability in different environments, personal productivity (National
Research Council, 2010). The goal for these workshops was to explore strategies for assessing the
skills mention before. The Committee of Assessment of the 21st century skills did a review on all
the assessments involving these skills. The review pay attention to the technology-enable
assessment of critical thinking and problem solving skills. The committed divided the skills into
three broad clusters. (NRC)
Cognitive skills: non routine problem solving, critical thinking and systems thinking. (NRC)
Interpersonal skills: complex communication, social skills, team-work, cultural sensitivity,
dealing with diversity. (NRC)
Intrapersonal skills: self-management, time management, self-development, self-regulation,
adaptability, executive functioning Assessing 21st Century Skills provides an integrated summary
of the presentations and discussions from both parts of the third workshop.(NRC)
Within education landscape the first step toward assessing where institutions go from here
is to remember what brought us to this place in time. What has allowed us, for example, to teach
each new generation of learners despite dramatic differences in thought, values, background, and

5. 5
culture? How have we been able to train and educate students whether they lived in India, China,
Russia, Brazil, or Western Europe? Where have we been successful and where have we failed?
When have we achieved the most for society and, thereby, created a new course for all mankind?
Knowing the answers to these simple questions is the key to education in the 21st century. What
we can learn about the past will lead us in the right direction in the future, even though we do not
know where technology is taking us. “Increasingly, educators are meeting with cable operators;
television, publishing, computer and software executives; and an assortment of entrepreneurs and
their funders” said Arthur Levine (1999, p. 11A), president of Teachers College at Columbia
University.
Educators everywhere, in all nations, must approach this era of technology as the dawning
of a new age, much like the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. The
use of computers, online courses, teleconferencing, distance education, and the Internet will allow
teachers to teach as they have never done before. Revolutionary advances in communication and
technology will make the road ahead easier, smoother, because we can now access data from
anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. The greatest problem, however, may be in deciding
what to do with all of these tools and devices. How do we employ this equipment and how do we
take advantage of technology so that we are not being controlled by our own designs? It is essential,
now more than ever, to take time to remember what education is truly all about and what we are
trying to achieve in schools everywhere (Swafffield, Bruce).
There are seven universal laws of teaching. These laws are the answers we need to unlock the
doors of learning in the 21st century. In stating the seven laws as rules. (Gregory, 2008) outlines
each one as he first addresses the teacher directly:
1) Know thoroughly and familiarly the lesson you wish to teach;

6. 6
2) Gain and keep the attention and interest of the pupils upon the lesson;
3) Use words understood in the same way by the pupils and yourself;
4)Begin with what is already well known to the pupil upon the subject and with what he has himself
experienced—and proceed to the new material by single, easy, and natural steps, letting the known
explain the unknown;
5) Stimulate the pupil’s own mind to action;
6) Require the pupil to reproduce in thought the lesson he is learning;
7) Review, review, review, reproducing the old, deepening its impression with new thought,
linking it with added meanings (Gregory, 2008).
All learners must be able to access high‑quality information from diverse perspectives,
make sense of it to draw their own conclusions or create new knowledge, and share their
knowledge with others. In recognition of these demands, the American Association of School
Librarians (AASL) has developed learning standards the expand the definition of informatio n
literacy to include multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, that are
crucial for all learners to acquire to be successful in our information‑rich society. The new learning
standards, entitled Standards for the 21st‑Century Learner, take a fresh approach and a broad
perspective on student learning standards in the school library field by focusing on the learning
process. The Standards for the 21st‑Century Learner lay out underlying common beliefs, as well
as standards and indicators for essential skills, dispositions, responsibilities, and self‑assessment
strategies for all learners.

7. 7

8. 8
Standard 1 addresses the process of investigating and gaining knowledge. In Standard 2
learners are expected to extend that knowledge by drawing their own conclusions, making
decisions, applying the knowledge to new situations, and creating new knowledge. In today’s
interconnected world, learners must go beyond the knowledge they have gained independently
because they are increasingly called upon to collaborate and share their knowledge with others
while following ethical guidelines (Standard 3). At the apex of the learning taxonomy is the pursuit
of personal and aesthetic growth—the motivation and skills to learn on one’s own to satisfy
internal needs and interests (Standard 4). (AASL, 2009).
Reflection on Findings
The National Research Council (U.S.) did three workshops on the topic 21st century skills
and the Committed of Assessment of the 21st century skills did a review on all the assessments
involving these skills. The review pay attention to the technology-enable assessment of critical
thinking and problem solving skills. These cognitive skills will increase the probability of a
desirable outcome in the long run. Critical thinking is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed.
These will involve solving problems, formulating inferences, calculations and will help in making
decisions. “If you think critically you will be reflective and you will know what do believe or do”
(Ennis, 1985). Only the teachers and schools that learned from their past will be able to navigate
the uncharted seas ahead because by looking back, reflecting on the education, we can become
more certain of making progress in the decades ahead of us. If we re-examine our process of
teaching and learning we might discover concepts that we have forgotten. The first thing to do in
all schools in the 21st century should be to teach students how to learn. Whether we use computers,
blackboards etc. Teaching relies on certain laws and standards that have changed through time.
What was true in ancient Greece or Rome still is true today because we still rely on the same

9. 9
principles and beliefs especially when it comes to education because I am taking the class of
philosophy right now and the professor talks about all these philosophers who contribute with
ideas and techniques for education and some of them are still valid. We also have to take in mind
that technology creates opportunities to innovate new methods of measuring students,'21st Century
Skills with validity, reliability, and scalability.
Conclusion
To have a better Education in the 21st century, Schools and Districts should Develop a
Consensus, Take a Self- Assessment using the MILE guide (P21), Upgrade Professional
Development, Implant 21st Century Skills in core subjects using the ICT literacy maps for English,
Upgrade Assessments, including high-stakes and classroom assessments, to measure 21st Century
Skills, Focus on reforming high schools, Collaborate with Community-Based Groups and
Collaborate with the Business Community. As Teachers we should know more about the world,
think outside the box, become smarter about new sources of information and technology, and
develop good people skills, self-awareness, self- regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills,
always taking in mind the diversity and multiple intelligences we are going to have in the
classroom. This qualities will impact learning among early adolescents. When all of these subjects
or areas are implemented and cover in the path towards the 21st first century education. The results
are going to be awesome, because we are going to have in our society and world critical thinkers,
problem solvers, innovators, effective communicators, effective collaborators, self-directed
learners, information and literate, people globally aware of what is happening in their
surroundings, people civically engaged financially and economically literate. I conclude that to
be an excellent teacher in this days. We need to bring what we teach and how we teach into the
21st century because these skills will develop communication, critical thinking and creativity in

10. 10
our students. Lastly we have to take in mind that the technology (internet) is changing the way we
work, live, play and learn.
References
American Association of School, L. (2009). Standards for the 21st-century Learner in Action.
Chicago, Ill: AASL.
Beckett, D. S. (2010). Secondary Education in the 21st Century. New York: Nova Science
Publishers, Inc.
Guske, I. (2008). Education Landscapes in the 21st Century: Cross-cultural Challenges and
Multi-disciplinary Perspectives. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Mayrath, M. C. (2011). Technology-based Assessments for 21st Century Skills. Charlotte,
N.C.: Information Age Publishing
National Research Council, (. (U.S.). (2010). Assessing 21st Century Skills. Washington,
D.C.: National Academies Press.