21st Century Skills Overview and Taxonomy
Download as PPT, PDF1 like1,161 views
The document discusses the history and future of 21st century skills. It describes how the concept originated from labor economists studying changes in skill demands due to technology. 21st century skills are defined as expert thinking and complex communication abilities, which allow humans to outperform computers. The document analyzes how computerization has reduced demand for routine cognitive and manual tasks, instead requiring skills like problem solving, communication, and managing complex information. It suggests education should focus more on developing these types of higher-order skills to prepare students for current and future work environments.
![What are 21 st Century Skills? Levy and Murnane: Expert Thinking and Complex Communication Skills where humans have a comparative advantage over computers in a labor market [[What they are not: skills invented in the 21 st century]] Levy F. and Murnane R., The New Division of Labor, Princeton UP](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/waltham21c-101209070107-phpapp02/85/21st-Century-Skills-Overview-and-Taxonomy-36-320.jpg)
![“ Can the [Mexican] war be justified on moral or religious grounds? But however this question may be answered, it is to be hoped that a beneficent Providence will bring good out of evil, and cause, in the final result, an advancement of human freedom and human happiness, of good government and of true religion. “ (pp. 327)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/waltham21c-101209070107-phpapp02/85/21st-Century-Skills-Overview-and-Taxonomy-76-320.jpg)
21st Century Skills Overview and Taxonomy
- 1. 21 st Century Skills: The History and Future of a Movement Justin Reich EdTechTeacher.org Co-Director Harvard Graduate School of Education Doctoral Researcher
- 2. Agenda KWL on 21 st Century Skills A labor economist’s history of the 21 st C skills idea Conceptions of 21 st C skills Visions of 21 st C instruction Technology and 21 st C Skills Visions of 21 st C instruction with technology Where’s Waltham? Obstacles and opportunities
- 3. What do you know about 21 st Century Skills? What do you want to know?
- 4. Know? Information literacy Global awareness Collaboration Work ethic Thinking skills Hands on learning Daniel Pink, Tony Wagner Process Learning Project based learning creativity Initiative and entrepreneurialism Real time feedback Change, vision, path to the vision Communication Assumptions about what kids know about technology Core content core subjects
- 5. Want to Know? Is higher ed doing their part in training teachers? Or even working with college kids? Re-licensure – retraining teachers What does it looks K-20, college and career access vs. readiness? How do we get the means to provide for all student? Keep up effectively with rate of change in tech Strong research base, where are policymakers? Bridge the gap between where we are and where we need to go? How do we move forward with this, in light of AYP, MCAS, testing regime, etc? Maintain the need to be an educational leadership, while doing bean counting… as we balance Stay focused on standards while achieving new goals
- 6. Skills for 21 st Century Work and Life Richard J. Murnane Harvard Graduate School of Education June 22, 2009
- 7. Men's real hourly wage by education, 1979-2006 (2006 $)
- 8. Women’s real hourly wage by education, 1979-2006 (2006 $)
- 9. Men’s Real Hourly Wage by Education, 1973-2005 (2005 $) 1989 12.49 15.59 17.19 24.25 30.15 1990 12.13 15.26 17.28 24.38 30.58 1991 11.85 15.13 17.11 24.06 31.01 1992 11.69 15.00 16.74 24.34 30.44 1993 11.50 14.92 16.68 24.32 30.70 1994 11.20 15.05 16.68 24.57 31.80 1995 10.98 14.88 16.60 24.61 32.01 1996 10.96 14.81 16.57 24.50 31.87 1997 10.94 15.15 16.98 25.26 32.31 1998 11.38 15.38 17.28 26.34 32.72 1999 11.46 15.60 17.61 27.15 34.43 2000 11.38 15.74 17.95 27.64 34.54 2001 11.36 15.84 18.18 28.31 34.60 2002 11.67 16.01 18.11 28.32 35.76 2003 11.72 16.00 18.08 28.28 35.37 2004 11.63 15.94 18.08 27.97 36.07 2005 11.48 15.65 17.76 28.06 35.67 Source: The State of Working America 2006-07, table 3.18. Based on authors' analysis of CPS wage data described in Appendix B. LT HS Some 4-Yr GT HS Coll Coll 4-Yr Coll 1973 $14.68 $17.41 $17.79 $24.01 $26.67 1974 14.32 16.89 17.23 23.38 27.53 1975 13.81 16.78 17.32 23.15 27.45 1976 14.09 16.86 17.40 23.25 27.04 1977 14.17 16.80 17.16 22.98 27.17 1978 14.36 17.21 17.83 23.51 27.69 1979 14.79 17.33 18.03 23.56 26.80 1980 14.32 16.78 17.65 23.27 26.44 1981 13.97 16.54 17.43 23.39 26.28 1982 13.73 16.42 17.45 23.67 27.30 1983 13.36 16.24 17.32 23.95 27.76 1984 13.26 16.08 17.32 24.28 28.39 1985 13.14 16.15 17.58 24.62 29.39 1986 13.21 16.25 18.01 25.35 30.54 1987 12.99 16.22 17.98 25.85 30.90 1988 12.95 16.24 17.79 25.89 31.40
- 10. One Possible Explanation for the Growth in the College-High School Wage Differential The Supply of college-educated workers fell relative to the supply of high-school educated workers
- 12. Explanation lies in changes in demand for workers with different educational attainments What changes occurred in the economy that increased the value of college educated workers to employers relative to the value of high school educated workers? One candidate: more and faster computers changing the way much work is accomplished.
- 14. The Need for Careful Theory Initial Response: Computers must Substitute for less educated workers and Complement more educated workers. BUT What about chess? What about caring for the elderly?
- 15. A theory about the Impact of Computer-Driven Technological Change All Human Work involves processing information Computers are strongest at performing processing that can be described in rules ( Rules Based Logic) Examples: Mathematical Algorithms, Diagnostic Procedures, Securities Trading, Order Processing
- 16. Computerizing the Routine Tasks: Self-Service Check-In
- 17. Types of Tasks Computers Do Not Well Tasks that cannot be described well as a series of if-then-do steps because: “ We know more than we can tell.” (Polyani). Not all contingencies can be predicted ahead of time. We learn to define the task and accomplish it through social interactions.
- 18. The Adult Occupational Distribution: 1969 and 1999
- 19. Progress and New Questions We have learned that the occupational distribution has changed markedly over the last 35 years in ways that reduce demand for workers whose jobs consist of carrying out rules-based tasks. But the occupational groups we have examined contain many disparate occupations.
- 21. Changes in Skill Requirements? As educators we want to learn how the changes in the economy have affected the skills students should master. Required skill mix varies widely among the hundreds of occupations in the U.S. economy.
- 22. Four Kinds of Workplace Tasks Routine Cognitive (filing, bookkeeping) Routine Manual (assembly line work) Expert Thinking (identifying and solving new problems) Complex Communication (eliciting critical information and conveying a convincing interpretation of it to others)
- 23. A Homework Question Examine the homework that teachers in your school typically assign: Does the homework push students to develop expert thinking skills (non-routine problem solving) What about communication skills? Or does the homework ask students to do the kind of rules-based tasks that computers can be programmed to do? The answer may tell you a lot about the types of jobs your school is preparing students to do.
- 24. Economy-Wide Measures of Routine and Non-Routine Task Input: 1969-1998 (1969=0)
- 25. Key Elements of Expert Thinking: A great deal of well organized knowledge about the problem (not memorized facts, but well understood relationships). Skill at pattern recognition Initiative (a disposition) Metacognition
- 26. Key elements of Complex Communication Observing and listening. Eliciting critical information. Interpreting the information. Conveying the interpretation to others.
- 27. Economy-Wide Measures of Routine and Non-Routine Task Input: 1969-1998 (1969=0)
- 28. Changes in Task Mix Within Occupations: Example: Secretary 1970 description of a secretary’s job: “ Secretaries relieve their employers of routine duties so they can work on more important matters. . . .” 2000 description of a secretary’s job: “ . . . Office automation and organizational restructuring have led secretaries to assume a wide range of new responsibilities once reserved for managerial and professional staff. Many secretaries now provide training and orientation to new staff, conduct research on the Internet, and learn to operate new office technologies.” Source: U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Handbook
- 29. New Knowledge and Questions Factors contributing to the growth in the college-high school wage differential Changes in demand for workers with different types of skills Decline in demand for workers who carry out rules-based tasks Growth in demand for workers skilled at expert thinking and complex communication Question: Are students leaving school less skilled than in the past?
- 30. NAEP Test Score Trends in Mathematics National Averages for 13 Year Olds (8 th Grade)
- 31. NAEP Test Score Trends in Reading National Averages for 13 Year Olds (8 th Grade)
- 32. Racial and Ethnic Composition of American Children from 1980-2020 (projected)
- 33. Implications for Education The Three Rs are not less important, but they need to be tools for knowledge acquisition and communication.
- 34. What was the date of battle of the Spanish Armada? Student 1 : 1588. Q. How do you know this? It was one of the dates I memorized for the exam. Q. Why is the event important? I don’t know. Student 2 : It must have been around 1590. Q. How do you know this? I know the English began to settle in Virginia just after 1600, although I’m not sure of the exact date. They wouldn't have dared start overseas explorations if Spain still had control of the seas. It would have taken a little while to get expeditions organized, so England must have gained naval supremacy somewhere in the late 1500's. Q. Why is the event important? It marks a turning point in the relative importance of England and Spain as European powers and colonizers of the New World. This example is taken from Bransford, Brown and Cocking (eds.)
- 35. Implications for Education Expert Thinking and Complex Communication are not new subjects to add to the curriculum. They should be at the center of instruction in every one of the existing subjects.
- 36. What are 21 st Century Skills? Levy and Murnane: Expert Thinking and Complex Communication Skills where humans have a comparative advantage over computers in a labor market [[What they are not: skills invented in the 21 st century]] Levy F. and Murnane R., The New Division of Labor, Princeton UP
- 37. Discussion prompts: What questions or insights emerge from this analysis? Are there parts of the analysis with which you disagree?
- 38. Reactions to Levy and Murnane For the average joe? Who is the average joe? Separate vs individual Who decides who can learn expert thinking and complex communication? Offering the opportunity for all kids Role of team, making individual contributions to groups Cubicalization vs. team thinking
- 39. Visions of Teaching in the 21 st Century http://www.edutopia.org/engineering-success
- 40. Discussion Prompts Is this happening in Waltham? Where? How does it happen? Where it isn’t happening, what is happening instead?
- 41. Reactions to the Engineering Project
- 42. Alternative Approaches to 21 st Century Skills Ask around: Partnership for 21 st century skills Tony Wagner What do I think: Howard Gardner Henry Jenkins
- 43. Partnership for 21 st Century Skills
- 44. Core Subjects and Literacies English, reading or language arts World languages Arts Mathematics Economics Science Geography History Government and Civics Global awareness Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy Civic literacy Health literacy
- 45. Partnership for 21 st Century Skills
- 46. Learning and Innovation Skills Creativity and Innovation Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Communication and Collaboration
- 47. Partnership for 21 st Century Skills
- 48. Information, Media and Technical Skills Information Literacy Media Literacy ICT (Information, Communications & Technology) Literacy
- 49. Partnership for 21 st Century Skills
- 50. Life and Career Skills FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY Adapt to Change Be Flexible INITIATIVE AND SELF-DIRECTION Manage Goals and Time Work Independently Be Self-directed Learners SOCIAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL SKILLS Interact Effectively with Others Work Effectively in Diverse Teams PRODUCTIVITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY Manage Projects Produce Results LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY Guide and Lead Others Be Responsible to Others
- 51. Partnership for 21 st Century Skills
- 52. Tony Wagner- Rigor Redefined 1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 2. Collaboration and Leadership 3. Agility and Adaptability 4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism 5. Effective Oral and Written Communication 6. Accessing and Analyzing Information 7. Curiosity and Imagination
- 53. Howard Gardner: Five Minds for the Future Disciplined mind Synthesizing Mind Creating Mind Respectful Mind Ethical Mind
- 54. Henry Jenkins: New Media Literacy Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details. Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.
- 55. Waltham High School Mission Academic Expectations: 1. Read, write, and listen for understanding 2. Apply analytical, critical, and creative thinking skills 3. Effectively apply technology 4. Solve problems effectively Social/Civic Expectations: 1. Value community and diversity 2. Advocate for self and others 3. Set goals 4. Demonstrate an understanding of physical and emotional wellness 5. Exhibit responsible citizenship
- 56. Final Thoughts Kids struggling in schools b/c of basic skills- can’t get to this stuff because, but their differing abilities may be highlighted in this framework Citizenships- interpretation of that in the 21 st century, in a global way, in interactions mediated by technology Greater contact with each other, with us, Parallel play in IM Decision making in the face of social change
- 57. Enable Rich Collaboration Motivate Students Improve Writing Skills Engage in New Civic Dialogue Train for Web 2.0 Applications in Business Engage in New Global Dialogue Learn New Media Literacies Practice Deeper and Richer Discussion Train for Writing under Real World Conditions Develop Fundamental Skills in New Ways Rehearse for 21 st Century Situations/ Environments Include More Students Improve Student Engagement Hypothesized Benefits to Teaching with Web 2.0
- 60. Web 2.0 in Administration Bering Strait School District : http://wiki.bssd.org/index.php/Main_Page Classroom 2.0: http://www.classroom20.com/
- 61. Flat Classroom Project http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/ Vicki Davis Video: http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-teachers-vicki-davis
- 62. Reactions to Technology and 21 st C Skills
- 63. Where’s Waltham? Classroom Instruction Homework Assessments Technology Teacher/Department/Coach Collaboration Administrative Collaboration
- 64. Obstacles to Steering Towards a 21 st Century Learning Environment “ Classrooms are rarely changed in substantial ways by educational policies.” - John Diamond, sociologist of education, Harvard University School of Education
- 67. PD implications
- 68. PD “best practices” sustained & intensive job-embedded collective participation active learning
- 70. 1821-1835: Whelpley’s Compend of History from Earliest Times (and others) 1835-1877: Worcester’s Elements of History Ancient and Modern 1877-1890: Swinton’s Outlines of History Ancient, Medieval and Modern 1890-1923: Sheldon Studies in General History Myers’ General History
- 71. From George Emerson’s Remembrances of an Old Teacher (p.58) The quotation is from a description of his teaching at the Boston’s Girl’s School, but it represents well the instruction of the era.
- 72. From Rev. C. Lenny’s Questions for Examination of Tytler’s Elements (p. 1) From Alexander Fraser Tytler’s Elements of General History (p.18)
- 73. “ Thus did nationalism, millennialism, and evangelicism converge in an ideology of civic piety and pious civility.” From Lawrence Cremin’s American Education: The National Experience, 1783-1876 (p. 57) “ The principles of democracy are identical with the principles of Christianity.” From Catherine Beecher’s Domestic Economy (p.25)
- 74. All events, past, present and to come, are employed in directing and completing the destines of all creatures, in subservience to that infinitely great and glorious kingdom, which shall never be removed.
- 75. “ It is a brief barren abstract of events, put together with no other relation of cause and effect than that which chronology makes inevitable; it states facts without the least regard to their relative importance and gives the same apace and emphasis of comment to a Welch foray, whose consequences died with its slain, as to the act of adding to Magna Charta the clause requiring the assent of Parliament to the imposition of taxation.” -From the Report of the Annual Examiner, 1845, Boston School Committee
- 76. “ Can the [Mexican] war be justified on moral or religious grounds? But however this question may be answered, it is to be hoped that a beneficent Providence will bring good out of evil, and cause, in the final result, an advancement of human freedom and human happiness, of good government and of true religion. “ (pp. 327)
- 78. Medieval : “There is a destiny that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will.”- Shakespeare Modern : “Infinite Providence, thou wilt make the day dawn.” - Richter 19 th Century : “Ring out a slowly dying cause,/ And ancient forms of party stryfe;/ Ring in the nobler modes of life,/ With sweeter manners, purer laws./ Ring out false pride in place and blood,/ The civic slander and the spite / Ring in the love of truth and right/ Ring in the common love of good./ Ring in the valiant man and free,/ The larger heart, the kindlier hand; / Ring out the darkness of the land,/ Ring in the Christ that is to be.” - Tennyson
Editor's Notes
- #7: 12/09/10 I am pleased to have the opportunity to talk with you today. There is no more important work than the work that you do.
- #8: 12/09/10 Spend two minutes talking with a neighbor about interesting patterns that you see in the data. Let’s focus on the growth in the college-high school wage differential. Now I could have given you the data in a different form. Would this have worked as well for your brainstorming?
- #9: 12/09/10 Spend two minutes talking with a neighbor about interesting patterns that you see in the data. Let’s focus on the growth in the college-high school wage differential. Now I could have given you the data in a different form. Would this have worked as well for your brainstorming?
- #10: 12/09/10
- #11: 12/09/10 Possible explanation: important in explaining 1970s trends. Let’s look – need another source of data
- #12: 12/09/10 Note that this is a very different type of data. Examining it eliminated a hypothesis about the source of the growing college-high school wage differential. This is a step forward.
- #13: 12/09/10
- #14: 12/09/10 Another source of data. Graph suggests that advances in computers are altering what a growing proportion of the work force does in their jobs. So worth thinking more about. But how could advances in computer-based technologies explain the growing college-high school wage differeential? Simple hypothesis: computers complement skills of highly educated workers and substitute for work of less educated workers.
- #15: 12/09/10 Note need for brainstorming
- #16: 12/09/10
- #17: 12/09/10
- #18: 12/09/10 Classroom management as an example. Leading a school as an example. Making constructive use of student assessment results.
- #19: 12/09/10 Note: that neither upskilling or deskilling is what happened . Explain the challenges that stem from these changes in the occupational mix: The occupational categories in which high school graduates who did not go on to college traditionally found work are declining. Those high school graduates who leave school with the skills to succeed in the post-secondary education and training programs needed to gain access to the jobs in the growing categories to the right, will do fine. Those who leave high school without the skills will be forced to compete for service sector jobs, which are growing in number, but which pay poorly because everyone can do them. How about the last six years? The number of jobs in the economy has increased by 7.4 million? Has the increase been spread over all occupations?
- #20: 12/09/10 A problem with looking at these broad occupational categories is that each contains many quite different jobs involving people doing quite different tasks. Really want a more fine grained look.
- #21: 12/09/10
- #22: 12/09/10 Need to disaggregate. But need a common metric. Very similar to disaggregating assessment results. Looking at individual items is difficult. Can you group them?
- #23: 12/09/10 What types of tasks are American workers doing more of as the occupational distribution shifts, and which are they doing less of? To understand this, we used information from the U.S. Department of Labor Dictionary of Occupational Titles to measure the extent to which workers in each of hundreds of U.S. occupations did four types of tasks. Then we calculated how changes in the occupational distribution over 30 years influenced the distribution of tasks American workers do in their jobs. The four types of tasks are shown on the slide. Explain each type of task and give examples of occupations intensive in these tasks.
- #24: 12/09/10
- #25: 12/09/10 Big decline in routine cognitive: the filing and bookkeeping are being done to a large extent by computers and to a lesser extent work is sent off shore. Big growth in tasks involving what Frank and I call Expert Thinking and Complex Communication Skills. What is involved in becoming good at these skills?
- #26: 12/09/10 Expert thinking: Identifying and solving uncharted problems. We have many examples in our book. One involves what an automobile mechanic does when the computer diagnostics indicate that there is nothing wrong with a car, yet the car is not functioning properly.
- #27: 12/09/10 Complex communication involves explaining, persuading, or negotiating a particular interpretation of information. We have many examples of complex communication in our book. One involves a mediator dealing with a contractor and a home owner who are at loggerheads over an expensive renovation, and a heading to a court fight that neither really wants.
- #28: 12/09/10 This graph shows how changes in the number of workers employed in different occupations affected the type of tasks the work force does. But what about changes in the tasks done by people working in the same occupations.
- #29: 12/09/10
- #30: 12/09/10 Need another data source: NAEP Why look at 13 year olds instead of 17 year olds?
- #31: 12/09/10 Same data as in previous graph, just displayed with a different scale on the vertical axis. What patterns do you see? Question: Why did the performance of black students improve so dramatically during the 1980s and then not improve at all during the 1990s? No solid evidence. You might ask Ron Ferguson for his ideas. Key point is that careful data analysis always raises more questions and it is necessary to turn to different types of data to answer the new questions.
- #32: 12/09/10 Note the decline in reading scores during the 1990s. One clue is that the percentage of black children who read every day plummeted during the 1990s. Of course, the reason is why? One reason there is a pressing need to improve education is that the economy is changing rapidly, reducing opportunities in occupations for people who did “routine cognitive” work. Another reason there is a pressing need to improve education is the change in the demographic composition of the nation’s children.
- #33: 12/09/10 Note that the growth is in the number of Hispanic children - a group that has not fared well in American schools. Let’s spend a few minutes discussing responses to questions that community members ask of high school educators. The reason I believe it is useful to develop compelling answers is that public education is under siege in many communities and developing constituencies for better schools is critical to improving schools. Now let’s turn to implications of the economic trends for improving schooling: from 10,000 feet.
- #34: 12/09/10
- #35: 12/09/10 Are the students in your school being prepared to provide the type of answers that the second student gave? Did schools do a better job 35 years ago?
- #36: 12/09/10