21st Century Learners - Gwinnett County Public Schools

21st Century Learners
Growing 21st Century Skills in GCPS Classrooms
“We want our students
to be keen observers who
are intellectually curious
and can make connections
between what they know
and what they learn so
they can draw conclusions.
In other words… they need
to be good thinkers!”
Curriculum Director
Gayle Adkinson
Many parents remember their own
school days as “skill and drill,” late nights
memorizing facts, maybe writing spelling
words over and over. While some
fact-based knowledge is best learned
through memory recall and interpretation,
we know that 21st century learners
need higher-level thinking skills to be
competitive in our high-tech, information-based
global society. Students
grow and develop as learners when they
exercise higher-order skills like these:
• Applying: Applying knowledge in new
ways or in different situations;
• Analyzing: Breaking into parts in order
to compare, contrast, and classify;
• Evaluating: Making judgments or critiques
against standards; and
• Creating: Combining or synthesizing
elements into a new pattern.
Critical thinkers use logic and reasoning,
left-brain attributes that involve
skills such as planning, hypothesizing,
sequencing, interpreting, and forecasting.
The right-brain domain of creative
thinking calls on skills such as originality,
brainstorming, and flexibility in
order to create something new. (See the
graphic on the next page illustrating the
thinking skills that are so important for
21st century learners.)
“Memorizing and recalling— the
ability to store and retrieve knowledge—
isn’t all that we’re looking for,” says Gayle
Adkinson, GCPS’ director for Accelerated
Programs and Gifted Education.
“Students must be able to use knowledge
in a variety of ways to answer questions
and identify and solve problems.”
Classroom technology continues to
adapt to the changing needs of
students as well. In the early days,
classroom technology
was static, with computer-based
information
that students could access.
Now, digital technology
is dynamic and changing, with interactivity
that keeps students engaged and
learning. (See eCLASS story on page 7.)
In fact, thinking and learning is a
process, not an end, says Ms. Adkinson.
GCPS teachers provide experiences, allowing
students to make real-life connections
that give meaning and purpose to
their learning. Curiosity and innovation
spark multiple solutions and different
ways to get to the correct answer. Students
learn how to solve problems, but
also how to collaborate with a team and
effectively communicate their solutions.
“In the classroom, students focus on
applying what they know and can do—
solving problems, making decisions, and
communicating with others in a team,”
says Dale Robbins, associate superintendent
for Teaching and Learning Support.
“Prepared for success in college and
career, GCPS students will be equipped
to analyze data, access and evaluate
information, and discover relevant connections
in their 21st century world.”
Flexible grouping of students by
current skill level or interests allows
teachers to reach kids where they are—
whether they need additional support
or a bigger challenge— and take them
where they need to go. Students have opportunities
for reflection and open-ended
response. Content may be integrated
across subjects, presented thematically
rather than as discrete subjects. (See the
collaborative teaching story on page 8.)
“We want our students to be keen observers
who are intellectually curious and
can make connections between what they
know and what they learn so they can draw
conclusions,” says Ms. Adkinson. “In other
words… they need to be good thinkers!”
Wherever our students learn and work
in the future— in the classroom, in the
executive suite, in the lab, in the field,
in cyberspace— those are 21st century
skills they can carry with them.
Focusing on Critical-Thinking Skills
21st century learners need to exercise a range of
intellectual behaviors in order to be successful.
Here’s a visual breakdown of the six levels of
learning, along with examples.
Thinking skill
or activity
Remembering/
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating
Distinguishing between
different parts in order to compare,
contrast, or classify, such as identifying
points of view in letters to the editor
Making
and justifying
opinions based
on information,
such as
preparing for and
participating in a
debate on energy
options
Combining elements to form
a new product, pattern, or
point of view, such as writing a
journal from the perspective of a
pioneer on the Oregon Trail
Assignments
might use words like…
Identify, locate, label, match, list,
recite, retell, collect, outline, choose,
name, illustrate, explain, discuss,
observe
Apply, solve, produce, build,
experiment, modify, report, sketch,
organize
Analyze, sort, categorize, dissect,
compare, contrast, survey, infer
Critique, assess, appraise, conclude,
justify, judge, debate, editorialize,
defend
Combine, invent, design, compose,
write, produce, imagine, estimate,
role-play, hypothesize, generate, plan,
devise, organize
Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
Student activities might include…
Explaining
ideas or concepts,
such as paraphrasing
a famous speech
• Memorizing and reciting multiplication tables
• Paraphrasing a famous speech
• Making a dictionary of new words from a story
• Collecting leaves from neighborhood trees
• Listing battles of the U.S. Civil War
Using knowledge in
new ways or in different
situations, such as
solving real-world algebra
from a word problem
Recalling
information, such
as listing battles of
the U.S. Civil War
Reflects Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956,
revised in 2001), a classification of levels
of intellectual behavior in learning
• Setting up an experiment to test salinity
• Solving real-world algebra from a word problem
• Writing a fable with a moral, based on a lesson from a novel
• Proofreading written work
• Identifying points of view in letters to the editor
• Classifying living things as mammals, reptiles, etc.
• Making a Venn diagram showing similarities and differences between
two novels
• Determining the nutritional value of a food sample
• Choosing the best way to solve a complex math problem
• Preparing for and participating in a debate on energy options
• Working with a peer group to give feedback and make revisions on
written work
• Interpreting data from a class questionnaire on favorite foods
• Writing a journal from the perspective of a pioneer on the Oregon Trail
• Generating a hypothesis to explain an animal’s habits
• Producing a play, based on an historic event or a book
• Inventing a futuristic transportation system to relieve Atlanta’s traffic
problems
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