Creativity. Critical thinking. Collaboration. Communication. These are the four “21st century” skills that educators champion as the necessary competencies to succeed in the emerging innovation and technological era. With Google at our fingertips, the need to cram knowledge and facts into our brains is gone. What will be more valuable is the ability to ideate and use that knowledge in creative ways.
Here’s the irony in it: these four 21st century skills abounded in children right up until the last 20 years. If you dropped into a home at the turn of the 20th century, or listened in on a Saturday afternoon in 1950, or peeked in on almost any group of children at most points throughout history, you would observe creativity, problem solving, productive chatter and children working together. This was the work of children for hundreds of years. Why now, when these skills are emerging as imperative to the workforce, do we suddenly have to teach these things to children? I can pinpoint two major changes in the way children live: one, helicopter parenting has slowed down children’s development of problem solving skills; two, the pervasiveness of media is impeding creativity, collaboration and communication. While doing dishes yesterday, I was looking out the window over the sink at two of my children and three of their friends (ages 3-8) playing. They had devised an obstacle course for the dog, which of course led to all the children trying to complete it. The two eight year olds took a running leap at a broom lying sideways across two chairs. The six and five year olds followed. But the poor three year old had legs just a little too short and she fell head over into the deck. My body jerked itself toward the door, but I stopped myself. There were five kids out there; I wanted to see what they might do on their own. The three year old burst into tears. She pulled up her pant leg to reveal a bright red scrape (no blood). The older children gathered around and began to assess the situation. Someone patted her on the head. Two debated over the severity of the injury. Two casually glanced and then continued on playing. Over the next five minutes, the four other children kept returning to the three year old to check in as she sobbing abated to a small hiccup. The three year old alternately inspected her wound and watched the others playing. Eventually she pulled herself up and continued on. The moment has stayed with me. I had to consciously fight the instinct to rush in and solve the problem for the kids, but in doing so I witnessed the full capability of these young ones to problem solve (think critically) about the situation and handle it on their own. This thought led me to consider children today versus children 30 years ago (and going way back into history). 30 years ago, childhood looked very different. Children were given free range; they filled the hours of boredom by making up their own games (creativity). They pulled together to tackle challenges like building a fort and figuring out a neighbourhood pickup baseball game (collaboration). They spent endless amounts of time out of earshot of adults, sharing ideas and dreams and even a little trouble (communication). And when they got into trouble, big or small, they came together to figure out how to get themselves out of the sticky situations (problem solving). 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 100+ years ago, children had 21st century skills in spades. They would never have had to be taught how to be creative, collaborate, communicate, or solve problems. The truth is, these aren’t skills unique to the 21st century. For the first time, they are skills that are integral to the work force. And for the first time, children are growing up without those skills inherently developing within them.
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Terri-AnnPersonal reflections on project-based learning. Archives
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