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21st Century Skills and Technology in the Social Studies Classroom
Preliminary Source List:
These videos help to give a broad overview of just what 21st century teaching is all about. It is not about eliminating content or teaching more skills. It's about creating a classroom dynamic in which our students are actively participating in our classes; where critical thinking and career skills are taught through the content; and where students are prepared for their future in a changing world. No longer should we be teaching our content in isolation or for rote memorization, but we should be engaging content areas with one another and focusing on teaching for practical applications.
This is a publication on what employers see in their current workforce. In general, students are not prepared to enter the workforce. The publication also emphasizes the importance of collaboration between community organizations, businesses, and education facilities in rethinking and redesigning our school systems.
The above source helps to demonstrate how 21st century skills can be taught within the social studies curriculum. Great resource for sample lessons, activities, etc.
Helpful Resources for Social Studies Teachers:
Helpful Resources for other teachers:
http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/index.html (extremely helpful for science teachers)
Sample Technologies to Consider:
GoogleEarth
Blogging
I've chosen (at this point in time) to work with these 2 technologies because I think they represent significantly differing uses of technologies with practical applications in a Social Studies Classroom. I also think that both technologies present opportunities to engage students in content while teaching 21st century skills.
Needs Assessment:
The Instructional Problem
My Needs Assessment is based on multiple factors. Firstly, it is based some discussions I've had with colleagues about our social studies curriculum: what content and skills we're teaching, why we're teaching that content and those skills, how we're teaching that content and why, and lastly how what we're doing in 9th grade is related to "real-life." I also arrived at my Needs Assessment via research and a conference. In October, I attended a Project Based Learning Conference and at that point, I began to rethink the way I was teaching. All of the organizations, education facilities, and business involved with 21st century skills assert that students are not prepared for the future (See Relevant Sources: http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/BED-06-workforce.pdf, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_ehGLqzBVM, http://21stcenturyskills.org/documents/P21_Framework.pdf, and www.thegateway.org).
Although I am far from a project based learning curriculum, I am trying to incorporate multiple project based learning assignments in my classrooms in an effort to "teach" and have students practice 21st century skills.
Many educators recognize that our world is changing and from conversation, I do believe that educators want to change too. But the roadblock comes when educators try to pinpoint exactly how the world is changing and how to adjust their curriculum accordingly without sacrificing the content they love.
The Instructional Solution
The intent of this mini-course is to educate teachers on the principles of 21st century learning with an emphasis on 21st century skills. In learning, practicing, and applying principles of 21st century education, students will also be investigating how technology can be used to teach 21st century skills. Two specific technologies will be introduced: GoogleEarth and blogging. During the course of the mini-course students will also have the opportunity to design skeleton lessons teaching 21st century skills using technology.
The audience for this mini-course on a holistic level is relatively specific. This course is aimed at 7-12 Social Studies teachers of most subcontent areas (World History, United States History, Economics, Government, etc.), This audience may include preservice teachers. All students will be in the process of completing a Bachelor's Degree in Social Studies Education or related field and/or have already completed a degree program. Most of the students will have a Master's Degree in a Social Studies or Education related field. All age groups from young new teachers to veteran teachers nearing retirement as well as both genders will participate. Non social studies teachers or elementary teachers may be interested in Specific Lessons (i.e. Introduction to 21st Century Skills, GoogleEarth, or Blogging).
The Major Goals
Considering the Needs Assessment and Instructional Solution, I have developed several major goals for the mini-course.
By the end of this mini-course students will have:
- attained the ability to articulate the meaning behind "21st Century Skills"
- realized the relevance of 21st century skills to their curriculum
- evaluated lesson plans based on their instruction in/or use of 21st Century Skills
- reflected on their current curriculum(s) and their connections to 21st Century Skills
- designed basic lesson plans in their specific content areas that instruct/use 21st Century Skills
Draft Course Objectives
These course objectives are works-in-progress. I will be refining them over the coures of the next few days.
1. Asked to explain the background behind "21st century skills" and to denote their relevance to social studies, students will generate in writing an explanation that discusses a changing workplace and in a broader sense, a changing world and social studies as a vehicle for teaching those skills.
2. Given a sample social studies lesson plans, students will identify the 21st skills present by listing at least 3 skills found in the lesson plan.
3. Given the opportunity to freely design a lesson plan, students will choose to integrate technology and 21st century skills as evidenced by their final written lesson skeleton.
4. Asked to create a lesson plan using a specific technology (either Google Earth or Blogging), students will generate a lesson idea/skeleton in writing that teaches or pratices at least 2 specific 21st century skills in conjunction with social studies content within the context of the given technology.
To begin the course, click here: 21st Century Skills and Technology in the Social Studies Classroom
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