Walden University Blog

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Core Subjects and 21st Century Readiness

-Ken Kay, P21 President; Michael Blakeslee, Sr. Deputy Executive Director, MENC; Charlie Fitzpatrick, K-12 Education Director, Esri; Marty Abbott, ACTFL; Zipporah Miller, Associate Executive Director for Professional Programs and Conferences, NSTA; and Kent Williamson, Executive Director, NCTE.

As emphasized in the webinar, Core Subjects and 21st Century Readiness, it is necessary to fuse the core subjects and the four C’s to prepare our students for a global economy.  After viewing the webinar, an example of how to fuse the core subjects and the four C’s that comes to mind is posing a problem within a thematic unit such as “How might a certain country get more clean drinking water to the people in a specific village?”

To promote collaboration and communication skills, students could be placed in groups, and asked to develop a possible solution for the problem, and to present their solution to the class. To encourage critical thinking and problem solving, students could be allowed to use whatever tools they have in their group and to use whatever they have access to within their classroom, and school to find a solution to the problem. To promote creativity and innovation, the groups could be asked to present their solution to the class in a format that is not on paper and pen, or in a PowerPoint. To force students to become more creative and innovative in a fast paced global society, the teacher could require each group to present their solution in a different format. The teacher might ask the class to brainstorm presentation platforms, and place those ideas in a hat. Each group leader could be required to choose a presentation platform for their group from the hat.

This would force the students to think and problem solve quickly which is a skill needed for 21st century jobs.

The US is falling behind in preparing our students for a global economy, and we can’t let that happen. Educators in the US must fuse the core subjects and the four C’s regularly in all units and lessons in order to ensure our students can successfully compete for jobs in a global market.