Week 2- How do 20th century and 21st century skills differ? Do we need both?

After watching the required video for this week, I began to ponder, what is still relevant from 20th century teaching and/or skills, and what should we be mindfully removing from our teaching practise.

To look into this further, I began to research what the fundamental differences are between the two. I stumbled across this list:



It is quite clear to see the most obvious change is in the mindset of how teaching is approached. Gone are the days where we as teachers stand at the front, instruct our children, and they copy down work from the board. Teaching has become a much more collaborative process, one which is tailored to suit varying children's needs and interests. The goal for teaching now is to develop inquiring minds, critical thinkers, and providing an environment where children are asking questions more then giving answers.

As stated in the video, the characteristics and drivers of any natural ecosystem are that which are Permeable, Adaptive, Dynamic, Relevant, Self-correcting, and Creative. The hope today would be that all of these things would be visible and present.

Whilst I agree with all of those characteristics, I also feel that there is a way to have a healthy balance of both 20th century and 21st century skills.
I think schools are often rushing into trying to fit the 21st century 'mold' by creating these wonderful MLE environments, but without a change in teaching, these spaces prove to be redundant, and have no adverse effects on student achievement.

For us to be effective in creating these environments where we see student ownership of learning, we must first understand how to best facilitate 21st century learning, so we are growing these skills, not hindering them.