Module II

st
21 Century Skill Categories

o Identify the categories of 21st century skills

o Apply the 21st Century skills in preparing,
planning and delivering a lesson
o Cite ways on how to enhance the 21st
century skills of learners
o Explain how to enhance 21st century skills
of learners
o Cite implications of 21st Century skills to
educators and to pre-service teacher
preparation
o Draw relevant life lessons and significant
values from the personal experience in
attaining 21st Century skills

www.highereducationdigest.com

Concept Exploration
21st Century Skills refer to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character
traits that are deemed necessary in coping with today’s world and future careers and
workplaces. Thus, it can be applied in all academic subject areas and educational settings
throughout a student’s life.

The 21st Century Skills

Critical thinking, problem-solving, reasoning, analysis, interpretation,
synthesizing information;
Research skills and practices, interrogative questioning;
Creativity, artistry, curiosity, imagination, innovation, personal expression
Perseverance, self-direction, planning, self-discipline, adaptability,
initiative;
http://thoughtf Oral and written communication, public speaking and presenting, listening;
ullearning.co Leadership, teamwork, collaboration, cooperation, facility in using virtual
m/resources/w workplaces;
hat-are-21st- Information and communication technology (ICT), media and Internet
century-skills literacy, data interpretation and analysis, computer programming;
Civic, ethical, and social justice literacy;
Economic and financial literacy, entrepreneurialism;
Global awareness, multicultural literacy, humanitarianism;
Scientific literacy and reasoning, the scientific method;
Environmental and conservation literacy, ecosystem understanding; and
Health and wellness literacy, including nutrition, diet, exercise, and public
health and safety.
 According to the Partnership for 21st century Skills,
this concept encompasses a wide array of a body of
knowledge and skills that have to be categorized. Moreover,
this concept has been interconnected with applied skills,
cross-curricular skills, cross-disciplinary skills,
interdisciplinary skills, transferable skills, noncognitive
skills and soft skills.
Learning and Innovation Skills
These are the primary skills orchestrated in the 21 st
Century. They are attributes that differentiate students who
are prepared for a complex life and work environment
from those who are not.
A.Critical
Thinking and Problem Solving. These may include effectively
analyzing and evaluating evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs;
and solving different kinds of non-familiar problems in both
conventional and innovative ways. Skills: Work together effectively,
reason effectively, make judgements and decisions and solve
problems.
B. Communication. This pertains to articulating thoughts and ideas
effectively using oral and written communication skills in a variety of
forms and context. Skills: Communicate clearly.
C. Collaboration. It entails demonstrating ability to work effectively and respectfully diverse teams. Skills:
Work together effectively in team.
D. Creativity and Innovation. It denotes use of wide range of idea creation techniques to create new and
worthwhile ideas.
Information, Media and Technology Skills

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-basic-components-
People in the 21st century live in a technology and
media saturated environment marked by the following: (1)
access to an abundance of information; (2) rapid changes in
technology tools; and (3) the ability to collaborate and make

of-media-and-information-literacy
individual contributions on an unprecedented scale.
Therefore, to be effective in the 21st Century, everyone
must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical
thinking skills related to information, media and technology
(AACTE, 2010).
A. Information Literacy. It refers to accessing and evaluating information critically and competently and
managing the flow of information from a wide variety of sources. Skills: Access and Evaluate
Information, Use and Manage Information.
B. Media Literacy. It underscores understanding both how and why media messages are constructed;
creating media products by understanding and utilizing the most appropriate media creation tools,
characteristics and conventions. Skills: Analyze media, Create media products.
C. Technology Literacy. It pertains to the use of technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and
communicate information. Skills: Apply technology effectively.
D. Life and Career Skills. Today’s life and work environments both require more than thinking skills and
content knowledge. Cultivating the ability to navigate the complex life requires students to develop the
following life and career skills: (1) flexibility and adaptability(Skills: Adapt to change, be flexible); (2)
initiative and self-direction (Skills: manage goals and time, Work independently, be self-directed learner,
be responsible to others); (3) social and cross-cultural skills (Skill: interact effectively with others, work
effectively in diverse teams); (4) productivity and accountability (Skills: Manage projects, produce
results); and (5) leadership and responsibility (Skills: Guide and lead others, be responsible to others)
(AACTA, 2010).
 Integrating 21st Century Skills in Teaching Learning Process
The 21st Century Support Systems
1. 21st Century Standards
• Focus on the 21st Century skills, content knowledge and
expertise
• Build understanding across and among the core subjects,
as well as 21st Century interdisciplinary themes
• Emphasize deep understanding rather than shallow
knowledge
• Engage students with the real-world data, tools and experts
they will encounter in college, on the job, and in life;
students learn best when actively engage in solving
meaningful problems
• Allow multiple measures of mastery
2. Assessment of 21st Century Skills
• Supports a balance of assessments, including high-quality standardized testing along with effective
formative and summative classroom assessments.
• Emphasizes useful feedback on student performance that is embedded into everyday learning.
• Requires a balance of technology-enhanced, formative and summative assessments that measure student
mastery of 21st Century Skills
• Enables development of portfolios of student work that demonstrate mastery of 21st Century skills to
educators and prospective employers
• Enables a balanced portfolio of measures to assess the educational system’s in reaching high levels of
student competency in 21st Century skills (AACTE, 2010)
3. 21st Century Curriculum and Instruction
• Teachers 21st Century skills discretely in the context of core subjects and 21 st Century interdisciplinary
themes.
• Focuses on providing opportunities for applying 21 st Century skills across content areas and for a
competency-based approach for learning
• Enables innovative learning methods that integrate the use of supportive technologies, inquiry-based and
problem-based approaches and higher order thinking skills
• Encourages the integration of community resources beyond school walls (AACTE, 2010)
4. The 21st Century Professional Development
• Highlights ways teachers can seize opportunities for integrating 21 st Century skills, tools and teaching
strategies into their classroom practice and help them identify what activities they can replace/de-
emphasize.
• Balance direct instruction with project-oriented teaching methods
• Illustrate how a deeper understanding of subject matter can enhance problem-solving, critical thinking, and
other 21st Century skills
• Enables 21st century professional learning communities for teachers that model the kinds of classroom
learning that best promotes 21st Century skills for students
• Cultivates teachers’ ability to identify students’ particular learning styles, intelligences, strengths and
weaknesses
• Helps teachers develop their abilities to use various strategies to reach diverse students and create
environments that support differentiated teaching and learning
• Supports the continuous evaluation of students’ 21st Century skills development
• Encourages knowledge sharing among communities of practitioners using face-to-face, virtual and blended
communications
• Uses a scalable and sustainable model of professional development (AACTE, 2010)
5. The 21st century Learning Environments
• Create learning practices, human support and physical environments that will support the teaching and
learning of 21st Century skills outcomes
• Supports a professional learning community that enable educators to collaborate, share best practices and
integrate 21st Century skills into classroom practice
• Enable students to learn in relevant, real-world 21st Century context
 • Allow equitable access to quality learning tools, technologies and resources
• Provide 21st Century architectural and interior designs for group, team and individual learning
• Support expanded community and international involvement in learning, both face-to-face and online
(AACTE, 2010)
Implications to Educators
The advent of 21st Century skills enhancement among learners bring the following implications to
educators in:
1. Successfully complementing technologies to content and pedagogy and developing the ability to
creatively use technologies to meet specific learning needs.
2. Aligning instruction with standards, particularly those that embody 21 st Century knowledge and skills.
3. Balancing direct instruction strategically with project-oriented teaching methods.
4. Applying child and adolescent development knowledge to educator preparation and education policy.
5. Using a range of assessment strategies to evaluate student performance and differentiate instruction
6. Participating actively in learning communities, tapping the expertise within a school or school district
through coaching, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and team teaching.
7. Acting as mentors and peer coaches with fellow educators.
8. Using a range of strategies (such as formative assessments) to reach diverse students and to create
environments that support differentiated teaching and learning.
9. Pursuing continuous learning opportunities and embracing career-long learning as professional ethics
(AACTE, 2010)
10. Establishing a conducive learning environment where learners can freely express themselves and explore
their potentials and capacities.
Implications to Pre-service Teacher Preparation
There is a need to understand the key elements of optimum curricula that will help pre-service teachers
develop the dispositions, habits of mind and confidence to enable students to develop 21 st Century skills in a range
of core academic subject areas.
Since schools get rid of a one-size-fits-all system, therefore, pre-service teachers are expected to play an
active role in developing and organizing content band instruction for their students.
AACTE (2010) asserts that a 21st Century approach to curriculum is about more than just adding an extra
course or extra class time in the curriculum. Thus, pre-0service teachers benefit from the ability to fully explore
and understand how to develop and use curriculum for deep understanding and mastery of academic subject
knowledge and 21st Century skills.
As a starting point, a teacher education program can be aligned with student and teacher standards in ways
that blend thinking and innovation skills, ICT literacy; and life and career skills in the context of all academic
subjects and across interdisciplinary themes.
An effective 21st Century skills approach to curriculum, in other words, is designed for understanding
(McTighe and Wiggins, 2005 in AACTE 2010). The program’s curriculum will be most beneficial to pre-service
teachers if it is designed to produce deep understanding and authentic application of 21 st Century skills in all
subject areas.
Instructional models. Instructional models are an important component of any teacher preparation
program. AACTE (2010) pointed out that the integration of innovative and research proven teaching strategies,
modern learning technologies and real-world resources and context are all imperative in:
1. Integrating “teach for understanding” principles. When pre-service teachers can prepare and
present lessons that can develop students’ essential concepts and skills with the integration of
technologies, the latter can reciprocally demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving in class.
2. Creating rich practice teaching experience. Strong practice teaching experiences allow pre-
service teachers to connect theory and practice.
3. Creating dynamic learning communities and peer mentoring networks. Pre-service teachers
benefit greatly from service-learning as part of their experiential learning courses. It provides time
to r5eflect on relevant pedagogic strategies that enhance 21st Century skills in classroom practice.
4. Examining the role of content, pedagogy and technologies in developing higher-order
thinking skills. The ability to teach for content mastery is a challenging task for most pre-service
 teachers. Teaching for content mastery (1) supports a range of high-quality standardized testing
along formative and summative assessments; (2) emphasizes useful feedback on student
performance; (3) requires balanced technology-enhanced, formative and summative assessments;
(4) enables development of student portfolios that demonstrate mastery of 21 st Century knowledge
and skills; and (5) enables a balanced score card to assess the educational system’s effectiveness.
Teacher preparation programs can play a vital role in developing education leaders who understand and
can influence current trends in assessment through: (1) research and evaluation test for innovative approaches;
(2) 21st Century knowledge and skills assessment strategies; and (3) mastery of a wide range of student assessment
methods.
Learning Environments. The learning environment within the teacher preparation program is a key
component of any systematic re3form initiative. Determining the enabling structures, policies and strategies that
can best support 21st Century skills acquisition among pre-service teachers is a step towards creating a kind of
environment that will promote 21st Century learning.
The following are initiatives in creating 21 st Century teachers education learning environment: (1)
Establish a 21st Century vision for learning environments in the program and the university; (2) ensure that the
physical infrastructure supports 21st Century knowledge and skills; (3) Practice flexibility in time for project-
based work and competency-based assessment; (4) Ensure technical infrastructure that sufficiently supports
learning; and (5) Strengthen networking engagement in the learning environment.
Partnerships. Partnerships are extraordinarily important in the work of transforming 21st Century teacher
preparation programs. Along the line, teamwork within the program and the institution is imperative for
sustainability and development. The partnership forged with community leaders, business industry, professional
organizations, government agencies, non-government organizations, other institutions, parents, other stakeholders
and the community creates high impact outcome.
The powerful partnerships are created through strong collaboration towards enabling innovation in the
teaching and learning in the 21st Century.
Continuous improvement. Continuous improvement represents willingness to commit to revisiting the
process over time. For AACTE (2010), any implementation effort should include continuous improvement steps.
To wit: (1) Clearly identify measurable goals; (2) Track progress regularly against these goals; (3) Communicate
progress to all stakeholder; and (4) Engage all participants in refining and improving success over time (AACTE,
2010)
 Module 1 Activity Sheets
Name: __________________________________ Subject: Building & Enhancing New Literacies
Across the Curriculum
Subject Facilitator: Dhareen O. Laguing, MAT

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Describe the 21st Categories of 21st Century Skills?

2. How can you prepare, plan and deliver a lesson with an end goal of attaining the 21 st Century skills?
3. How can you integrate 21st Century skills in the teaching-learning process?

LEARNING REFLECTION
DIRECTION: write your own concept of 21st Century Skills in each of the rainbow lines depicted
by the categories. Then, on the box below, write your brief explanatyion to indicate your clear
understanding of this topic.

Life and Career Skills

Information, Media and Technology Skills

Learning Skills

21st Century Skills Categories

My Understanding
 LET SAMPLERS: TAKING THE EXAMINATION
DIRECTION: read and analyze each item carefully. Choose and Encircle the letter of the best
answer.
1. The design tracks and strands in the senior high school curriculum that stresses exit competencies to be
attained by every bk to 12 completer strongly adheres to which 21 st Century skill category?
a. Learning and Innovation
b. Information, media and Technology
c. Life and Career
d. Leadership and Responsibility

2. If I intend my students to attain competency: “effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments,
claims and beliefs” (Critical Thinking and Problem Solving), which teaching strategy should I need to
employ?
I. Socio-drama: The students will present a scene that portrays a current social issue.
II. Dilemma: The students will examine and resolve a given dilemma and report to class their
prepositions.
III. Jury trial: The teacher will lay down an issue and two students will act as defense lawyers who will
weigh the two sides of it.
IV. Parliamentary procedure: The students will be given an issue in which they will express their
thoughts using parliamentary procedures.
a. I and II only
b. I, II and III
c. II, II and IV
d. I, II, III, IV

3. Which is the most recommended mode of instructional delivery today that addresses gaps on distance to
increase learning opportunities?
a. Modular approach
b. Blended Learning
c. Internet-based
d. Face-to-face meeting

4. Which is the most appropriate assessment technique for this given learning outcome: “Solve problems in
both conventional and innovative ways as a 21st Century skill”.?
a. Students will make research capstone on developing a system that would reduce traffic along Sucat
Road.
b. Students will answer an essay on the topic: “A Solution to Graft and Corruption”.
c. Students will critique a documentary film on solutions to conflict in Mindanao.
d. Students will answer the survey questionnaire on problem-solving skills assessment6.

5. To attain the 21st Century Skills among learners, the following are relevant approaches and prospects that
schools should impose. If you arrange the following approaches based on effectiveness, in terms of
developing 21st century skills, which one comes last?
a. Bring learners to the real world where action is.
b. Expose them to a great deal of researches and other inquiry-based modalities using technology.
c. Provide them information on direct instruction principles and perspectives.
d. Guide them in searching for truth and exploring their own learning experiences.