21ST CENTURY EDUCATION
What is your understanding of 21st
century learning?
What can you say about 21st century
learners?
21st Century Education Contexts
This modern society is ushered in by a dramatic
technological revolution.
Education prepares students for life in this
world. Amidst emerging social issues and concerns,
there is a need for students to be able to
communicate, function, and create change
personally, socially, economically, and politically at
the local, national, and global levels by participating
in real-life and real-world service learning projects.
Emerging technologies and resulting globalization
provide unlimited possibilities for exciting
discoveries and developments.
21st Century Education School
Focus on a project-based curriculum that would
engage students in addressing real-world
problems and humanity concerns and issues.
Connect teachers, students, and the community
to the breadth of knowledge in the world.
Teachers become facilitators of learning
Tequire knowledge generation, creating a
“culture of inquiry”
Learners will become adaptive to changes
21st Century Education School
Implications to teachers:
Teachers must discover student interest by
helping them see what and how they are
learning to prepare them for life in the real world.
They must instill curiosity, which is fundamental
to lifelong learning.
They must be flexible in how they teach.
They must excite learners to become more
resourceful so that they will continue to learn
outside formal school.
21st Century Education School
21st Century learning demands a school that
excites students for school.
There is a little or no discipline problem because
of strong student engagement.
Parents are informed about positive changes in
their children.
21st Century Curriculum
interdisciplinary, project-based, and research-
driven.
It is connected to local, national, and global
communities, in which students may collaborate
with people around the world in various projects.
It integrates higher-order thinking skills, multiple
intelligences, technology and multimedia,
multiple literacies, and authentic assessments,
including service learning.
21st Century Curriculum
The classroom is filled with self-directed
students, who work independently and
interdependently.
The curriculum and instruction are designed
imbued with the concept of differentiation.
Instructions turns to be more thematic, project-
based, and integrated with skills and
competencies purely not confined within
themselves, but are explored through research
and concept application in projects and outputs.
Learning is connected to previous knowledge,
personal experiences, interests, talents, and
habits.
21st Century Learning Environment
A 21st Century classroom is not confined to a
literal classroom building but a learning
environment where students collaborate with
their peers, exchange insights, coach and
mentor one another and share talents and skills
with other students.
Cooperative learning - students work in teams
because cooperation is given more emphasis
than competition
Collaborative learning more than isolated
learning
Use of technology, including systems and other
platforms.
21st Century Learning Environment
The learning environment should be geared
toward creating environmentally friendly,
energy-efficient, and “green” schools.
Inside every classroom, students shall apply
their knowledge of research in life.
It considers the kind of spaces needed by
teachers and students in conducting
investigations and projects by diverse groups for
independent work.
It has plenty of wall space where parents and
the community can watch student
performances, as well as places for discussions.
21st Century Pedagogy
Full access to technology. Therefore, a better
bandwidth of Wifi access should be available
along areas of the school for the students to
access their files and supplement their learning
inside the classroom.
Various laboratories and learning centers are set
up in such a way that they allow a space needed
for students’ simulation and manipulative works.
All classrooms should have televisions to watch
broadcasts created by the school and other
schools around.
21st Century Learners
Today’s students are referred to as “digital
natives”, while educators as “digital immigrants”.
Digital natives usually react, are random,
holistic, and non-linear. Their predominant
senses are motion and touch. They learn
through experience and learn differently.
Digital immigrants often reflect, are sequential,
and linear. Their predominant senses are hearing
and seeing. They tend to intellectualize and
believe that learning is constant.
21st Century Learners
Young people (ages 8-18) spend on electronic
media an average of six hours a day. Many are
multitasking, such as listening to music while
surfing the Web or instant-messaging friends
while playing a video game.
Preschoolers easily navigate electronic
multimedia resources on games, in which they
learn colors, numbers, letters, spelling, and more
complex tasks, such as mixing basic colors to
create new colors, problem-solving activities,
and reading.
21st Century Learners
However, according to Dr. Michael Wesch,
today’s students understand how to access and
utilize these tools, they use them only for
entertainment purposes.
Students should be prepared and assisted to
become media literate as they function in an
online collaborative research-based
environment with the advent of researching,
analyzing, synthesizing, critiquing, evaluating,
and creating new knowledge.
21st Century Teachers
Teachers must be equipped with attributes,
knowledge and skills critical to 21st century
education so that they may be able to integrate
them in their teaching. 21st century teachers are
characterized as:
Multi-literate - use of various technologies in
teaching
Multi-specialist - not only knowledgeable in the
course subject they teach but also in other areas
Multi-skilled - skillful in teaching and in
facilitating and organizing groups and activities.
21st Century Teachers
Self-directed - responsible for various aspects
of school life and know how to initiate action to
achieve learning goals
Lifelong learner - constantly updated on latest
information related to their subject and
pedagogic trends
Flexible - able to adapt to various learning styles
and needs of the learners
Creative problem solver - create innovative
ideas and effective solutions to arising problems
in the field
21st Century Teachers
Critical thinker - encourage students to reflect
on what they have learned, and rekindle in them
the desire to ask questions, reason out, probe,
etc.
Has a passion for excellent teaching - possess
passion in teaching profession to ensure that
students are motivated to learn under their
guidance and care
High Emotional Quotient (EQ) - teachers do not
just have the head but also the heart to teach
21st Century Skills Outcome and the
Demands in the Job Market
Learning Skills Literacy Skills Life Skills
comprise critical composed of ubckude flexibility,
thinking, creative information literacy, initiative, social skills,
thinking, collaborating, media literacy, productivity and
and communicating technology literacy leadership
Skills Demand in the Market
knowing a trade, following directions, getting
along with others, working hard, and being
professional, efficient, prompt, honest, and
fair.
To adapt to these jobs, students need to
think deeply about issues, solve problems
creatively, work in teams, communicate
clearly in many media, learn ever-changing
technologies and deal with the influx of
information.
Industry requires students to be flexible,
take the initiative, lead when necessary, and
create something new and useful.
21st Century Learning Implications
Teachers should practice teaching cross-
disciplinary skills in related courses, such as
integrating research methods in various disciplines;
articulating technical scientific concepts, etc.
Accrediting organizations and regulatory bodies
may require 21st century skills in the curriculum.
School and teachers should use a variety of applied
skills, multiple technologies, and new ways of
analyzing and processing information.
21st Century Learning Implications
School must allow students to pursue alternatives,
in which students can earn academic merits and
satisfy graduation requirements by completing an
internship, apprenticeship, or volunteer experience.
Students need to be taught how to process,
analyze, and use information and they need
adaptable skills that they can apply in all facets of
life.
Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before Present
Time based Outcome-based
Focus: memorization of discrete Focus: what students know, can
facts do, and are like
Lower order thinking skills in Higher order thinking skills in
Bloom’s Taxonomy Bloom’s Taxonomy
Textbook-driven Research-driven
Passive Learning Active learning
Learners work in isolation and Learners work collaboratively
confined in the classroom with classmates and others
Teacher-centered Student-centered
Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before Present
Little to no student freedom Great deal of student freedom
Discipline problems - no trust No discipline problems - students
between educators and students and teachers have respect
Fragmented curriculum Interdisciplinary curriculum
Grades are from formal Grades are based on students’
assessment measures for performance as evidence by
reporting purposes learning outcomes
Low expectations High expectations
Teacher is judge Many serve as evaluators
Curriculum is irrelevant and Curriculum is connected to
meaningless to students students’ interests
Paradigm Shift for 21st Century Education
Before Present
Print is the primary vehicle of Performances, projects, and
learning and assessment others are used for assessment
Student diversity is ignored Student diversity is catered
Students just follow orders and Students are empowered to lead
instructions and initiate
Literacy is the 3Rs Multiple literacies are developed
Factory model, based upon the Global model based upon the
needs of employers for the needs of a globalized high-tech
Industrial Age of the 19th century society
Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education
Integrated and Interdisciplinary. There is a need
to review curriculum and create strategies infusing
different subjects to enhance students’
experiences.
Technologies and Multimedia. There is a need to
acquire and use computers and multimedia
equipment and the design of technology plan to
enhance learning.
Global Classrooms. There is a need to include
current global issues/concerns, such as peace and
respect for cultural diversity, climate change, etc.
Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education
Integrated and Interdisciplinary. There is a need
to review curriculum and create strategies infusing
different subjects to enhance students’
experiences.
Technologies and Multimedia. There is a need to
acquire and use computers and multimedia
equipment and the design of technology plan to
enhance learning.
Global Classrooms. There is a need to include
current global issues/concerns, such as peace and
respect for cultural diversity, climate change, etc.
Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education
Creating/Adapting to Constant Personal and
Social Change and Lifelong Learning. Teachers
should facilitate students’ learning beyond
academics.
Student-centered. Differentiated instruction is
relevant in the classrooms; diversity factors and
issues are taken into account
21st Century Skills. Teachers and students should
possess critical and creative thinking, problem-
solving, and decision making and ICT literacy and
skills.
Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education
Project-Based and Research Driven. There is a
need for knowledge and skills in research, such as
self-directed activities, learning projects,
investigatory projects, capstones, and other
research-based output.
Relevant, Rigorous, and Real World. It implies the
use of current and relevant information linked to
real-life situations and contexts.
Activity
Directions. Analyze the research given and cite implication
to teaching-learning. Specifically, answer the following
questions.
1. How do youth assess students’ 21st Century life and
career skills and their learning environment?
2. How may the results of this study be utilized in
enhancing the 21st Century life and career skills of
students and their learning environments?
