WHAT should students learn in the 21st century?

Your Name and Title: Charles Fadel, Founder & Chairman

School, Library, or Organization Name: Center for Curriculum Redesign

Co-Presenter Name(s): n/a

Country from Which You Will Present: USA east coast

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience (such as primary school teachers, high school administrators, students, etc.): Teachers, administrators, students, policymakers, parents

Short Session Description (one line): What should students learn in the 21st century? presentation, audience poll and group reflection

Full Session Description (as long as you would like): The last major changes to curriculum were effected in the late 1800’s as a response to the sudden growth in societal and human capital needs. As the world of the 21st century bears little resemblance to that of the 19th century, education curricula need to be deeply redesigned for the full triad of Knowledge, Skills, and Character, and keeping in the forefront the Meta-layer/fourth dimension of: learning how to learn, interdisciplinarity, etc. Adapting to 21st century needs means revisiting each dimension and the interplay between them.

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: http://curriculumredesign.org/ http://www.21stcenturyskillsbook.com/index.php

Replies

Co-Chair

Lucy Gray August 2, 2012 at 1:26pm

Hi Charles -

Can you add a bit of language that would tie this presentation into the mission of the conference? Our mission is located here: http://www.globaleducationconference.com/notes/The_GEC_Mission_Stat... and if you can be more specific, I'll be happy to accept this.

Thanks,

Lucy
- Charles Fadel > Lucy Gray August 3, 2012 at 9:53am
  
  Hi Lucy,
  
  The mission statements says "a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real–world problems." But to know in what direction to aim all these efforts, there has to be a conversation about what is relevant (significant, salient) for the 21st century. And standards, worldwide, are outdated and do not reflect the reality of robotics, artificial intelligence and so on which will have a huge impact on employability.
  
  And that is only the knowledge dimension; there needs to be a conversation about Skills, Character, and Metacognition.
  
  I hope this answers your question?
  
  Best,
  
  Charles

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