21st Century Skills: Learning For Life in Our Times by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel

Product Description:  (From Amazon)

The new building blocks for learning in a complex world. This important resource introduces a framework for 21st Century learning that maps out the skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. 21st Century content includes the basic core subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic-but also emphasizes global awareness, financial/economic literacy, and health issues. The skills fall into three categories: learning and innovations skills; digital literacy skills; and life and career skills. This book is filled with vignettes, international examples, and classroom samples that help illustrate the framework and provide an exciting view of what twenty-first century teaching and learning can achieve.

A vital resource that outlines the skills needed for students to excel in the twenty-first century

• Explores the three main categories of 21st Century Skills: learning and innovations skills; digital literacy skills; and life and career skills
• Addresses timely issues such as the rapid advance of technology and increased economic competition
• Based on a framework developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21)
• Includes a DVD with video clips of classroom teaching

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
For more information on book visit www.21stcenturyskillsbook.com/ 

 Scraps of Life Book Club review:

21st Century Skills: Learning For Life in Our Times by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel is a tutorial designed to help teachers in today's world teach children to function successfully in our modern society with all of its varied media communication options.

In the beginning of the book, the authors explain that children continue to be taught today in the same ways they were when the United States was an agrarian society. Children are taught a basic curriculum, tested to see if the information was absorbed, and then never taught to actually use this learning in an effective way in the modern world. The authors believe the ability to use information in conjunction with technology is as important as learning basic skills in math and phonics.

Using this method, children are taught to articulate ideas effectively using all forms of communication, listen attentively to decipher meaning, and determine the proper use of media technologies to share the information. This method also speaks to the needs children have in our more modern world to collaborate
with others and work respectfully in a team.

As a home school educator, I find the ideas proposed in this book to be very interesting. I can specifically appreciate their ideas regarding children learning to collaborate with others to complete a project with a specific end goal, and the importance of a challenging learning environment. After all, the simple fact is that we teach children in order to help them become adults who are contributing members of society, not to have a series of learning objectives checked off of a list.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to think outside the box, educationally, and also to anyone who is struggling to understand why they can't seem to apply their very real employment skills to a job in 2011.

 

This book was provided by the sponsor in return for a blog post written with our own thoughts and words which is what we did.