Essential Skills for the 21st Century Workforce

Author(s):  
Maureen N. Short ◽  
Yolanda Keller-Bell

This chapter contends that increasing technological innovation has disrupted and continues to disrupt the labor markets making some jobs obsolete and workers redundant. The key to success in the twenty-first century and future labor markets is to combine hard and soft skills into a comprehensive package tailored to specific needs including the ability to think clearly about complex problems, apply creative and innovation solutions to solve problems, and apply new knowledge and skills in new settings. This chapter will provide a discussion of some of the reasons underlying the demand for higher workforce skills and a descriptive overview of curricula and pedagogy that promote students' acquisition and application of critical thinking skills as well as other skills considered essential for 21st century workforce.

Author(s):  
Maureen N. Short ◽  
Yolanda Keller-Bell

This chapter contends that increasing technological innovation has disrupted and continues to disrupt the labor markets making some jobs obsolete and workers redundant. The key to success in the twenty-first century and future labor markets is to combine hard and soft skills into a comprehensive package tailored to specific needs including the ability to think clearly about complex problems, apply creative and innovation solutions to solve problems, and apply new knowledge and skills in new settings. This chapter will provide a discussion of some of the reasons underlying the demand for higher workforce skills and a descriptive overview of curricula and pedagogy that promote students' acquisition and application of critical thinking skills as well as other skills considered essential for 21st century workforce.


Author(s):  
Blanche Woolls

Historically, school librarians have promoted reading as a major task. In the 21st century, a new role is evolving, that of the teacher and librarian collaborating to guide students to become information literate as well as lifelong readers and also to develop critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are essential. They provide students with the ability to sift through the information available to them, analyze it in relation to their past learning, and create new knowledge. To be ready for their place in a global community, students must be able to read, to know, and to do.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-356
Author(s):  
H. Lestari ◽  
W. Sopandi ◽  
U. S. Sa'ud ◽  
B. Musthafa ◽  
D. Budimansyah ◽  
...  

This study aims to describe the impact of online mentoring activities in implementing the RADEC (Read, Answer, Discuss, Explain, and Create) learning model on the competence of elementary school teachers in training students’ critical thinking skills. The method was a pre-experiment with a one-group pretest-posttest design involving 25 elementary school teachers in Indonesia. The teachers received online mentoring in implementing RADEC learning model. The research instrument was a questionnaire to measure teachers’ knowledge and skills in training critical thinking. The data processing technique was carried out by calculating the mean and the percentage of each item to obtain a description of the teachers’ knowledge and skills in training students’ critical thinking before and after treatment. The data were analyzed inferentially with a paired sample t-test using SPSS version 22 software to see the impact of the treatment on teachers’ competence in training critical thinking. Based on the results of the paired-sample t-test, for both the knowledge and skills aspects, the probability value (sig) was 0.00 <0.05. This result means that there was a significant difference in the knowledge and skills of teachers in training students’ critical thinking skills before and after mentoring activities. The study results indicate that the online mentoring in implementing the RADEC learning model improved teachers’ competence in training elementary school students’ critical thinking skills. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Day ◽  
Cindy Guo ◽  
Nicole Ferrari ◽  
Heather Edgecumbe ◽  
Christine Broadbridge

ABSTRACTThis multi-phased study investigates the learning outcomes of courses taught in the K-14 classroom. Specifically, the methods and practices teachers use to develop and encourage 21st Century Skills including critical thinking skills and technological fluency in all subject areas, STEM and non-STEM related, are of great interest. Currently, these skills are in high demand in fields which develop advanced materials and are the backbone of the National Academiesdeveloped Frameworks for K-12 Science Education. Phase I participants in this study included high school and college educators while Phase II of the study will involve K-14 students. In this study, educators were asked to rate their teaching self-efficacy in two primary areas: critical thinking skills and technological fluency. This included questions related to components in their current curriculum as well as methods of assessment [e.g., rubrics]. The instrument created to measure self-efficacy was based on a modified ‘Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument' (STEBI). All participants were from Connecticut. Results indicate that both STEM and non-STEM related subject areas offer an equally rich array of opportunities to effectively teach critical thinking and technological fluency at a variety of educational levels. The impact of Professional Development on teacher self-efficacy was of particular importance, especially in K-12 education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Erni Munastiwi

This study aims to determine differences in 21st century abilities, including critical thinking, creative thinking, communication skills, and collaboration skills, in 4 schools in the Yogyakarta region. This research is a comparative survey with a research sample of 60 students. The data collecting techniques used in interviews with questionnaires consist of 4 21st century abilities: critical thinking skills, creative thinking, communication skills, and collaboration skills. The results showed differences in 21st-century abilities between schools AR with RA, AR with TY, RA with TY, RA with RB, and TY with RB. This is proved by the t-test, where the sig.t value <0.05 is obtained in a row on the creative thinking ability of 0.001; 0.049; 0.00; 0.001; 0.024. Ability to think creatively in succession 0.003; 0.009; 0.000; 0.009; 0.005. 0.000 successive communication skills; 0.011; 0.000; 0.000; 0.003. Collaboration ability 0.002 consecutively; 0.001; 0.000; 0.003; 0.000. Then there is no difference between AR and RB schools. The value of sig evidence this. t > 0.05 in a row on critical thinking skills, creative thinking, communication skills, and collaboration skills 0.781; 0.702; 0.540; 0.624. The difference in ability is influenced by the learning method used.


Author(s):  
Shoko Sanada ◽  
Hideo Yamada ◽  
Aiko So ◽  
Terumi Kuwata

We, Kaetsu Ariake, regard 21st century skills as one of the most important factors for our students to acquire. Especially, critical thinking (CT) and its skills are indispensable. Thus, we offer special classes for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students to become better thinkers. Teachers from a variety of subjects teach the classes, which are held in our school library with the help of its librarian. The librarian teaches the students library skills, supports the teachers, and edits the Research Notebooks. The Research Notebooks are the key to managing the three-year course. We refer to the six-step learning program and Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy in order to develop the Research Notebooks. Using the Notebooks, the students can develop good insights and skills to do research. By making use of the library, getting the help of the librarian, and using the Research Notebooks, we promote 21st century skills throughout our school.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Didimus Tanah Boleng ◽  
Elsje Theodora Maasawet ◽  
Krishna Purnawan Candra

In empowering students’ 21st century skills, the implementation of scientific approach-based models (SAbM) is recommended. This quasi-experimental research was conducted in senior high school in which the students were comprised of different ethnics. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of SAbM on empowering students' critical thinking skills (CTS). The SAbM implemented were Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Guided Inquiry (GI), and PBL+GI combination. Furthermore, the students’ ethnics included were Javanese, Bugis, Kutai, Banjar, and Toraja. The purposive sampling was used to determine the classes employed (i.e. 11th classes from two senior high schools in Samarinda). The instrument used to collect CTS data was questions test. The data were analyzed using two-way ANCOVA. The results showed that there was no significant interaction between ethnic and learning models on the students' CTS (p = 0.219), as also shown by the main effect of ethnic types (p = 0.583). In contrast, there was a significant effect of SAbM on students’ CTS (p = 0.0005) Through this study, SAbM need to be implemented continuously as it can optimize the empowerment of students’ 21st Century skills.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Shofwan Ridho ◽  
Sri Wardani ◽  
Sigit Saptono

The challenge of education entering the 21st century in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 is expected to get graduates who are competent in utilizing ICT but also competent in developing critical thinking skills. This research aims to develop digital book based on local wisdom to improve critical thinking skills. This research includes Research and Development (R&D) research using ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) models. Data analysis techniques used in this study include descriptive data analysis related to the validity and response of users, while to determine the effectiveness of the product used the N-gain test. The results show (1) the developed digital book has valid criteria regarding aspects of the material, presentation, and language (2) students and teachers provide responses to the local wisdom digital book used in learning with response criteria strongly agree (3) assessment results Students' critical thinking skills show improvement with high N-Gain grades. The developed local wisdom digital book is suitable to be used as an alternative source of learning additive material in natural science learning in the face of the 21st century and the industrial revolution 4.0.


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