The Value of 21st Century Skills

Oracle's Thinkquest is circulating a paper on the value of teaching 21st century learning skills. They've boiled it down nicely:

Learning projects:

* start with a Big Question, an essential question, usually from the real world
* are central to the curriculum so learning is tied to standards
* include a variety of activities (over a long time) designed to explore the big question
* requires collaboration (inside and outside the school)
* asks students to take the initiative
* involves the use of technology to extend students capacity for research, analysis and collaboration
* culminates in a product that requires students to communicate results

What Lucere is doing: essentially modeling project learning for teachers. Here's how it plays through:
* Big Question: How do you use the tools you have to tackle a Big Project?
* resources should be tied to the curriculum
* there are plenty of activities over time
* there's a huge need for collaboration (involving both children and adults)
* technology is an essential tool (not the end all in itself)
* the product: cool classroom projects

Time to get building!