you may know of the 4 C's
but how do these skills help the way that teachers teach and the way that learners learn?
and how does technology help in making these skills?
Let's take a step back
in 2012 teachers, community leaders and policy makers worked together to make the framework for learning
this framework shows how teaching and learning should happen in today's world
the importance of learning is for learners to learn the 4C's
these skills are important for leaners to grow in work and in life
let's take a look at how technology can help grow these skills in learners
Critical thinking is when learners are able to analyse (study), interpret (understand), evaluate (figure out), make decisions and solve problems
for example take a high school social studies class
in which learners are comparing public use of fossil fuels (buried materials) in the past and in the present
as well as online research learners can use video conferencing to have interviews with field experts (a person who has special skill in area)
learners can use graphs and tables to organize and show their findings
find similar and different things in their data and share with each other
communication is when learners share information expressing their thoughts and opinions clearly to eachother
for communication to happen there needs to be strong listening (paying attention to signing/lip reading) and evaluation skills
communication includes verbal (signed) and written skills and multimedia (mixed media) messages
for example in a grade 5 class where learners are learning about forest fires in their area
a local fire chief asked a question on a community site (website) on how to stop forest fires
Learners could post short written replies to the question, by doing this learners are having an online conversation
learners learn to show their thoughts in a clear way
while showing control of their opinions of issues in their communities
collaboration is when learners are able to work with eachother to reach a goal
while being flexible and sharing group work
for example a grade 8 science class can work in small groups with other nearby schools to research on environmental (surroundings) issues
students can take different roles in their groups depending on their talents and interests
for example some can make observations (to look at something)
some can record data and others can share results
creativity is when one can brainstorm (plan and think), refining (polish and clean) and accepting other people's ideas.
and making ideas visible and useful to others
for example a grade 3 class might work together to brainstorm new ways of recycling
learners choose to create a recycling campaign and making an awareness video for the next assembly
you can see from these examples that when technology is used correctly it can help with using the 4C's in a classroom
technological tools can help learners think critically, communicate, collaborate and be creative
we know that these skills help grow higher order thinking
which is crucial (very important) for today's learning
so what do the 4 C's look like for teaching and learning in your classroom