21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times
By Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel
240 pp, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2009
One of the best summaries so far of 21st-century skills for educators and parents is in Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel’s new book, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. As co-chairs of the standards, assessment and professional development committee of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills organization, they come right from the source of the latest theory and applications of these skills in classrooms around the world.
We all know the three Rs—Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. But today these are not enough to ensure that our young people will be successful in the new economy and the new technological world. Students need the seven Cs as well: critical thinking and problem solving; creativity and innovation; collaboration, teamwork and leadership; cross-cultural understanding; communications, information and media literacy; computing and ICT (information and communication technologies) literacy; and career and learning self-reliance. Trilling and Fadel posit that to be successful in the 21st century, we need to link the seven Cs to the three Rs, and their book describes the rationale, theory and application of these skills to the classrooms of today.
The book includes a wealth of resources for educators looking to embed these skills in their curriculum, such as an excellent DVD with specific examples in both Canada and the United States of programs incorporating this theory.
Many books that expound on educational theory are wordy, too philosophical and
not practical enough. But this book is clear, direct and readable, providing lots of specifics and examples that deliver the message and ideas effectively.
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