Defining 21st Century Learning Practices

Education at its best is a process of teaching people to explore ideas about themselves and the world in which they live, to ask questions about the experience called “living” and to embrace ambiguity, to notice the unusual without fear and to look upon the ordinary with new eyes.

Education has existed throughout history in one form or another. The process of passing down accumulated information from one generation to the next has been present in every human society, past and present. From the young listening to the stories of the elders around the hearths of the ancient world, to pupils being instructed in the alphabet in a one room schoolhouse on the American frontier, to the present day online teaching sessions; the tradition of teaching and learning has been a constant in the ever changing world. Education has been and continues to be used for many purposes, chief among them being the creation of an educated citizenry, the empowerment of that citizenry, and improvement of the

From the dawn of time, education has been the past's greatest utility in survival. Through learning, skills that have been passed down from the errors of others, communities were able to learn and grow with each other. Simple public education systems began to pop up to educate the youth and the curious, and ever since the first school systems began there has been room for improvement. The largest reforms of the educational system began at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

The educator and learner are both vital to the learning process in order to perform new ways that enable them to see the real world as their field of experience

Yet even with these realizations that delve into the deeper meaning of education, modern education is still calling for simple measurable outcomes and continues to be geared towards specific employment ideas. This model of education is blatantly inadequate though. Many students today will end up holding jobs not yet invented in fields not yet discovered, so the teaching of answers to today’s questions is utterly useless. Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” and this statement reigns true throughout time. To continue academic success, the education system needs to impart a mastery of one’s own mind that allows students to not only answer current questions but also to pose questions that will shape the future world.

Education over the years has changed drastically. Between the push for schools in the time of colonial American and the school reform starting in 1830, schools began to drastically improve over time. Both of these events from different time periods positively impacted areas of education, changing our world for the better. These impacts can still be felt in school systems today across the country.

Education is the gradual process of meaning making and acquiring “knowledge.” One views the world through his or her own set of lenses or filters, from his or her own perspective, and the mind of the learner attempts to connect new information to existing schema to make new connections. These constructions and connections in the brain become "knowledge." Therefore, knowledge when people begin to understand facts or information through experience and/or learning. We begin to realize, through knowledge, details that we learn in isolation are actually interconnected. Education can be intentional or unintentional and can occur everywhere and at any time. Education is greatly influenced by affective factors and social context. It has both internal and external value, both to a person and to all of society.

What is education? According to Webster’s Dictionary education is defined as, (noun) 1: the action or process of being educating or of being educated, 2: the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools. What does education provide for us? How important is education in today’s society?

Education entails individual human development in the cognitive, emotional, creative and social areas. All children are entitled to a free education regardless of race, cultural background or handicaps. For education to be an effective part of the students life, the student and teacher must be actively and enthusiastically involved in learning. A teacher needs to be well prepared and organized. They need to know the perspective goals for each student and ways to achieve these goals. Teachers need to work with students to help them grow and develop ways to use their knowledge.

It is clear that according to the academic literature the more you connect knowledge for a pupil the better they learn. This mode enables learners to perceive new relationships, new models and create new systems and structures in their thinking. If pupil’s capacity for critical inquiry is to be furthered, topics being studied must be located in a broader societal context, and this would be better supported by cross-curricular activities. It is unleashing the creative potential of the

Education can be defined as a learning process in which a student and a teacher are involved. The work of the teacher is to pass on the message to the student while the student understands and applies what has been taught. It is also considered as a process of developing skills, knowledge and character of an individual. Education, whether formal or informal, has a function both to the individual and the society, these functions are either manifest or latent. There is a distinction between the manifest and latent functions in that the manifest functions are those that are intended whereas the latter are the unintended functions (Douglas, 2003).

“The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things,” stated by Jean Piaget. Education serves many purposes; it helps a child open their eyes to the world, it provides curiosity and determination for a young adult, and it can provide middle age adults and elders with a spark of belonging and hope. To be able to achieve these purposes, the process of education must start at a young age. Singing the ABC’s to an infant, reading to a toddler, encouraging writing and math skills are a few steps towards all the possibilities a person could have in life.

Education is the process of learning that can take place anywhere and at any time. I believe that creativity and activity as well as books and lessons are essential to the learning process. As a teacher, I hope to instill in the children a sense of knowledge and self-worth that will remain with them throughout their lives.

Education has been around for centuries. Since the beginning of time. All the way back to the time of Noah from the Bible. There have been many different styles, teaching and tactics of education. From learning the basics in the beginning of time like speaking languages, writing and the word of God, to what teachers are teaching today in normal schools like science, history, math, english, the list goes on. Throughout history people have been educated in very many numerous ways like being self taught, having a tutor, learning from family members, online school, home school, and also just plain old sitting in a classroom and being taught by a teacher with many students around one another. As time has gone by

21st Century teaching and learning is about transforming educational practices to equip students with the skills and know-how they will need to navigate life in the 21st century. Bolstad, Gilbert, McDowell, Bull, Boyd and Hopkins argue that 21st century learning and teaching “can be considered as an emerging cluster of new ideas, beliefs, knowledge, theories and practices” (Bolstad et. al., 2012, p. 1). In the Industrial age of thinking the education system was modelled on a factory assembly line and the role of the educator was to prepare students for the industrial workforce. However, we are now living in the age coined the Knowledge era, where new information is rapidly being created every day and job markets are shifting and expanding; the top jobs in 2012, didn’t exist in 2002 (EF Explore America, 2012). Because society is undergoing change at an alarming rate creating new ideas, beliefs, knowledge, theories and practices, the role of education is becoming unclear. Leaders across the globe are calling for students to have more sophisticated skills such as evaluating and analysing information and thinking critically and creatively to solve real-world problems (Silva, 2008). Therefore, 21st century learning methods are child-centred and have a focus on innovation, collaboration, exploration, cultural awareness, creativity and problem solving, so that children will be ready for the future and whatever it may bring.