21st+Century+Skills

21st Century Skills and 6th grade World Cultures

Congratulations, you have discovered the number one resource for helping teachers integrate 21st century skills in curriculum-based content. The site is organized for your convince with links for resources and tips on how to integrate 21st century skills.

So what are the 21st century skills you might ask? //21st century skills, are essentially skills that students need to be successful in the 21st century. They may include, cross-curricular skills and learning to learn skills (Curriculum 21, 2012)//

According to p21.org, the 21st century skills are: [] According to P21.org, "As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs (Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation)" If you’re interested in learning more about 21st century skills follow the following link ([]).
 * 1) Life and Career Skills: Preparing students competitive working environments.
 * 2) ‍Learning and Innovation Skills: Developing critical thinking and problem solving skills
 * 3) Communication and Collaboration: Being able to communicate and listen to others, learn to be a collaborative learner.
 * 4) Information Media and Technology Skills: Media Literacy, Being exposed to and examining various media sources and apply technology effectively.

Below you will find links to the state and local standards and a synopsis of 21st century skills being incorporated.

Learning and innovation 21st century skill. In order to make this source more 21 century skill focused, I would recommend creating a separate skill/standard for technology integration. ||
 * Maryland State standards for Social Studies || []- Maryland has begun changing it's curriculums to meet the Common Core standards. The state standards are focused heavily on increasing literacy through social studies by increasing the amount of reading and writing. Each grade level has a drafted common core state literacy framework, where Common Core State Standards are written in black and the Essential Skills and Knowledge are in red. Based on what my examination of these standards, there is a heavy focus on learning and innovation skills to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. However, from the state standards, there is little to no mention on Information Media and Technology skills, communication and collaboration, and little reference to life and career skills. In addition, I found no reference to any technology or NET standards. In order to align with these standards, I recommend an additional standard to be added that embodies technology integration in Social Studies. ||
 * Maryland State Standards Social Studies, Grade 6 || [] - As with the state standards for social studies, the 6th grade standards are focused on content and content related skills. Based on the 21st century skills, the primary focus of the 6th grade standards are to develop and promote critical thinking and problem solving, which aligns with the learning and innovation 21st century skill. There is no reference to any other skills in the state standards. Since these are very broad in scope, it would be possible to create several topics, indicators, and objectives for further integration of the 21st century skills by adding it to the social studies skills and process standard 6.0. ||
 * National Council for Social Studies teacher Standards || http://downloads.ncss.org/NCSSTeacherStandardsVol1-rev2004.pdf. This link provides teachers with the national standards for social studies. Similar to the state standards, the focus is primarily on content and content related skills which aligns with the
 * NCSS Standards: Ideas for The Classroom Teacher || http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/images/RevisedNCSSStandards_Golston.pdf. This pdf provides ideas for classroom teachers to create engaging lessons keeping aligned to the national standards in social studies. Unlike the NCSS standards pdf, this source includes components of the 21st century skills as applied to social studies lessons. Technology integration has been embedded into lesson throughout the source, as well as students and teacher communication and collaboration components. The possibility for Life and Career Skills to be embedded into the suggested lessons is there, but without specific overall standards the inclusion of this skill would be to scattered and disconnected from the content themes. ||
 * World Cultures - Grade 6 **

Based on my experience with the Baltimore County curriculum for grade 6, I have found that the overall standards, overarching themes, and indicators for social studies are primarily focused on content and content related skills. The 21st century skills described above, are typically not referenced other then critical thinking and problem solving skills as it relates to the content. The rational for the guide suggests that the course is designed to promote students global awareness and prepare them for a global market. When you look at the units teaching suggestions, you begin to see some references to communication and collaboration, as well as information media and technology skills. I feel that there is room for improvement with technology integration and increasing the 21st century skills within the curriculum. In order to meet those standards, I suggest some of the following changes: []
 * Increasing the role that global markets play on everyday life and the role of technology on those markets.
 * Increase the amount and variety of technology based projects to align with the NET standards. This may include, facilitating and inspire learning and creativity, design and improve digital learning experiences, and model digital work.
 * Improve group based projects to incorporate more group discussion and decision making
 * Create digital portfolios for students to improve their digital experiences and design more digital based assessments.
 * Create more digital based suggested lessons
 * Infuse current events from a variety of media outlets into daily lessons
 * It is important to note, that there is no electronic version of the Baltimore County Public schools suggested teaching guide available. Only BCPS teachers have access to this guide. Any questions regarding the world cultures program please go to the following link:

05. Students will __analyze the independence movements of 19th century Latin America in order to evaluate their degree of effectiveness in creating lasting political stability__. 16. Students will analyze the Chinese and Communist Revolutions in order to evaluate the economic and political decisions made by the government during the 19th and 20th centuries. __To achieve this objective, students will create an electronic Public service announcement (PSA), using software such as Movie maker, photo story, Web Blender, Publisher, Pixie, Image Blender, or MS Paint.__ __Sample PSA from BCPS world cultures guide:__ media type="file" key="IT2 RAINFOREST PSA SAMPLE.wmv" width="191" height="191"
 * **21st Century Skills ** || **Social Studies: World Cultures grade 6 ** ||
 * LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS || 01. Students will __apply physical and human characteristics and concepts in order to establish a framework__ for the study of culture. (1 of 2)
 * __analyze culture and its elements__
 * __analyze places in terms of their physical and human characteristics__
 * __determine how physical and human characteristics influence the identity of places and regions__
 * __analyze cultural diffusion__
 * analyze the Themes of World Cultures ||
 * CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION || 07. Students will analyze the geographic characteristics of South Asia in order to determine their impact on culture within the region.
 * analyze the major geographic characteristics of South Asia and their impact on the lives of people - __Students create facial glyphs of the predominant physical and cultural features of South Asia using paper plates, clothes pins, colored paper, and markers.__ ||
 * CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING || 04. Students will __analyze early Latin American civilizations in order to determine factors that contributed to their development, growth, and decline__.
 * __analyze perception and relativism in the interpretation of a culture__
 * __apply the characteristics of a civilization to distinguish between societies and civilizations__
 * __analyze the development, growth, and decline of ancient Latin American civilizations__
 * __evaluate the effects of the Columbian Exchange on Europeans and Latin Americans__
 * __evaluate the impact of the Spanish colonial system on Latin America__
 * analyze the causes and effects of independence movements in Latin America
 * __evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of dictatorship__
 * __analyze aspects of political stability and instability__ by examining a current case study
 * __evaluate arguments for and against immigration__
 * analyze the collapse of the Qing dynasty
 * evaluate communism as a strategy for solving the problem of scarcity in China during the 20th century ||
 * COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION || The Baltimore County Curriculum for World Cultures Grade 6 includes collaborative learning strategies throughout each units suggested lessons. ||
 * INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS || ‍06.Students will analyze the issue of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in order to explain the trade-offs of using resources to pursue economic opportunities versus preserving the environment.
 * analyze ways in which the Amazon Rainforest is used to meet economic wants
 * evaluate the effects of deforestation

(Gifted and talented Grade 6 World Cultures, 2009) || __End of the year Project:__ "As students progress through Grade 6 World Cultures they often encounter topics of interest about which they would like to know more. Having established a framework for the study of culture and studied the regions of Latin America and South Asia, it is during students' study of East Asia that an opportunity to __conduct independent research on a self-selected topic has been made available__." ||
 * SOCIAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL SKILLS || 11. Students will __analyze trade in South Asia in order to describe examples of economic interdependency among world communities__.
 * __analyze the standard of living in South Asia using population, life expectancy, literacy rate, school life expectancy, and Internet users__
 * determine the types of __scarcity in urban and rural__ South Asia
 * __evaluate the degree to which South Asia is economically interdependent__ with other parts of the world
 * __evaluate the degree to which economic development in India has improved its people’s standard of living__
 * __evaluate the sustainability of economic development in South Asia__ ||
 * PRODUCTIVITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY || Baltimore County Public Schools administers shortcycle and benchmark exams along with individual teacher assessment. Students and teachers are held accountable for the scores on these exams through monthly meetings and reports to school and district level supervisors. ||
 * LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY || This 21st century skill was not specifically noted in the pacing guide, but students throughout the year are provided with opportunities to demonstrate leadership abilities through classroom activities. In sixth grade, students begin taking on additional responsibilities as they transition from elementary to middle school. ||
 * INITIATIVE AND SELF-DIRECTION || 18. Students will __analyze selected cultural groups in order to complete an anthropology project.* apply the essential understandings of anthropology to a case study of a cultural group in Latin America__
 * apply the essential understandings of anthropology to a case study of a cultural group in South Asia
 * apply the essential understandings of anthropology to a case study of a cultural group in East Asia

All of these sources are government based websites, so they are located on the public domain. Students and teachers may use these resources freely with no fear of any copyright violations, just be sure to cite the source.
 * Student resources to increase 21st Century skills **

Each of these sources will assist at meeting the Information Media and Technology 21st century skill, which was lacking from most of the state and local standards and curriculum guides.


 * Cyber School Bus || [] United Nations database for resource on nations around the world along with teaching activities on global issues. ||
 * Electronic Embassy || [] This web resource provides information on all of the embassies in Washington D.C. There are links to on-line embassies. ||
 * Library of Congress: Country Studies || [] The Library of Congress Federal Research Division provides historical and cultural information for over 90 countries. ||
 * Newseum: Today�s Front Pages || [|www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/] This site is a nonprofit institution that provides links to the front pages of more than 400 newspapers from 47 different countries. ||
 * Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection || [] This site includes links for regional maps. ||
 * World Fact Book || [|http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.htm] This site provides information on the geography, population, economy, and culture of any country in the world. ||
 * YouThink! || [|http://youthink.worldbank.org/4kids/]This World Bank site contains issue papers for kids on global topics such as conflict, education, trade, development, and natural disasters. ||

Links provided by [] References

Curriculum 21. (2012).CMI National CM Institute. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum21.com/pd/curriculum-mapping/archives/glossary/

Gifted and talented Grade 6 World Cultures. (2009). Baltimore County Public Schools; Office of Social Studies. Towson, Maryland, 21204

NETS (2000). Advancing Digital Age Teaching. ISTE. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS-T_Standards.sflb.ashx

P21.org. (2011). Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Washington DC. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/