Do Public-Good Oriented Courses In Independent Schools Nurture The Development Of 21st Century Skills In High School Students?

Abstract

Education is among the industries shifting today to answer evolving global needs and opportunities. Influential organizations and thought leaders are calling for reimagining of teaching and learning. To prepare students for college and professions, an increasing number of K-12 independent schools are beginning to focus on deep learning experiences and building key “21st century skills” and competencies. These schools are also interested in their public purpose both as institutional citizens of their local communities and to connect their students to local and global communities. These connections provide students with an authentic context for application of learning and for community contribution. There is also now an opportunity to coordinate curricular goals with developmental goals related to students’ social-emotional growth and social responsibility. This study used online surveys taken by students and their teachers to explore whether high school courses with public good themes and experiences in independent schools nurture the development of 21st century skills in students. The eight skills studied were: Critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation, self-direction, global connections, local connections, and the use of technology. The skills were measured through frequency ratings of forty-eight classroom practices. Findings show that both students and teachers believe these courses do nurture each skill – some with greater emphasis. Students reported critical thinking, communication, self-direction and making local connections as the skills most learned in their courses, while teachers reported that students most learned these same skills with the addition of collaboration. Teachers use a number of practices in the classroom to develop 21st century skills and most students found the practices relevant to their course.