Hi everyone,
This is a great video highlighting student
learning. Here are some of my thoughts about the 21st century
competencies in this video.
Character education
In the video, the teacher discusses
the goals of the enigma mission are to teach the students to be thinkers. She wants
the students to be people who can create change and who can make a difference. Character
education is about developing qualities to be personally effective in a complex
world. Such qualities include perseverance, resilience, and honesty. Students need
to develop these qualities in order to be successful thinkers who can change
the world and make a difference.
Citizenship
Through the enigma mission, students learn
about the world around them. They choose real world topics in which they are interested
and discover more about those topics in relation to the world. Citizenship includes
solving problems that impact human and environmental sustainability. The students
are engaging in this by choosing complex topics such as autism, bird
integration, and animal extinction. Students are engaged in being active
citizens and want to communicate their message to the world. The enigma mission
teaches students about life skills they will be able to use in their future
lives and careers.
Communication
In the video, students talk about the
enigma mission as well as their own chosen topic. Students need to have good
communication to properly explain their goals and interests and what they are
doing to achieve those. The students also mention that they conducted interviews
and communicated with professionals in their chosen field. Communication in the
form of digital, writing, and speaking is shown throughout the video. Towards the
end, students discuss what they have learned after completing the project.
Critical thinking and problem solving
Right from the beginning of the video,
it is mentioned that the enigma mission is a project based on deep thinking and
deep research. The project is about explaining paradoxes, conundrums and
mysteries of human existence. Students are engaged in critical thinking right
from the start when they choose their topic and start to research. Part of
critical thinking and problem solving is constructing meaningful knowledge and
applying it in the real world. Students are doing so by making connections about
how their learning can be useful to them in their future lives outside of
school.
Collaboration
An important part of collaboration is learning
from and contributing to the learning of others. In the video, students are
seen working together and sharing their information and learning. Students are
seen sharing a computer and making notes together. One of the students
mentioned that the teacher picked a few students to explore bird integration
together. The students in the video are working together and collaborating. Students
working with similar topics can share their findings and information.
Creativity and imagination
At the very beginning of the video, it
was mentioned that the enigma mission came from the student’s ideas. The students
wanted to explore their creativity and imagination and discover something
slightly mysterious. Such an open-ended project allows students to explore their
creativity by choosing any topic of interest to them. A crucial part of creativity
is asking the right questions to generate novel ideas. In the video, the
students mention that they conducted interviews and asked people about their
topic. The students show creativity through exploration of their topic and the
finding of new information.
