Blogs on All Grades

Few would disagree that building critical thinking and creative problem solving skills is imperative for today's students. However, subject matter knowledge is equally important. The 21st Century Skills framework includes a Core Subjects section in addition to skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. The Framework for K-12 Science Education includes Core Ideas in addition to process skills.

This blog post is an excerpt from Save Our Science: How To Inspire a New Generation of Scientists by Ainissa Ramirez (TED Books).

The 21st century requires a new kind of learner -- not someone who can simply churn out answers by rote, but a student who can think expansively and solve problems resourcefully. As a scientist and inventor, a longtime professor at Yale University, and a woman who has always been passionate about getting kids excited about science, I believe that the key to this goal is to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. These disciplines are rooted in the kind of thinking that is now critical. One of the most important aspects of this shift is to fix the false presumption that girls are not as good as boys in science and math.

"Every day is a workshop." -- Will Richardson

Innovate 2013, hosted by Graded School in São Paulo, ended last Sunday, and now hundreds of freshly-charged innovators are heading back to their schools from as close as Sampa itself to as far away as Mumbai. Reactions to the conference were overwhelmingly positive and the sessions I attended were first class.

For schools, what is our pearl of great price? Last week, I had the opportunity to learn at the feet of a great man, Jeffrey R. Holland. He was the president of BYU while I attended there, so I also feel some sort of connection. Actually, I was translating from English to Spanish for about a thousand people in the audience. And even though I was busy translating, a few things stuck in my mind during the process; I suppose you could call that learning.