At this point educators are now placing a heavy importance on students having 21st century skills to succeed. This article highlighted how to implement the Four C's into the curriculum and lesson plans and into practice. Compared to the economy 50 years ago, today the economy has changed drastically requiring a new set of skills. Furthermore, the 21st century requires a technological literacy that goes beyond basic knowledge. Our world will constantly be facing new challenges: global warming, immigration reform, pandemics, etc. These skills will help students prepare to address and solve these challenges.
In everyday work, employees must effectively engage in critical thinking to better serve customers and develop better products. Critical thinking is also linked to other skills like collaboration and problem solving. Problem solving is rarely done alone. Communication is another skill that will always be essential. Complex communication involves explanation, negotiation, and other forms of human interactions, making jobs that require these skills less likely to be automated.
Humans are interconnected and therefore collaboration is essential to solving problems and our work. Students must collaborate with each other to impact global problems. Finally, creativity is important in education. Education needs to feature exploration and challenging problems to stimulate this kind of creative mind as creativity is the primary mover of the economy.