Flexibility. Creativity. Communication.
These are active when students collaborate. And collaboration is an essential 21st Century skill. An integral feature of a progressive education.
We have learned about collaboration as the children worked together to create one big collage. One collage shows God creating light, and one shows God creating the seas. The children are learning to share many things, including their work.
Now we have made a collaborative painting, with everyone adding their brushstrokes on top of each others'. Some painting partners even swapped sides to add a different color to a new part of the painting.
We see collaboration beginning to happen in other areas. One child might add a small block on top of another's structure, or begin building next to a friend. They ask questions or gain inspiration from a friend's design. One child shared their idea to use a firm base and many others learned how to make their block towers stand strong.
A group of children shared a turn on the spinner. The number of children in the group changed as some moved on while others joined in, all working together to spin.
21st century learning is designed to prepare students with mindsets and competencies (flexibility, creativity, communication) in order to collaborate and solve problems in the rapidly changing world they will enter as young adults. Three goals for students from the Partnership for 21st Century Learning regarding collaboration are:
- Demonstrating the ability to work effectively with diverse teams
- Exercising flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal
- Assuming shared responsibility for collaborative work
As the children paint together and work together with paper to create a lovely collage, they are actively engaging in all of these areas.
To read more about 21st Century Learning:
