Twenty-first Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times (review)

As Lehmann (2009) writes, "When the printing press was invented, the outcome was not Europe plus some books, but a whole new Europe." Later, when paralleling Guttenberg's invention to modern technology's place in education, Lehmann asserts that despite the potential for the same impact, "schools are the same as ever, only with a few computers." Instead, Lehmann states that "there should be whole new schools where kids are accomplishing things that no one ever dreamed possible" (2009, p. 19). This concept was not lost on the Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel 2009 publication Twenty-first Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. Trilling and Fadel make the case that just as the face of education changed during the industrial age, we are now at the crossroads of the knowledge age and a shift in instructional delivery and curriculum must occur. Through the course of their book, these two scholars describe what this change should look like and how to accomplish such a sweeping overhaul of the American educational system. Furthermore, this book provides suggestions and applicability for classroom teachers and administrators at the K-12 level. Trilling and Fadel also discuss the change needed among the ranks of higher education. In doing so, they discuss not only the training programs for future educators and administrators but also what the college classroom of the future should look like across all fields of study, not just those in the field of education. Finally, Trilling and Fadel take a holistic approach to their call for change, by examining the role that community members, business leaders, and policy makers will take in changing the educational landscape in the twenty-first century.

Trilling and Fadel build upon the work conducted by the Partnership for Twenty-first Century Skills to first explain how and why the shift from the industrial age to the knowledge age is upon us and how this shift has changed the learning styles and needs of today's students. Through this explanation, the authors make a solid case for why the educational systems (K-16) must change to meet these needs. In concert with their explanation of the differing needs of learners in this new technologically driven era, Trilling and Fadel also identify the talents that this new style of learner brings to the equation. They complete the discussion by examining the practical skill sets that today's learner is going to need to function in the marketplace of the twenty-first century. In this part of the discussion, the authors cite new research that challenges the notion that mastering content must come before application. Instead of the time-honored Bloom's Taxonomy, which has traditionally driven instructional delivery, the authors propose a revised taxonomy for the twenty-first century, which they refer to as the "Knowledge and Skills Rainbow." Within this model, Trilling and Fadel assert that the processes of learning content and application can be accomplished at the same time or even in reverse order. Thus their model is not so much a continuum as it is a more fluid and symbiotic process, based upon the learner's readiness and prior skills and interests. This new model stresses the development of critical-thinking skills, communication skills, and creativity and innovation (all skills necessary in the twenty-first-century marketplace) over rote memorization and predetermined application conducted in isolation.

To illustrate this new model for learning much of the book is dedicated to the discussion of actual problem-based and design-based learning experiences that have been or are currently being offered to students at the secondary and postsecondary levels. These examples fit the mold of the Knowledge and Skills Rainbow, as they provide the student with experiential learning that builds content knowledge based on authentic, real-world problems and questions that students care about. Within this mode of instruction, small teams of students (which ideally grow into learning...