Summary

= Summary =

==== The core subject areas, such as math, science, and language arts, will always be crucial for students to master. Over the centuries, different technologies have been invented and implemented for use in these fields. In the 21st Century, students are delving deeper into the core subjects areas than ever before. Technology is increasing at such a rapid pace, it is hard to keep up. New and previously unappreciated skills are also required of the modern day student, such as the Learning and Innovation Skills: Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and Communication and Collaboration. Student success requires teachers who can seamlessly integrate technology into lessons and learning activities that meld the core subject areas with 21st Century Skills. ====

==== Creative and innovative thinking involves planning, analyzation, refinement, and evaluation. Glogster allows students to take poster creation to the next level with “web-posters” that feature multimedia and hyperlinking. While traditional reports still have their place, Glogs allows for more creative synthesis of information. Popplet is a “mind mapping” web application with the tag line “see what you think together.” Popplet allows users to organize their thoughts in ways that pen and paper cannot, such as with pictures and video. It is very easy to edit and allows users to share and receive feedback on ideas. ====

==== Students that think critically and solve problems, especially new and unfamiliar, must learn to make judgments and decisions based on effective reasoning. One example of technology that facilitates critical thinking is WVIZ’s Physical Science Investigation. Students are presented with an experiment and must draw upon their background knowledge of science to try to determine the principles of what they are seeing. Technology such as the ProScope HR allows students to solve problems that would be impossible to solve previously. This portable handheld microscope allows students to see objects at up to 1000X what can normally be seen, allowing them to gather data to solve problems. ====

==== The days of the lone genius as the source of innovation are gone. Knowledge has expanded at such a rate that students of the 21st Century must learn how to communicate and collaborate in order to draw upon the expertise of others. An example of technological collaboration is a wiki. Using a wiki, students can collaborate on school projects from home or anywhere in the world. Young students who have no one who can take them by car to a classmate’s house can still work together on projects outside of school. Voicethread is an online application that fosters communication and collaboration outside of school as well. Users create VoiceThread albums. Users comment not only by text, but also via voice, image, video, and even drawings. VoiceThread helps bring back many of the subtleties of communication that were lost with text only communication. ====

==== The technologies of our Instructional Strategies Matrix help students acquire 21st Century skills while meeting traditional content requirements. Used appropriately, technology fosters creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. These skills are necessary for all 21st Century learners and will help them survive in our rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world. ====