The Partnership for 21st Century Skills demonstrates ways to implement and teach 21st century skills to students in all grades across the United States. There website http://www.p21.org/index.php supports the infusion of cores subjects and 21st century skills. They provide current information about their efforts to implement their lessons, strategies and resources to aid classroom teachers and schools looking to provide their students with the skills needed to succeed in a the ever-expanding technology-savvy world of the 21st century.
Their mission http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Itemid=110 to combine teaching the “three R’s” with the “four C’s” (Critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity and innovation) helped me development a better understanding of what it means to prepare our students for higher education and a workforce that demands technology skills that exceed the typical classroom today. Teaching the “four C’s” within the core subjects is crucial for our students’ success after high school and supports collaborative efforts between schools and business.
I have one major issue with the organization’s idea of core subjects http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=120 . The problem I have is my subject area does not exist on their list. They do not indicate the importance or even recognize physical education or health as a core subject. However, they acknowledge health and wellness awareness as being one of the most “significant” and “emerging” 21st century content areas. If businesses and future jobs are looking for healthy and wellness aware individuals, wouldn’t physical education and health be a core subject in a student’s K-12 studies? I thought the United States received a wake-up call when we became the most obese country in the world (now just one of the most), but people still question the importance of physical education and the lessons students are learning to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. It surprises me that experts in the field of education still do not understand the significant impact physical education has in aiding students to not only lead healthier lives, but cognitively support them in their other subjects. Not only does physical activity support learning by engaging the cognitive, developmental and memory portions of the brain, making the most opportunistic time to learn anything being directly after vigorous activity, but the students are learning skills in the gym setting that 21st century businesses are looking for. Teamwork, collaboration, communication skills, leadership, self-direction, professionalism, life-long learning and social responsibility are all qualities, skills and assets that almost anyone would agree are critically important for the 21st century.
I can go on forever about the important of physical education and health, because I teach these subjects so I obliviously understand the value of the lessons being taught and the importance of the skills being learned and how they directly support the needs of the 21st century, but until people outside of the gym setting start looking at the improvements made in our subject area, they will continue to view at as the “roll the ball out” meaningless class they seem to think it is.
Stay active, eat healthy, feel healthy for the 21st century!
Great point! Many of the 21st century skills skills emphasized in preparing students for a competitive workforce include skills of cognitive development. Thought processes, such as problem solving, remembering and decision-making, are essestial skills needed to build and maintain an environment of collaboration.
ReplyDeleteResearch supports the role that health plays in our cognitive development and the positive correlation between brain function and physical activity (Sibley & Etnier, 2003).
Your comments have enligtened my awareness of this need. I encourage you to continue advocating this need and enlisting supporters as you have done with me!
Your comments on everyone thinking that physical educators just roll out the ball are so true. I currently teach special education but I have my degree in physical education and when I tell people that it seems they kind of blow me off. Teaching students to live a healthy life is one of the most important things that could ever be taught. What do you think that physical educators could do to change the mindset of teachers in other subject areas?
ReplyDeleteResponse to Brandon
ReplyDeleteI believe the best thing we can do is share what is taking place in physical education classess today. What the physical education department and I do is open our door for everyone to see. By that I mean, inviting co-workers and adminstrators to observe and/or participate at anytime, we share our successes, supply data of progression and never make excuses like "that does not apply to PE." Anything that the other subjects are working on or focusing on, we do too, we must in order to be respected.
At parent meetings, open houses and conferences I take the time to explain and demostrate what the students are accomplishing and the expectations I set. Parents tend to view physical education as the same class they took when growing up, I like to enlighten them on the progess we have made and the truly life changing lessons we are implementing. In time I hope we continue to break the stereotypes of physical education.