Development of 4Cs, Deeper Learning and Metacognitive Strategies

Abstract

Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration and Communication are four of the key components of 21st century learning. The 4Cs approach aims to promote autonomous and confident learners through what is often described as a noticing and questioning pedagogy. This is because the core of the 4Cs approach enables the learner to take ownership of their learning. This is encouraged by teachers through pedagogy that heightens an awareness in close observation and critical reflection. Students are encouraged to take notice of and responsibility for their behaviors. What’s new in the 21st century is the call for education systems to emphasize and develop these competencies in explicit and intentional ways through deliberate changes in curriculum design and pedagogical practice. The goal of these changes is to prepare students to solve messy, complex problems –including problems we don’t yet know about –associated with living in a competitive, globally connected, and technologically intensive world. Students are more engaged, intrinsically motivated to learn, and more successful when they can connect what they are learning to situations they care about in their community and in the world.