21st Century skills in the Ecuadorian school context: Students' critical thinking, problem-solving and decision making

Authors

  • Jhonny Villafuerte a:1:{s:5:"es_ES";s:40:"Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí";}
  • Micaela Pin Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí
  • Odalys Saldarreaga Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15648/cedotic.2.2021.2933

Keywords:

21st Century skills in the Ecuadorian school context: Students' critical thinking, problem-solving and decision making

Abstract

     This work aims to improve the critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making in elementary education students in Ecuador. It used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research approaches to collect information to analyzes the participants' perceptions and knowledge concerning 21-century skills. They were sixty-four participants, including 59 students and five teachers from two educational institutions in Manta, Ecuador. They were organized in experimental and control groups to participate in an educational intervention to strengthen students' skills during 2020. It administrated an adaptation of the 21CLD learning activity rubric proposed by Stehle and Peters-Burton (2019). The research instruments were focus groups, Likert questionnaires, and class observation. The results show that teachers and students are aware of the application of 21st-century skills in the school context. Furthermore, It found significant differences between the critical thinking, problem-solving and decision making skills pretest and post-test in the experimental group and control group. Thus, it concluded that the skills of 21st-century citizenship could be strengthened in the school context using appropriate pedagogical activities since English as a foreign language class.

Author Biographies

Micaela Pin, Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí

Estudiante del programa PINE

Facultad Ciencias de la Educación 

 

Odalys Saldarreaga, Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí

Estudiante del programa PINE

Facultad Ciencias de la Educación, ULEAM

References

Alismail, H. A., & McGuire, P. (2015). 21st Century Standards and Curriculum: Current Research and Practice. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(6), 150-154.

Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21s). (2011a). A partnership to drive change and success in education [Una alianza para guiar del cambio y éxito en educación]. Recuperado de http://www.cisco.com/web/ strategy/docs/education/atc21s.pdf

ATC21s (2011b). Module 1: Using a developmental model to assess student learning. Developmental learning framewoks [Uso de un modelo en desarrollo sobre la evaluación del aprendizaje del estudiante]. Recuperado de http://www.atc21s.org/uploads/3/7/0/0/37007163/pd_module_1_for_web_2014.pdf

Blaschke, L. M., & Hase, S. (2016). Heutagogy: A holistic framework for creating twenty-first-century self-determined learners. In B. Gros & M. Maina Kinshuk. The future of ubiquitous learning (pp. 25-40). Springer, Berlin, Heidelber g. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-47724-3

Booth, T., Simón, C., Sandoval, M.,& Echeita, G., & Muñoz, Y. (2015). Index for Inclusion. Developing Learning and Participation in Schools: New Revised and Expanded Edition. REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 13(3), 5-19.

Bravo Loor, S., Bernarás, E., Garaigordobil, M., & Villafuerte-Holguín, J. (2021). The situation of educational inclusion and school integration of adolescents with motor disabilities in Manabí, Ecuador. Revista San Gregorio, 45(2),47-58. http: 10.36097/rsan.v0i45.1462

Care, E., Kim, H., Vista, A., & Anderson, K. (2018). Education System Alignment for 21st Century Skills: Focus on Assessment. Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution.

Germaine, R., Richards, J., Koeller, M., & Schubert-Irastorza, C. (2016). Purposeful Use of 21st Century Skills in Higher Education. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 9(1). 1-20.

Gómez-Parra, Mª E., & Huertas-Abril, C.A. (2019). La importancia de la competencia digital para la superación de la brecha lingüística en el siglo XXI: Aproximación, factores y estrategias. EDMETIC, Revista de Educación Mediática y TIC, 8(1), 88-106. https://doi.org/10.21071/edmetic.v8i1.11095

Gonzalez, A. (2020. 2. AGO), Educación: las habilidades del siglo xxi. en soluciones para sociedades inclusivas. Retrieved from: https://www.bloghoptoys.es/las-habilidades-del-siglo-xxi/ (12.jun.2021).

Hughes, C. & Acedo, C. (2016). Guiding Principles for Learning in the Twentyfirst Century. Education series 28. International academy of education international bureau of education. UNESCO. In: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/resources/practices_series_28_v3_002.pdf (13.jun.2021).

Kivunja, C. (2014). Do You Want Your Students to Be Job-Ready with 21st Century Skills? Change Pedagogies: A Pedagogical Paradigm Shift from Vygotskyian Social Constructivism to Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Siemens' Digital Connectivism. International Journal of Higher Education, 3(3), 81-91.

Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari, A. K. (2015). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century: Learning in the 21st century. ABC-CLIO.

Macías-Mosquera,Y. & Villafuerte-Holguín. J (2020). Teaching English Language in Ecuador: A Review from the Inclusive Educational Approach. Journal of Arts & Humanities, 9(2), 75-90. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18533/journal.v9i2.1854

McPeck, J. E. (2016). Critical thinking and education. Routledge.

Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (2016). Introduction; English as a foreing language. Retrieved from: https://educacion.gob.ec/wpcontent/uploads/downloads/2016/03/Area-de-Ingles.pdf (13.mar.2021).

Portillo-Torres, M. C. (2017). Educación por habilidades: Perspectivas y retos para el sistema educativo Revista Educación, vol. 41, núm. 2, 2017 Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=44051357008 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/revedu.v41i2.21719

Rivadeneira-Barreiro, M. P. (2020). Developing critical thinking skills to improve reading comprehension. Revista Boletín Redipe, 9(4), 170-178.

Rivera, P. (2016. March.17). Las Tics y las competencias del siglo XXI. Retrieved from: http://aprende.colombiaaprende.edu.co/es/agenda/noticias/las-tic-y-las-competencias-del-siglo-xxi (12.mar.2021).

Rodríguez, A., Villafuerte, J., Quijije, N. & Zambrano, C. (2021). Entornos sociales y emocionales de un adolescente con síndrome de Down; La historia de vida de Mateo. MODULEMA. Revista Científica sobre Diversidad Cultural, 5, 37-56. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30827/modulema.v5i0.17797

Sierra-Villamil, G. M. (2018). Liderazgo educativo en el siglo XXI, desde la perspectiva del emprendimiento sostenible. Rev. esc.adm.neg, 81(2), 111-128. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21158/01208160.n81.2016.1562

Stehle, S.M., Peters-Burton, E.E. Developing student 21st Century skills in selected exemplary inclusive STEM high schools. IJ STEM Ed 6, 39 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-019-0192-1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-019-0192-1

UNESCO-OREALC. (2017). Reporte: Educación y habilidades para el siglo XXI. Reunión Regional de Ministros de Educación de América Latina y el Caribe, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 24 y 25 de enero 2017. Publicado por la Oficina Regional de Educación para América Latina y el Caribe (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago).

Valencia, E. S., & Panaqué, C. R. (2019). Pensamiento computacional: una nueva exigencia para la educación del siglo XXI. Revista Espaço Pedagógico, 26(2), 323-337.

Van Laar, E., Van Deursen, A. J., Van Dijk, J. A., & De Haan, J. (2017). The relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills: A systematic literature review. Computers in human behavior, 72(1), 577-588.

Voogt, J., & Roblin, N. P. (2012). A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competences: Implications for national curriculum policies. Journal of curriculum studies, 44(3), 299-321.

How to Cite

Villafuerte, J., Pin Zambrano, O. M. ., & Saldarreaga Vélez, O. Y. . (2021). 21st Century skills in the Ecuadorian school context: Students’ critical thinking, problem-solving and decision making . Revista Cedotic, 6(2), 65–94. https://doi.org/10.15648/cedotic.2.2021.2933

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Published

2021-12-19

Altmetric