Dalton Kindergarten in Hongkong

How Do You Define 21st-Century Learning?

The term "21st-century skills" is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world. In a broader sense, however, the idea of what learning in the 21st century should look like is open to interpretation—and controversy.

Twenty-first-century learning embodies an approach to teaching that marries content to skill. Without skills, students are left to memorize facts, recall details for worksheets, and relegate their educational experience to passivity. Without content, students may engage in problem-solving or team-working experiences that fall into triviality, into relevance without rigor. Instead, the 21st-century learning paradigm offers an opportunity to synergize the margins of the content vs. skills debate and bring it into a framework that dispels these dichotomies. Twenty-first-century learning means hearkening to cornerstones of the past to help us navigate our future. Embracing a 21st-century learning model requires consideration of those elements that could comprise such a shift: creating learners who take intellectual risks, fostering learning dispositions, and nurturing school communities where everyone is a learner.

From: Education Week

A story

There was a nice young teacher in a new certificated Dalton Kindergarten somewhere in Europe.

It was almost Easter and of course she wanted to bring her classroom in the right atmosphere.

She found a nice and simple design of Easter-chicks, made one example herself and prepared all the material the children needed in the right sizes.

She presented her own example and integrated it in a nice story. In such a way, only Kindergarten teachers can tell it.

After the introduction, immediately time to work.

All the children at that same moment.

The teacher was running around, helping here, giving advice there . . .

And see the result.

The teacher was very happy with all the individual differences.

“They did it all by themselves”.

But there was one boy in the classroom who didn’t like the task.

So stupid these chicks.

An Easter bunny is much nicer.

Without asking the teacher he went to the drawer with the colored paper, and took what he needed.

With his tongue out of his mouth he started to work.

When finished, he proudly presented his bunny to the teacher.

It’s time, dear readers, to finish this story yourself.
Which feed-back would you give to the teacher?

To think about

As students have access to any information possible, there certainly is no need to "spoon-feed" the knowledge or teach "one-size fits all" content. As students have different personalities, goals, and needs, offering personalized instructions is not just possible but also desirable. When students can make their own choices, they own their learning, increase intrinsic motivation, and put in more effort -- an ideal recipe for better learning outcomes!

Let them experiment to get a smiling face.

15 March 2017 'Dalton Day'

In the Netherlands has grown a good tradition.
Every year, on the third Fiday in March, all Dalton schools open their doors for everyone who like to observe the Dalton Education.
It would be great if all Dalton schools in Europe follow this tradition.

In Dutch Dalton schools will be 100.000 students in short time. This will be celebrated in a new Dalton school very soon.

Happy Birthday

Jürgen Peters, President of Dalton Austria is celebrating his birthday.