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Teaching and preparing students for learning in the 21st century is becoming increasingly more complicated. Active Learning defined as any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. Active learning requires students to think about what they are doing. The general concept of active learning is to enhance self-learning through problem solving. It often requires the development of new methods of teaching and learning thus enhancing the role of the student. It is the essential elements that focus on students’ engagement and interact with the learning process (Prince, 2004). Today’s students differ from the students our educational system was designed to teach.
The Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills committee (ATC21S)1 postulate that 21st century skills are categorized into four domains: (1) ways of thinking—creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making and learning; (2) ways of working— communication and collaboration; (3) tools for working—information and communication technology (ICT), and information literacy; and, (4) skills for living in the world—citizenship, life and career, and personal and social responsibility.
In addition, the ATC21S has also identified two skills that span across all of the aforementioned categories: (1) collaborative problem solving and (2) Information Communication Technologies (ICT). Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) combines cognitive skills and social skills to create a framework for skills needed for the 21st century (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Hierarchical design for collaborative problem solving
In today's digital age students must adapt to the emerging technologies and emerge social environments that are changing the way we collaborate and communicate. Employers are looking for more than entry level skills. They are searching for students who can work collaboratively through the problem-solving process effectively and systematically throughout collaborative problem solving (see Table 1).
Table 1. Characteristics of collaborative problem solving
Skills | Subskills | Characteristics of Collaborative Problem Solving |
Social Skills | Participation | Active participation, perseverance, problem solving, and communication. |
Perspectives | Ability to tailor communication, acknowledge and respond to differences, modify communication skills to fit the conversation, share resources. |
Social Regulations | Assumes responsibility, manages conflict, resolves differences, evaluates overall performance, and identifies groups’ strengths and weaknesses during the task. |
Cognitive | Task Regulation | Systematic, efficient, successfully completing task in optimal time, engagement is well thought out. |
Knowledge Building | Strong understanding of the problem, recognizes and reorganizes the problem in an attempt to find a new solution path, modifies and adapts, or alters the course of thinking. |