Lead4Change

Student Leadership Program

21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills Definitions

Lead4Change Student Leadership Program aligns with many of the critical areas for 21st Century Skills. Our Educator Advisory Board has developed an alignment document to match the skills taught in Lead4Change lessons with 21st Century Skills. Document available here.

1.  Learning and Innovation Skills

CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Reason Effectively
  • Use various types of reasoning (e.g., inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation
Use Systems Thinking
  • Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems
Make Judgments and Decisions
  • Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs
  • Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view
  • Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments
  • Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis
  • Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes
Solve Problems
  • Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways
  • Identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

Think Creatively
  • Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming)
  • Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts)
  • Elaborate, refine, analyze, and evaluate ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts
  • Demonstrate imagination and curiosity
Work Creatively with Others
  • Develop, implement, and communicate new ideas to others effectively
  • Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work
  • Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas
  • View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes
Implement Innovations
  • Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur

COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

Communicate Clearly
  • Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts
  • Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions
  • Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g., to inform, instruct, motivate, and persuade) and in diverse environments (including multi-lingual)
  • Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priori as well as assess their impact
Collaborate with Others
  • Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams
  • Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal
  • Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member