A Framework For Understanding Best Practices in 21st Century Education
Guiding Questions
Bloomʼs
Domains
Taxonomy
Curriculum
Knowledge How does a 21st Century curriculum
balance providing students with the
Comprehension breadth of knowledge that they need
Content to actively participate in the global
Knowledge economy with the depth of
knowledge that they need to transfer
their learning to new and unique
situations?
Application
Flexible Thinking
How does curriculum provide all
students regardless of academic
ability with an opportunity to find
Problem Solving
success and feel valued in a
Analysis heterogeneous learning
environment?
How does curriculum provide
Synthesis students with opportunities to
Innovation/
explore beyond core conceptual and
Creativity
content knowledge in an
interdisciplinary manner?
How does curriculum work to shift
the traditional classroom paradigm of
teacher as “the sage on the stage” to
a horizontal learning environment in
Collaboration
Evaluation which students are empowered to
take an active role in the learning
process as researchers, experts, and
teachers?
Instruction Assessment
How are students afforded the
In what ways does classroom
opportunity to demonstrate their
instruction provide all learners with an
understanding of conceptual and
opportunity to connect to essential
content knowledge through real-life
learnings in a way that is relevant and
application?
personally meaningful?
In what ways does classroom
instruction provide all learners with an
How are students provided with the
Life Long Learning
opportunity to apply their knowledge to
opportunity to learn and grow through
increasingly complex and novel real-life
the assessment process?
situations that push them to extend
their knowledge beyond their comfort
In what ways do teachers shift the
level?
focus of the traditional assessment
paradigm to center primarily on
How do teachers provide students with
process not product?
the opportunity to drive their own
education through the creation and
evaluation of personal learning goals?
How are students provided with
How do teachers provide students with
formative and summative assessments
learning opportunities that encourage
opportunities to demonstrate
them to combine new learning with
conceptual understanding and content
prior knowledge to discover innovative
knowledge through projects that allow
and novel solutions to problems?
students use their own learning style?
How do teachers create a “culture of
How do teachers create performance-
learning” in which all students are
based assessments that require
empowered to actively participate in
students to utilize their collective
the learning process, seen as valued
knowledge-base (i.e. classmates,
contributors to the collective knowledge
community members, collaborative
base of the classroom, and engaged in
tools, subject experts, etc.) to complete
finding, evaluating, and creating
the task?
content?