What are the 4 R's Essential to 21st

Century Learning?
By Cathy Davidson

on October 31, 2011

The classic "3 R's" of learning are, of course, Reading,

'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. For the 21st century, we need to add a fourth R--and
it will help inspire the other three: Algorithm. I know, it isn't a very graceful
"R"--but 'riting and 'ritmetic are fudges too. And the beauty of teaching even
the youngest kids algorithms and algorithmic or procedural thinking is that it
gives them the same tool of agency and production that writing and even
reading gave to industrial age learners who, for the first time in history, had
access to cheap books and other forms of print.

Here's a definition of Algorthm adapted from the Wikipedia

dictionary. "Algorithm: A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations
or other problem-solving operations, esp. by a computer." Algorithms are the
basis for computational thinking, programming, writing code, and
webcraft. Just as the last century saw a major educational initiative aimed at
basic literacy and numeracy for the masses, the 21st century should be
pushing for basic computational literacy for everyone, starting with kids and, of
course, with adult and lifelong learning possibilities for all of us.

In previous centuries, universal literacy and numeracy were not considered

important because the division of those who ruled and those who were ruled
was skewed radically, so a very small aristocracy controlled the majority of
people. With the rise of the middle class in industrialism came compulsory
schooling and a push towards universal literacy. Access to print doesn't
mean much unless you can read and write. You can't be middle-class without
some control over your own budgets, income, earnings, spending, savings,
investments so elementary numeracy is crucial.

Now in the 21st century, we need a similar expanded push towards the literacy
that defines our era, computational literacy. Algorithms are as basic to the
way the 21st century digital age works as reading, writing, and arithmetic were
to the late 18th century Industrial era.

Here's some of what the fourth "R" of "algorithms" adds to the standard
syllabus of 21st century learning. I'm sure others can add more:

 Algorithms and algorithmic thinking give kids of the 21st century the
ability to write software and change programs to suit themselves, their
own creativity, and their desire to self-publish their own multimedia
work. Wonderful open source, nonprofit (free!) multimedia programs
like Scratch inspire kids to learn and do, think and create, in moving
images as well as text.
 It allows them to create not just content but the actual structures of
webcraft that govern their lives today.
 It allows for more diverse participation in the creation (not just the
consumption) of the digital cultural, as well as the economic,
educational, and business products of the 21st century.
 It helps to end the false "two cultures" binary of the arts, humanities and
social sciences on the one side, and technology and science on the
other. Algorithmic thinking is scientific but also operational and
instrumental--it does stuff, makes stuff, allows for creativity, multimedia
and narrative expression--all worked out within code that has been
generated by these larger human and social and aesthetic priorities.
 By making computational literacy one of the basics, it could help
redress the skewed gender balance of learning right now, with an
increasingly high proportion of boys failing and then dropping out of the
educational system, a disproportionate number of women going into
teaching as a profession, and an abominably low percentage of women
going into technology and multimedia careers. Starting early might
help level the playing field in several directions at once.
 If we don't teach kids how to control this dynamic means of production,
we will lose it. Computational literacy should be a human right in the
21st century but, to access that right, kids need to learn its power, in the
same way that the earlier literacies are also powerful if you master
them.
 For those kids not destined to be programmers when they grow up, it
gives them access to computational thinking, it shows them what
webcraft is and does, and it shows them how the World Wide Web was
originally designed; that is, with algorithms that allow as many people to
participate as possible, allowing as much access and as little regulation,
hierarchy, and central control as possible.

Interestingly, unlike math, which can often be difficult to teach in all of its
abstraction, algorithms do stuff. Algorithms are operational. You show kids
how to use a program like Scratch or Hackasaurus and, very soon, they can
actually manipulate, create, and do, in their very own and special way.
Investing in teacher training---not in punishing teachers, not in commercial
interventions in our schools but actual, serious teacher training--is
essential. Let it be the teachers who lead the way to a new kind of
literacy. All those graduates who need jobs? Well, our schools need
you! And maybe we can go to one of those programs where, teaching five
years in public schools means all your student learns are negated. Now, that
would be an incentive and a universal good for all.

Some have argued that the most important 3 R's in education are really rigor,
relevance, and relationships. Adding "Algorithms" to reading, writing, and
arithmetic also helps with that goal. The rigor is not only inherent, but it is
observable. You get your program right, and it works. No end of grade
testing required. Algorithms ONLY work when you make them right, so you
don't need external measures. Relevance: check! What could be more
relevant to the always-on student of today than to learn how to make apps and
programs and films and journalism and multimedia productions and art for the
mobile devices that, we know, are now almost ubiquitous in the U.S., if not by
ownership then by availability in town libraries, schools, and
elsewhere. Finally, relationships: teaching algorithms is hands-on, even
when it is done digitally. You correct on a minute level, you learn, you go to
the next level. Someone guiding you can make all the difference. More to
the point, starting such training early can also mean more diverse learners.

And a final point: Right now, computer science and software

entrepreneurship are remarkably un-diverse--in educational background,
family income, race, gender. This means the people making our products do
not represent the demographic of those clamoring to use the products. How
would our world change if we had something closer to universal computer
literacy equal to the old forms of literacy and numeracy which were the object
of 19th and 20th century public schooling? What could our world look like if it
were being designed by a more egalitarian, publicly educated cadre of citizens,
whose literacies were a right not a privilege mastered in expensive higher
education, at the end of a process that tends to weed out those of lower
income?
The Four R's: Rigor in Twenty-First-Century Schools
MAY 27, 2008

In my next several blog entries, I will highlight how we at 聽 Envision Schools 聽

interpret and use the new four R's of education: rigor, relationships, relevance, and
results. Broadly, we define these principles as follows:
Rigor
We employ a rigorous project-learning college-preparatory curriculum that sets high
expectations for everyone, and we give our students the skills and motivation to
meet them.
Relationships
Our schools are small, personalized learning environments. Class sizes are also small,
and teams of teachers and peers provide students with academic and social
guidance.
Relevance
Education must have meaning every day. Our faculty creates curriculum around
current events, personal backgrounds, and historical realities while emphasizing
competency in twenty-first-century skills.
Results
We focus on the results of student learning using multiple indicators so our teachers
can adjust their practices and our schools can offer personalized support to students.
Each of these principles drives very specific structures and systems within our
schools. Today, I will discuss one aspect of how we define and use the concept of
rigor to prepare students for college success.