Introduction

Intro What are 21st century skills I. Define A-ISTE B-Enguage a. Digital Literacy b. Inventive thinking c. Effecitve Communication d. High Productivity II. what does it mean in ASB (use the ASB visual), what our mission is (you stated that) III. How projects-based units are effective because they include more than a few of these IV. Introduce Sol and Andrea's use of these skills

__21st Century Skills__ The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has published standards for students explaining that education must change. "Unless students are given the opportunity and charged with the expectation to apply these basics in authentic, integrated ways to solve problems, complete projects and creatively extend their abilities, then mastering these basics will not really make much difference in the long run." (ISTE booklet page 1) The North Central Regional Education Laboratory website EnGuage has a visual entitled "21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age," which ASB has adopted and modified to better fit its vision. The modified version illustrates how the 21st century skills fall under the umbrella of a "Culture of Learning" thttp:chapter-21msskills.wikispaces.com/Introductionhat has "Respect for the Whole Child", and delivers "Quality Curriculum and Instruction through Meaningful Learning Experiences."

In middle school classrooms at the American School of Bombay, teachers are committed and passionate about driving this mission and helping kids be leaders in using and applying these skills.

Effective communication stresses teaming and collaboration, interpersonal skills, personal responsibility, social responsibility and interactive communication. (ASB's 21st Century Education Model) By focusing on such skills, students learn to collaborate to problem-solve, create products, learn content, and generate meaning.. Through these skills, students how to socially interact with one another. When using technology, students are exposed to an array of events, information and situations, and therefore have to know how to manage these in an ethical and responsible manner. Students need to take advantage of being able to use technology to better the world around us. Through use of Social networking, Google docs, and Wikis, students in ASB's middle school develop such communication skills.

Inventive thinking is thought by many to be key to students' future success. Through TedTalks, animate videos and more, Sir Ken Robinson has expressed the importance of creativity in school and society, defining it by “the process of having original ideas that have value.” Inventive thinking is a skill that also asks our students to be risk-takers, curious and self-directed. In this on-going changing world, inventive thinking will help them learn to absorb everything that is going around them and give them the capacity to adapt and manage all the complexities. Part of achieving this skill, is by becoming high-order thinkers that can analyze and evaluate the information around them and then be able to synthesize it to problem-solve, create or master content. By providing students learning opportunities to explore cultures and their communities through authentic tasks, ASB teachers engage learners' in taking risks, self-direction, and analysis.

Digital-Age literacy means that students are able to adapt to the changes that occur in society. Beyond language and numeracy, students must be literate in technology, information, multiculturalism, global awareness and others. Will students be able to efficiently use varying technology tools depending on different situations? Will students be prepared to sift through a river of information, identify and apply their findings? Can students approach global issues through a multicultural lens, based on their understandings of their beliefs and those of others? In middle school modern language and social studies class work at ASB, students tackle real world issues in authentic contexts. Such learning opportunities abound with digital-age literacy skills.

Lastly, high productivity is essential for students in the 21st century. With the advent of Web 2.0, opportunities for students to prioritize, plan, and produce high-quality products are many. Learning experiences where students are guided through and expected to produce complex and useful products, require practice and development in high productivity skills.

Unit Based Projects provide an effective model that allows students to practice 21st century skills while solving problems, challenges, and answering complex questions. Research shows that through this model, students learn how to integrate and explain concepts(3). It has also shown to increases academic achievement(1) and allow for long-term retention and skill development (2).Their outcome is an authentic product that demonstrates deep understanding of the content (4) In this chapter, we are going to give examples of Unit Based Projects that gives students the opportunity to practice several 21st century skills.

This chapter focuses on two such units, from a Modern Language and Social Studies class at the American school of Bombay. For each unit, the project has been broken down into steps. In each step of the project, the teacher explains learning outcomes, the 21st century skills that are present, as well as technology tools that are integrated. Following the descriptions, teachers provide a reflection as to strengths and challenges associated with planning and implementing the projects with students.

Mumbai is a crucible of the flat globalized world, where people of diverse cultures live and work. Most of ASB's students are in Mumbai as their parents are working in businesses in India's financial capital. Multicultural literacy and global awareness, both of which fall under Digital Age literacy in the enGuage visual, are foundational in Sol Senrick's 8th grade Indian Studies class. Learning social studies in a 1:1 environment, students design their own paths to learning, while Mr. Senrick helps facilitate their achievement through the teaching and incorporation of digital tools and 21st century skills. In understanding cultures and issues the world faces, students must collaborate about communicate about their questions, research and solution ideas. Students need experience using the type of tools that will allow them to create high quality, relevant products, like websites and videos. In a service learning engagement, the Justice Project, students present solution approaches to problems in their local community.

2. Strobel, J. & van Barneveld, A. (2008) "When is PBL More Effective? A Meta-synthesis of Meta-analyses Comparing PBL to Conventional Classrooms," Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 3(1), 44-58. (Available at: @http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ijpbl/vol3/iss1/4) 3. Capon, N, & Kuhn, D. (2004). What’s so good about problem-based learning? Cognition and Instruction//, 22, 61-79. 4. Buck Institute for Education. (2010) Project Based Learning for the 21st Century. "Does PBL work?"
 * 1) Geier, R., Blumenfeld, P.C., Marx, R.W., Krajcik, J.S., Fishman, B., Soloway, E., & Clay-Chambers, J. (2008). Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(8), 922-939.