Reading Reflection #3

When finding the big idea of a project it's important to think of the outside world. Students will enjoy learning more if they know they are solving a problem that pertains to outside the classroom. If the students know what they are doing will result in helping the community it is more likely the "big idea" will stick in their head. I think expanding learning outside of the classroom is a great way to capture the big idea with out reading straight out of a textbook.
The last three steps of Bloom's taxonomy will really help develop 21st century skills. They are analyze, evaluate, and create. I see these three things as way for students to control their learning. Like having them be scientists and make up their own science experiments. These are skills that are used in the 21st century like problem solving on their own.
There are many definitions of the word "literacy" but I like how the book said that ultimately literacy ends up letting the students become independent, aware and productive citizens. I would have never thought of literacy that way. From previous classes I think of literacy as students gaining comprehension and fluency in reading and writing. But as the book said ultimately they are becoming more independent and aware of things around them and productive citizens. These are skills that are seen in the 21st century.
There are 8 essential learning functions that will help promote 21st century skills. They are ubiquity, deep learning, making things visible and discussable, expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, building communities, collaboration, research, project management and reflection and iteration. I think all of these can be used interchangeably or simultaneously. Like deep learning can take part in reflection. Students will be using deep learning to gain insight on what a lesson is and they might even work collaboratively which builds learning communities.
I think many points in this chapter will relate to our project. The students can work together to and also explore the outside world. In our project they will be learning what nutrition is like in other countries. So this is 21st century related because they are connecting what is being learned in the classroom to real people in another culture.