ROBERT J.

TAMMY
MARZANO HEFLEBOWER

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Teaching &
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Assessing du
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21st Century Skil s
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THE CLASSROOM STRATEGIES SERIES

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CONTENTS

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Italicised entries indicate reproducible pages.

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ABOUT MARZANO RESEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
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INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
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How to Use This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xii

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1
THE STATUS OF THE 21ST CENTURY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
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CHAPTER Why Do We Need 21st Century Skills?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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Major Frameworks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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The Problem of Defining 21st Century Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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Cognitive and Conative Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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RESEARCH AND THEORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CHAPTER Cognitive Skill: Analysing and Utilising Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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Cognitive Skill: Addressing Complex Problems and Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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Cognitive Skill: Creating Patterns and Mental Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Conative Skill: Understanding and Controlling Oneself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Conative Skill: Understanding and Interacting With Others. . . . . . . . . . . 27

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vi TE ACHING AND ASSESSING 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Assessing 21st Century Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Translating Research and Theory Into Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

PART I: COGNITIVE SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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ANALYSING AND UTILISING INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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CHAPTER Navigating Digital Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Identifying Common Logical Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

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Generating Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Presenting and Supporting Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

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Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

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Chapter 3: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
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ADDRESSING COMPLEX PROBLEMS AND ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
CHAPTER Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
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Divergent and Convergent Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

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A Problem-Solving Protocol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
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Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
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Chapter 4: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

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CREATING PATTERNS AND MENTAL MODELS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

CHAPTER Identifying Basic Relationships Between Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
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Creating Graphic Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Drawing and Sketching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

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Generating Mental Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

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Conducting Thought Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Performing Mental Rehearsal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Chapter 5: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

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 Contents vii

PART II: CONATIVE SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

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UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROLLING ONESELF . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
CHAPTER Becoming Aware of the Power of Interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Cultivating Useful Ways of Thinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

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Avoiding Negative Ways of Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

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Chapter 6: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

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UNDERSTANDING AND INTERACTING WITH OTHERS . . . . . . . . 149

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CHAPTER Perspective Taking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

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Responsible Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
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Controversy and Conflict Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
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Chapter 7: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

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ASSESSMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
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CHAPTER Beginning With a Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

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Striving for Clarity and Precision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

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Assigning Summative Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

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Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
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Chapter 8: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

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EPILOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
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Shift in Accountability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Proficiency-Based System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

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viii TE ACHING AND ASSESSING 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

APPENDIX A: ANSWERS TO COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS. . . . 189

Answers to Chapter 3: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Answers to Chapter 4: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Answers to Chapter 5: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

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Answers to Chapter 6: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Answers to Chapter 7: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

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Answers to Chapter 8: Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

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APPENDIX B: SCALES FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLS. . . . . . . . . . . . 197

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Analysing and Utilising Information: Navigating Digital Sources . . . . . . 198
Analysing and Utilising Information: Identifying Common

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Logical Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
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Analysing and Utilising Information: Generating Conclusions. . . . . . . . . 200
Analysing and Utilising Information: Presenting and
Supporting Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
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Addressing Complex Problems and Issues: Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

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Addressing Complex Problems and Issues: Divergent and

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Convergent Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

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Addressing Complex Problems and Issues:

A Problem-Solving Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
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Creating Patterns and Mental Models: Identifying Basic

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Relationships Between Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

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Creating Patterns and Mental Models: Creating

Graphic Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Creating Patterns and Mental Models: Drawing and Sketching . . . . . . . 207
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Creating Patterns and Mental Models: Generating Mental Images . . . . 208

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Creating Patterns and Mental Models: Conducting

Thought Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Creating Patterns and Mental Models: Performing
Mental Rehearsal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

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Understanding and Controlling Oneself: Becoming Aware of the

Power of Interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Understanding and Controlling Oneself: Cultivating Useful
Ways of Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Understanding and Controlling Oneself: Avoiding Negative

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Ways of Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Understanding and Interacting With Others: Perspective Taking . . . . . . 214

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Understanding and Interacting With Others: Responsible

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Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Understanding and Interacting With Others: Controversy and

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Conflict Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

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REFERENCES AND RESOURCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
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INTRODUCTION

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Teaching and Assessing 21st Century Skills is part of a series of books collectively referred to as the
Classroom Strategies Series. The purpose of this series is to provide teachers as well as administrators

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with an in-depth treatment of research-based instructional strategies that can be used in the classroom
to enhance student achievement. Many of the strategies addressed in this series have been covered in
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other works such as The Art and Science of Teaching (Marzano, 2007), Classroom Management That
Works (Marzano, 2003) and Classroom Instruction That Works (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001).
Although those works devoted a chapter or a part of a chapter to particular strategies, the Classroom
Strategies Series devotes an entire book to an instructional strategy or set of related strategies.
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As the 21st century unfolds, the pace of change in the world is accelerating while education often
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remains stagnant or, at best, progresses in isolated pockets. Concern over the effects of an inadequate
education system on the economy and innovative potential is growing, and it seems a crisis point is near –
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a point when the negative aspects of the education system will outweigh the benefits. The consequences
of a poorly educated population would be dire, and in order to correct this trajectory, every level of
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the education system will have to undergo massive changes. Teachers and administrators must lead this
cultural shift, which is perhaps as important and massive as the industrial revolution. In Teaching and
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Assessing 21st Century Skills, we present a model of instruction and assessment based on a combination
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of cognitive skills (skills students will need to succeed academically) and conative skills (skills students
will need to succeed interpersonally) necessary for the 21st century.
We begin with an overview of the major changes in the 21st century and how those changes have
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affected the education system and overall student achievement. In the second chapter, we review the
research and theory behind the cognitive and conative skills addressed in the model. Although you
might skip this chapter and move right into those that provide recommendations for classroom practice,
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you are strongly encouraged to examine the research and theory as they are the foundation for the entire
book. Indeed, a basic purpose of Teaching and Assessing 21st Century Skills and others in the Classroom
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Strategies Series is to present the most useful instructional strategies that are based on the strongest
research and theory available.
Because research and theory can provide only a general direction for classroom practice, Teaching
and Assessing 21st Century Skills (and each book in the series) goes one step further to translate that
research into applications for the classroom. Specifically, this book addresses three cognitive skills (ana-
lysing and utilising information, addressing complex problems and issues, and creating patterns and

MRL2325 • 9781742392325 • © 2011 Hawker Brownlow Education xi

mental models) and two conative skills (understanding and controlling oneself and understanding and
interacting with others).

How to Use This Book

Teaching and Assessing 21st Century Skills can be used as a self-study text that provides an in-depth
understanding of how to gear instruction toward 21st century students. At the end of chapters 3 to 8,
you will fi nd comprehension questions. It is important to complete these questions and then compare

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your answers with those in appendix A. Such interaction provides a review of the content and allows
you to examine how clearly you understand it.

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Teams of teachers or entire faculties that wish to examine the topic of 21st century skills in depth
may also use Teaching and Assessing 21st Century Skills. When this is the case, teacher teams should

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answer the questions independently and then compare their answers in small- and large-group settings.

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Chapter 1

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THE STATUS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

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The specific skill set that students will need to succeed in the 21st century has been a topic of
interest in education since at least the early 1990s. In 1991, the United States Department of Labor

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formed the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and charged it with the
task of examining “the demands of the workplace and whether our young people are capable of meeting
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those demands” (U.S. Department of Labor, 1991, p. vii). The commission’s 1991 report, What Work
Requires of Schools, contrasted the old requirements for success, defi ned as “a strong back, the willing-
ness to work, and a high school diploma,” with what students need in the new workplace, defi ned as “a
well-developed mind, a passion to learn, and the ability to put knowledge to work” (p. 2). The report
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criticised schools, saying that “despite their best efforts, most schools have not changed fast enough or
moved far enough” to prepare students for the demands of the new workplace (p. 4). It also defined the
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criteria for success in the workplace in terms of five competencies and three foundational requirements.
This was one of the fi rst efforts to defi ne 21st century skills and the role that schools should play in
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teaching them.
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The ideas articulated in the SCANS report led to a variety of efforts over the next decades to defi ne
what was needed for success in the modern world. Many of these efforts focused on the interests of the
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organisation doing the work. For example, the US National Communication Association worked on
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defi ning speaking and listening skills, the International Society for Technology in Education focused
on effective uses of technology, and the American Library Association outlined information literacy
standards for students. These efforts were precursors to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills’s more
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comprehensive 2002–2003 project to defi ne 21st century skills in terms of a “unified, collective vision
for education and a framework for action” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2003, p. 2). Composed
of business and education organisations, the partnership’s goal was to close the gap between “the
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knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical
21st century communities and workplaces” (p. 3).
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In a 2003 report titled Learning for the 21st Century, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills out-
lined six key elements of 21st century learning. Those elements eventually grew into the Framework
for 21st Century Learning, published fi rst in 2007 and updated in 2009. The framework identified 21st
century student outcomes in four broad areas: (1) core subjects and 21st century themes, (2) learning
and innovation skills, (3) information, media and technology skills, and (4) life and career skills. It also
recommended a foundation of “critical systems necessary to ensure student mastery of 21st century

MRL2325 • 9781742392325 • © 2011 Hawker Brownlow Education 1