Deep-Dive: 21st Century Skills
A monthly newsletter from Improved Insights, an evaluation consulting firm specializing in informal STEM education.
Welcome to the September edition of the Improved Insights Newsletter: a newsletter for folks in informal STEM learning spaces who want to learn more about how to measure and communicate the impacts of their work.
I’m Sarah M. Dunifon - a long-time STEM educator, evaluator, and equity advocate. After spending time working in museums, nonprofits, and higher education, I now work on cutting-edge informal STEM learning research and evaluation with my team at Improved Insights. We specialize in informal STEM learning and youth programs.
This monthly newsletter includes tips, resources, and news on informal STEM learning evaluation. We hope you find it valuable! Now, let’s get started —
Deep-Dive: 21st Century Skills
When you think of “21st century skills,” what comes to mind? Technological literacy? Critical thinking? Perhaps even coding skills? Well, I have one thing to say to that - YES.
Outcomes in informal STEM learning can range from affective outcomes (think: feelings, attitudes, emotions), behavioral outcomes, content knowledge changes, skill development, and more. One common construct we see in our work is 21st century skills. Here, we’ll do a deep dive into what this concept is, how it might be incorporated into your program outcomes, and how evaluators think about assessing it.
In this month's newsletter, we'll talk about 21st century skills - What are they?, How are educators using them in their work?, and How can you assess 21st century skills? To read the full article, check it out in our Insights. In the meantime, here’s a taste:
The term 21st century skills has been defined as highlighting:
“the shift from a more structured 20th century basic skills economy to a fragmented 21st century high skilled economy.” In other words, these are the skills that “all youth and adults must [...] in order to access higher quality education and career opportunities” (MHA Labs).
While there is no agreed-upon standard for 21st century skills, both MHA Labs and the Partnership for 21st Century Learning are widely respected. Different models contain slight differences in their structure and articulation of the skills but are largely centered around social, emotional, and cognitive skills.
[…]
Check out the MHA Steps Poster to learn about how the collaboration examined their existing skills for cultural bias, to remove or rewrite elements that are cultural norms (but not universal skills). A subset of the skills remained after this process where they brought in a cultural anthropologist and linguist to eliminate class, racial, gender, and other cultural biases. Find more resources on 21st Century Skills from MHA Labs on their website.
[…]
Self-report surveys and observations are two common ways to measure 21st century skills. But, there are a lack of valid instruments to collect data on informal STEM learning or out-of-school learning in regards to 21st century skills. Existing instruments may have been tested in formal learning environments, with adults (say in a workplace environment), or inadequately validated. (Grack Nelson, 2017).
Sondergeld and Johnson (2019) created the 21st Century Skills Assessment to fill this gap. This assessment uses observations to gauge student development across six learning domains: creativity and innovation; critical thinking and problem solving; communication, collaboration, social and cross-cultural skills; information, media, and technological literacy; flexibility, adaptability, initiative, and self-direction; and productivity, accountability, leadership, and responsibility.
ii Updates
Our Improved Insights STEM Impact Program wrapped up recently, and we’d like to highlight the important work of our wonderful client, My Sister’s Keeper Success Institute (MSKSI).
My Sister’s Keeper Success Institute, Inc. (MSKSI) is a nonprofit 501 c (3) youth development program that began in 2018 and promotes gender, racial and educational equity to ensure Black Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) girls have the same opportunities to learn, prosper and succeed through the power of mentoring. MSKSI began with these young women in mind before the racial justice movement ignited in communities across the country propelled teachers to think about ways to better support students of color. MSKSI offers solutions to create alternative futures for young women who are currently the most disadvantaged because of skills, access, and opportunity gaps through the power of mentoring.
States MSKSI:
We envision a world where minority women are no longer underrepresented in STEM or business ownership and they hold the power to create opportunities for themselves and others through bold confidence, exceptional emotional and analytical intelligence, self-awareness, creative problem solving, and innovative ideas.
I had the pleasure of working with Founder and Executive Director Kristen Newsome who reached out with the desire to develop a logic model for the organization as well as an evaluation strategy for Kristen to move forward her assessment of her programs. Through the process, Kristen realized that she has much of what she needed already, she just needed help figuring out the structure and refinements.
Said Kristen:
“Sarah helped me organize the elements of our program into the structure of a logic model. Her feedback, input, and focus helped me to streamline and define our outcomes, impact, and processes.”
Kristen envisioned using evaluation in her work for many purposes. Among them, for program improvement, accountability and transparency, applying for funding, and demonstrating impact. Building from the logic model we created, we devised a strategy to align her evaluation systems with her intended outcomes.
When asked to reflect on the experience, Kristen had this to share:
“It was great working with Sarah! She was a great thought partner and provided helpful suggestions about featuring outcomes and stories to share impact.”
We encourage you to learn more about MSKSI and the important work Kristen is doing for BIPOC youth. Head to the MSKSI website to learn more.
The STEM Impact Program is a free resource for early-stage STEM nonprofits in the United States who need help with a small-scale planning or program evaluation project (e.g., identifying gaps between data and processes, answering questions about your work, building a logic model, conducting a needs assessment, building a survey, etc.). Improved Insights is committed to STEM equity. The STEM Impact Program aims to prioritize groups identifying with women, non-binary folks, people with disabilities, and people identifying as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous/Native American, who have been historically marginalized in STEM fields in the United States.
60-Second Suggestions
Here are a few of my favorite things this month, usually pertaining to informal STEM education and evaluation, but occasionally some fun personal stuff, too.
STEM Ecosystems are a newer way of thinking about the landscape of STEM learning - both in and out of the classroom. Instead of a typical “pathway” model, STEM ecosystems recognize the ways in which learners might move through the world, experiencing learning in a non-linear fashion. It also recognizes that STEM learning organizations can - and should be! - connecting with each other to create a more vibrant learning community. I’ve been working on some ecosystems work lately (excited to share more later) and really see the value in using this model.
George Washington University is hiring for a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor of Museum Education and Director of Museum Education Program. Key responsibilities include “providing visionary leadership for the Museum Education Program as a progressive force in advancing justice through museums.”
The humble pawpaw is the state native fruit of Ohio (my home state) and only recently regained popularity for its tropical flavor and custard-like texture. This fruit, which has been long-loved by the Indigenous peoples of North America grows in the eastern United States from northern Florida to southern Michigan. They are notoriously hard to source due to their short window of maturation and difficulty in shipping the delicate fruits. Having just tried one for the first time a few weeks ago, I can say firsthand that they are worth seeking out.
As we transition into the fall season, I am always met with feelings of renewal and reflection. I’d love to know what you’re thinking about, and what intentions you’re setting, for the rest of the year.
Until next time - thanks for reading!