Wagner's Question 1: Educated Adults 3

In reviewing Tony Wagner's seven survival skills, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills model and Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future, I see the case growing for more interdisciplinary learning opportunities. Being an educated adult will be mucg less tied to what we know and more to how we think.

Tony Wagner: 1) critical thinking and problem-solving; 2) collaboration across networks and leading by influence; 3) agility and adaptability; 4) initiative and entrepreneurialism; 5) effective oral and written communications; 6) accessing and analyzing information; and 7) curiosity and imagination.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills: Core subjects interwoven with 21st century themes: global awareness; financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health literacy AND 1) learning and innovation skills (creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration); 2) information, media, and technology skills (information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy; and 3) life and career skills (flexibility and adaptability; initiative and self-direction; social and cross-cultural skills; productivity and accountability; and leadership and responsibility.)

Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future: 1) The Disciplinary Mind: the mastery of major schools of thought, including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one professional craft; 2) The Synthesizing Mind: the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others. 3) The Creating Mind: the capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomena. 4) The Respectful Mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups. 5) The Ethical Mind: fulfillment of one's responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen.