ABSTRACT
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, when the vast majority of Americans readily access information with the touch of a screen on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, the need to memorize factual information has decreased sharply, while the need for skills to help us use information thoughtfully and productively has gained new urgency (Jacobs, 2014). How, where, and when we support students in becoming critical consumers of information and social problem solvers who can put that information to work for their own ends will be a driving question that shapes fundamental educational reforms over the next few decades. No less importantly, we need to grapple with the question of who receives access to new models of teaching that benefit from this information revolution, and who continues to receive traditional learning experiences rooted in outdated learning goals. Schools, classrooms, out-of-school learning contexts, virtual learning environments, student-teacher interactions, teacher-parent interactions, and studentstudent interactions, among others, are all being changed in substantive ways by rapid shifts in technology, in academic and occupational pathways, and in human demographics. Despite more than fifteen years of rhetoric of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, we continue to run the risk of leaving large portions of our population behind economically and socially if we fail to equip them with the thinking, communicating, and problem-solving skills needed to address the challenges and embrace the opportunities of the coming decades (Lockman & Schwartz, 2014). To this end, we see the ability to apply scientific understanding to everyday contexts and decision-making as increasingly important.
