With the advent of modern technology and changing landscape of the generation, new concepts, ideas, topics and words are being incorporated in public minds. The Education sector, being one of the most influenced domains by technology and modern development, is now laden with many new concepts. Life Skills, Computational Thinking, Flipped Classroom, Adaptive and Personalized Learning, Gamification and Blended Learning are among the commonly used terms in modern education. People hold a general perception about these terms and many a times they are misunderstood. Life Skills, among them, is a commonly misunderstood term.
Many people link their conception about Life Skills with mathematics and Science, others understand it as something related to Computers and technology and some others even link it to the ability to use modern gadgets such as smart phones. They are not wrong altogether, but the core understanding of the term is highly inaccurate. As far as, school education and students are concerned, Life Skill can be defined as the set of quintessential skills ingrained in any students that helps them to navigate themselves throughout daily life and common problems. In short, these skills are necessary to fulfill participation in everyday life. Obviously, Like Skills change with generation and they evolve over time. For the generation before us, they were different and they are now different for us.
For a better of this concept, we may visualize how communication evolved over centuries. It can be viewed from the prospective of Life Skills. I earlier days, people use to communicate about any dangers by means such as drumming a unique beat for alarms, lighting up fire or using birds to dispatch a message. People begun to communicate via letters, telegrams as civilization evolved. Eventually, now letters and postcards are being replaced by phones, voice calls and emails. The most recent trait is video calling. The pattern of evolution signifies not the pattern of communication methods, but the changing requirement to adopt such practices. Hence, medium is not life skill requirement, but the ability to adopt effectively is the crux.
In a backdrop where IT is changing the entire landscape of the generation, computers and digital technology have become integral to Life Skills. From the prospective of present rate of digitization and speed of advancement, Life skill can be broken down into the following equation.
Life Skills = 21st Century Skills + Computational Thinking, Where, 21st Century Skills = Communication + Critical Thinking + Collaboration + Creative Thinking and Computational Thinking = Structured Thinking or Algorithmic Thinking Structured Thinking includes basic methods and cognitive processes used by scientists, engineers,computer scientists, writers, economists and many other professionals in making sense of complex situations, solving problems, conducting investigations and communicating ideas.
These skills are applicable in a wide range of problems in science, technology and engineering, as well as in everyday life.
It includes skills like algorithmic thinking, problem-solving skills, systematic information gathering, brainstorming, analysis and synthesis of information, multiple representations and divergent thinking.
It is not easy to cultivate student creative thinking ability in a traditional classroom.
This is because most students simply apply the formulas they have learned to solve problems, but do not necessarily understand the real concepts or principles behind the formulas. This has to be changed, with the
change incorporated at fundamental levels for all the important subjects. Digitized learning, on the other hand, can be the most effective medium to impart life skills to school students. On the process, it is essential to emphasis on nurturing clarity of thought and learning of concepts associated with various tools, rather than just the usage skills of a specific tool or software.
Algorithmic processes are the foundation of much of Computer Science, hence developing algorithmic (Step-Wise) thinking is key to understanding several aspects of computers itself. Algorithmic thinking and logical reasoning are applied in solving problems in several domains. Also, learning how to systematically gather information, representing it in multiple ways, and analyzing and synthesized information together form the basic steps of research in any area. The skills of gathering and organizing information are keys to develop information literacy. Finally, Thinking Process skills such as brainstorming, synthesizing information, multiple representation and decision-making, equip students with powerful skills to handle real-life situations at various ages, from planning a vacation, buying a computer for home use and deciding future Education and Career paths.
The current scenario of Computer Science Education in India is interesting. Indian schools have already been offering Computers as a subject to their students for the last 10 years. Some schools introduce it as early as 1st grade and some introduce it in the 3rd grade or later. Unlike other subjects where there is a prescribed textbook and syllabus, there is a lot of ambiguity for teaching computer science. One reason is the lack of a well-defined framework. Currently the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 [NCF 2005] defined by NCERT forms the basis for the CBSE Board syllabus [CBSE Board]. Schools tied up with this board do teach the topics mentioned in the framework. However, the emphasis within topics is open to interpretation and there is wide variation in the treatment of a given topic across books.
The ICSE Board has defined syllabus only for 9th to 12th grades [ICSE Board]; for the lower grades, each school can teach what the school decides as appropriate. This leads to variation in the books chosen by individual schools and hence in the topics covered at the primary and middle school level.
The system lacks a proper standard. The topics covered currently are more driven by the market demand at that point of time. Typically, the focus is on usage and skill based content for specific applications (for example, Java, Microsoft Office). There is little emphasis on Thinking Skills or Conceptualizing broad applicability that are useful across subjects. As schools are given the flexibility of following their own curriculum and textbooks, there is a huge variation in topics, which are being covered.
Hence, there is an urgent need to define a detailed curriculum to teach computer science in schools. Computers are found just everywhere. Wearable gadgets are now on mainstream. Studies have suggested that human brain and multimedia applications work in similar ways. Therefore, technology could be incorporate to simulate better learning among school students. In this point, Computer Fluency becomes one with Life skills and comes in a common line with the three R’s i.e, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. The curriculum should include topics to facilitate and improve thinking skills, such as stepwise thinking and logical reasoning, which are not subject-specific. The treatment of topics assumes that Computers is taught as an independent subject, and yet it should make the connections of topics in Computers to other subjects and to real world applications explicit. Life Skills Education via Computer Science is considered the next big thing in Education. The coding revolution has already started in US Schools and Indian Schools should join the race.
(Rupesh Shah is CEO, InOpen Technologies)
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