Subject area skills such as literacy and numeracy are essential for inquiry, however, students will also need to master a range of skills beyond what we normally refer to as basic skills. These skills are relevant to subject areas, but also transcend them in order to support all of a learner’s lives within and beyond the classroom.
Within their learning throughout the programme, students acquire and apply a set of transdisciplinary skills. These skills are associated with many educational 21st Century skills.
The following are identified by IB as valuable skills:
Communication skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing viewing, presenting, non-verbal communication
Research skills: formulating questions, observing, planning, collecting data, recording data, organizing data, interpreting data, presenting research findings
Self-management skills: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, spatial awareness, organization, time management, safety, healthy lifestyle, codes of behavior, informed choices
Social skills: accepting responsibility, respecting others, cooperating, resolving conflict, group decision-making, adopting a variety of group roles
Thinking skills: acquisition of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, dialectical thought, metacognition
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