Inventive Thinking

The enGauge report identifies four categories of 21st century skills: digital age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity. The most challenging of these to learn, teach, and assess is inventive thinking. Among the specific skills in this category are adaptability and risk taking.

Adaptability

Adaptability is defined in the report as "the ability to modify one's thinking, attitudes, or behaviors to be better suited to current or future environments" (NCREL & Metiri Group, 2003, p. 34). This skill is closely related to the skill of managing complexity, which the report defines as "the ability to handle multiple goals, tasks, and inputs while understanding and adhering to constraints of time, resources, and systems" (NCREL & Metiri Group, 2003, p. 34). The report includes descriptors that illustrate the behavior of students who are adaptable and able to manage complexity.

Unfortunately, the report leaves it to the reader to discover how to help students develop these abilities. The answer may be as simple as giving them practice dealing with change, new or unfamiliar situations, and complex problems. However, this means a departure from traditional (and comfortable) teaching techniques. Teachers must be able to exhibit significant skill in adaptability and managing complexity in order to impart these skills to their students. In addition, some risk taking will be required on the part of teachers in order to make this a reality in their classroom.

Risk Taking

The skill of Risk Taking is defined by the enGauge report as "the willingness to make mistakes, advocate unconventional or unpopular positions, or tackle extremely challenging problems without obvious solutions, such that one's personal growth, integrity, or accomplishments are enhanced" (NCREL & Metiri Group, 2003, p. 42). (Risk taking in an academic sense is not about students placing themselves in harms way or doing anything risky. Risk taking involves calculated and intelligent risks.) The report describes students who are risk takers, but again leaves it up to individual educators to discover how to help students develop these characteristics.

It may be difficult to teach a person to take risks, but having good role models and having ample opportunities for practice are two ways that students might be able to learn this skill. Educators can also look to the private sector for further inspiration. In the business world, it is widely acknowledged that failure is the greatest teacher, but too many schools punish students for failure rather than helping them learn from it. In order for students to learn to be confident taking real risks, the consequences of failure must be real; even so, failure must be supported—even encouraged—by the school.

If teachers are going to encourage risk taking and failure in their classes, student activities during instructional time may look significantly different from traditional classroom activities. It follows that it must be OK for teachers, too, to take risks (with innovative new instructional techniques) and to fail from time to time. Naturally, a principal must support such a risk-taking culture at a school site. Again, it follows that higher levels of leadership (and the community at large) will need to be accepting of such risk taking by a principal. Change can happen top down or bottom up, but may ultimately need to be seen at all levels if education that helps students develop risk taking skills is to be a reality.