21st-Century Learners

Revisiting Effective Instructional Strategies for Twenty-First-Century Learners

Asil Ali Özdoğru

Rapid changes in the society and technology of the twenty-first century world have brought unique challenges for humanity. This chapter summarizes some of the strategies and support systems for effective learning and teaching in the twenty-first century in addressing some of these challenges. Learning is a dynamic process that is supported by the mechanisms of memory and reasoning as well as an individual’s mindset, habits, goals, and motivation. Theories and research imply that learning is not only a cognitive process but also a social-emotional process that takes place environmentally and culturally across one’s lifespan. Strategies to foster effective learning and teaching should pursue developing a process that is more active, authentic, collaborative, creative, interactive, personalized, relational, and self-regulative. Effective instruction is centered on the learner and knowledge, promotes conceptual understanding and metacognition, and utilizes assessment and technology in alignment with the instructional objectives. Productive instructional strategies used in a caring and supportive environment embedded in service and support systems foster learners’ cognitive, social, and emotional development.

Keywords: Twenty-first-century skills, Instructional strategies, Educational implications

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A. (2022). Revisiting effective instructional strategies for twenty-first-century learners. In Y. Alpaydın & C. Demirli (Eds.), Educational theory in the 21st century: Science, technology, society and education (pp. 175-195). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9640-4_8

PNAS COVID-19

A Global Experiment on Motivating Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Psychological Science Accelerator Self-Determination Theory Collaboration

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges.

Citation: Psychological Science Accelerator Self-Determination Theory Collaboration. (2022). A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(22), e2111091119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111091119

Media: Is controlling communication effective during public health crises? (2022, May 27). Durham University. https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2022/05/is-controlling-communication-effective-during-public-health-crises/