The Future of Education, Now

The leading minds in education are in agreement: the approaches to teaching and learning that have defined our nation’s best schools for more than one hundred years are now dramatically out of synch with the world we are preparing our students to face. 

21st Century Learning requires a new set of approaches to instruction that both actively engage the students in their education and require them to apply their learning to real-world challenges.  In turn, learning through experience and application leads to the development of valuable skills and effective habits of mind.  Students are empowered to move beyond just thinking about the world’s problems towards actually solving them.

Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap and former director of Harvard University’s Change Leadership Group, points to the Seven Survival Skills that will best prepare our students for the 21st Century.   A quick review reveals that these are the very skills that define success in today's rapidly evolving workplace:

• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving

• Collaboration Across Networks & Leading By Influence

• Agility & Adaptability

• Initiative & Entrepreneurialism

• Effective Oral and Written Communication

• Accessing and Analyzing Information

• Curiosity & Imagination

The Ocean School will employ an innovative blend of approaches, including project-based learning, experiential education, expeditionary leadership instruction, and authentic assessment in order to fully activate its students in the endeavor of learning.  Through this novel approach, Ocean School graduates will become the type of skilled leaders, engaged citizens, and flexible innovators that will be best situated to thrive and succeed.