The purpose of education in the 21st century identified important skills for students. It might be time to reframe and view what we are doing through the lens of this purpose to avoid an overly crowded curriculum .

That is we can view whatever we are teaching (the content) as opportunities for at least one of these skills: critical thinking, problem solving, developing information …..

For example the purpose of a Year 4 lesson on longitude and latitude is not just about longitude and latitude: its purpose is also the development of information skills. The content provides an opportunity to develop skills in finding information. Students learn how use a search engine, in particular how and what questions to ask the search engine.

When reframing the purpose of a lesson to include the skills of the 21st C there can be changes not just in how we teach, what we teach but how we assess. For example in the Year 4 lesson on longintude and latitude should the teacher assessment be based on the questions the students asked, the information found or a combination?