AN INVESTIGATION OF 21ST CENTURY SKILLS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TERMS OF SOME DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES

Abstract

21st century skills are considered as the skills that people need in a changing world such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and cooperation. This study aims to examine 21st century skills of high school students in terms of some variables and to investigate the relationship between students’ academic achievement and 21st century skills. The present study, based on survey model, was a descriptive research. The research was carried out with 323 high school students from different levels and schools in Istanbul. “Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale” with 5 sub-dimensions including Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Skills, Information and Technology Literacy Skills, , Social Responsibility and Leadership Skills, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Skills and Career Awareness and “Personal Information Form” were used as data collection tools in the research. The academic success of students was evaluated through the grade point average of the 2019-2020 fall semester. The analysis of the data was carried out quantitatively to evaluate each sub-dimension and all of the scale. According to the results of the research, while the multidimensional 21st century skills of the students measured throughout the scale do not differ significantly according to the gender variable, there is a significant difference in problem solving and critical thinking skills, information and technology literacy skills, entrepreneurship and innovation skills sub-dimensions. While the skills of students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills, information and technology literacy skills, entrepreneurship and innovation skills differ significantly according to their class levels, there is no difference in social responsibility and leadership skills and career awareness sub-dimensions according to the class level variable. Another result obtained in the research is that there is a positive relationship between students’ 21st century skills and academic achievements. As a suggestion, different factors affecting students’ 21st century skills development can be examined. Keywords: 21st Century Skills, High School Students, Academic Achievement, Survey Model