Oral History Project: Lithuanian Students Study the Past to Gain Skills for the Future

This paper focuses attention on international school reforms that position students to gain critical 21st century work skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Special attention is given to a category of instructional methodologies known as project-based learning (PBL). PBL aptly teaches standards-based curriculum while also challenging students to inquire, make decisions and communicate with others as they work collaboratively to complete a project. PBL comes in many forms from problem-based, more centered on student thinking processes, to activity-based, making a product, and, finally, place-based, which is generally focused in the community. This paper addresses the latter kind as it involves an Oral History community project in a Lithuanian secondary school. This particular project was selected, not only to showcase the many benefits of PBL, but also to highlight 21st century skills that students gained while working on the project. As the paper makes a case for incorporating 21st century skills into international school reforms, it also hopes to inspire other educators who may wish to consider incorporating PBL pedagogies in their own schools. 

This paper focuses attention on international school reforms that position students to gain critical 21st century work skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Special attention is given to a category of instructional methodologies known as project-based learning (PBL). PBL aptly teaches standards-based curriculum while also challenging students to inquire, make decisions and communicate with others as they work collaboratively to complete a project. PBL comes in many forms from problem-based, more centered on student thinking processes, to activity-based, making a product, and, finally, place-based, which is generally focused in the community. This paper addresses the latter kind as it involves an Oral History community project in a Lithuanian secondary school. This particular project was selected, not only to showcase the many benefits of PBL, but also to highlight 21st century skills that students gained while working on the project. As the paper makes a case for incorporating 21st century skills into international school reforms, it also hopes to inspire other educators who may wish to consider incorporating PBL pedagogies in their own schools.