21st Century Skills

Birds & Bees is a project-based learning program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The program endeavours to inculcate crucial 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and communication by teaching young students about beekeeping and bird farming. Knowledge Platform was one of 15 organizations out of 3000 applications to have been awarded the prestigious Grand Challenges prize last year to pursue this one-of-a-kind program that focuses on leveraging innovative learning techniques to help build 21st century global, and environmentally aware citizens.

Our Model

Our Solution

The Benefits

Teaching 21st Century Skills in an Innovative Way

Birds & Bees is designed on the principle of experiential learning. We call it “learning with nature”. Through this project, we aim to teach young learners 21st century skills such as critical thinking, creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, along with civic literacy and global awareness.

Environmental Stewardship

The rationale behind this innovative project is to give young Pakistanis the opportunity to explore learning through innovative techniques and to develop an interest in environmental conservation.

Entrepreneurial Skills

Young learners will also learn and develop entrepreneurial skills by designing a marketing plan for the retail of value products like honey and eggs.

How does this solution work?

This project offers a unique opportunity for learners to explore new areas of vocational interest and to understand the significance of preserving our natural environment. The project is designed to build the capacity of learners through multiple hands-on activities. Through this programme, they will gain conceptual and practical knowledge of entrepreneurship, be challenged to be innovative, creative, analyse critical problems, communicate and collaborate with other team members, and to develop a sense of civic responsibility. Through this program, young learners will develop skills that are essential for them to become the innovative and thoughtful leaders of tomorrow.

How does this solution work?

Each smart classroom contains one dedicated laptop that is packed with over 100 GB of learning and assessment content. Topics in the textbook are broken down into smaller skills using a simplified Bloom's Taxonomy, making concepts easier to learn in smaller, bite-size lessons. Each lesson plan includes one instructional video which is approximately 5-8 minutes long, an educational game or activity, and a formative or summative assessment. Experienced teachers can use the lesson plans as a scaffolding tool, whereas teachers who lack the subject matter knowledge can simply allow the video to play and act as a facilitator who leads the class from a lesson to a game and an assessment.

Features

  • developing an understanding of the basic concepts of 21st century skills
  • participation in hands-on activities
  • application of 21st century skills to everyday life
  • enhanced knowledge of present-day environmental issues
  • improve teamwork and effective leadership skills through group tasks

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