Nonacademic skills are key to success — but what should we call them?
“Non-cognitive skills.” “Skills for success.” “21st century skills.” “Character.” “Grit.” “Growth mindset.” “Social & emotional skills.” “Soft skills.” Those words are a short glossary of terms being used for that cultivation of the heart.
As Noah Webster put it back in 1788: “The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities; and for this reason, the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.” (From a May 2015 post on NPREd by Anya Kamenetz.)
CASEL
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning is the nation’s leading organization advancing academic, social and emotional competence for all students, with a mission to make evidence-based SEL an integral part of education from preschool through high school. CASEL has identified five interrelated sets of cognitive, affective and behavioral competencies.
MindShift
KQED launched Mind/Shift in 2010 to explore the future of learning in all its dimensions: “Improv is especially beneficial for atypical kids, no matter their stripe. It helps children with learning and physical disabilities develop a sense of play, and enables the socially awkward intellectual to socialize more easily.”
Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
Its mission is to enhance understanding of science by helping train the next generation of scientists and health professionals to communicate more effectively with the public, public officials, the media, and others outside their own discipline. Communicating science. Of course.
Mind in the Making — seven essential life skills
- Focus and self control
- Perspective taking
- Communicating
- Making connections
- Critical thinking
- Taking on challenges
- Self-directed, engaged learning
Soft skills are permanent skills
Soft skills are permanent ones. LinkedIn’s own lists of in-demand skills keep landing on the same abilities improv training builds: communication, collaboration, adaptability and creativity.