Concerned about preparing today's children for tomorrow's world, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and International Society for Technology in Education have drafted frameworks and guidelines that outline what our students need to know to meet the challenges of the modern age. Mastery of core content areas, such as English (reading or language arts), mathematic, science and history, remains the centerpiece. But these two organizations emphasize the importance of cultivating interdisciplinary themes, such as global awareness and financial, civic and health literacies, and weaving key skill areas (creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, and critical thinking, problem solving and decision making) into core subject matter.

These skills and themes are not new to educators. We expect them to be a part of any good teaching practice. The challenge is to be more explicit in their inclusion in core content, incorporating real world problems to bring them into focus for students and drawing on digital tools and resources that can support them.

In some respects, the potential of 21st century skills lies in the exploration of how digital tools (cameras, presentation software, computing equipment) and online resources can support and enhance traditional subjects,skills and teaching practices. The Internet alone provides students with enormous opportunities to access:

• A trove of primary source documents previously located on library shelves, but now available online through digital archives.
• Authentic scientific data across a range of fields from current and historical meteorological forecast data to economic statistics
• Geospatial tools that combine data with dynamic maps
• Global communications media that make distance collaboration, cross-cultural exchanges and rich media experiences possible

Many of the resources available through Thinkfinity's content partners -- from lessons involving online research to those incorporating multimedia development -- reflect 21st century teaching and skills and make use of digital sources. In this section, we highlight opportunities for teachers to engage their students in 21st century skills and themes while they work through core content in science, mathematics and humanities. The snapshots provided here are designed to be lenses that help teachers recognize moments when students can build tomorrow's skills while addressing today's learning goals. These snapshots are really just an introduction to the many such moments available throughout Thinkfinity partner lessons. Use them as a launching pad for your explorations.

As a member of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and ISTE 100, Thinkfinity is committed to delivering educational resources that incorporate 21st century skills and themes.