Bridge, C. (2019). Examining the effectiveness of middle school students using iPad devices for   improving 21st-century skills with and without four Cs specific instruction (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global database. (UMI    No. 13808058) 

Abstract:

“The 21st Century Skills Movement advocates the need for teaching and learning to emphasize 21st-century themes and trends, such as the skills related to information, media, innovation, technology, and career, plus science, global awareness, and financial and civic literacy. However, a decade after the movement’s inception, educators still have questions about skill integration to keep 21st-century education moving forward. The problem addressed in this study was the challenge of effectively teaching the 21st-century Four C skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity in K-12 education is a challenge that remains unsolved. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to investigate if students learning with iPad devices show a statistically significant improvement in the 21st-century skills of communication and collaboration, two of the Four C’s skills, after receiving twice weekly, Four C mini-lessons for five weeks, compared to students learning with iPad devices who do not receive the mini-lessons. The sample was 407 8th grade students at an urban public school in the Midwest, non-randomly selected into four groups. Teams A and B were assigned as the treatment group and Teams C and D were assigned as the control group. Both the control and treatment groups used iPad devices, but the treatment group received an instructional intervention, consisting of a five-week, twice weekly 10-minute mini-lesson on communication and collaboration. A 20-item pre-and posttest survey was employed to measure the effectiveness of Four C mini-lessons on communication and collaboration to improve middle school students’ communication and collaboration skills. Findings were that the mini-lesson intervention had a statistically significant effect on the development of communication skills (p < .05) but no significant effect on collaboration skills (p > .05). One recommendation for future research is to conduct a longer study to see how additional mini-lessons impact Four C skills.”