(1915) NURTURING AND ASSESSING GENERIC ABILITIES TO AUGMENT DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES

摘要

The dawn of knowledge-and-intelligence-based-economy demands a different set of abilities in theyouth in comparison to what was needed in the last century. In order to fulfil these needs, educationsystems around the world have placed assessment of generic abilities like problem solving, decisionmaking, reasoning, critical thinking in the core of school curriculum. Most of these abilities are locatedat the juncture of higher level cognitive abilities and metacognitive abilities, and are required for allsubject domains. Systems believe that focus on these abilities as core competencies in the curriculumwould augment both discipline-based knowledge and mental faculties or abilities that are the keycomponents of human capital. These gamut of skills are critical for success in academic orprofessional as well as sociopersonal life. This paper discusses a brief sketch of framework of theseabilities;;and global efforts to nurture these abilities. Defining learning outcomes marks the beginningof teaching and assessment. Considering this, the paper also tries to investigate feasibilities andchallenges of synchronising these outcomes with the classroom processes, with special reference toscience education.