successintheconceptualageanotherparadigmshift.docVIP

Success in the Conceptual Age: Another Paradigm Shift William G. Huitt Citation: Huitt, W. (2007). Success in the Conceptual Age: Another paradigm shift. Paper delivered at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Georgia Educational Research Association, Savannah, GA, October 26. Retrieved [date], from /papers/conceptual-age.pdf Just as everyone has begun to understand the demands of the Information Age, several authors propose another paradigm shift, identified by Pink (2005), as the Conceptual Age. This paper provides an overview of the trends that encompass this shift, some suggestions regarding the necessary knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for success in this new age, and the implications for schools and other social institutions as they help prepare children and youth for success in the 21st century. One of the primary functions of schooling is to prepare children and youth for adult success. However, as social and cultural changes occur, especially on a global level, so do the requirements for accomplishment. In the last 150 years, the American society has moved from an economy focused on growing products and making things to one of service and information processing (Naisbitt, 1982; Toffler, 1981, 1990). Huitt (1999a) summarized the major trends and megatrends associated with the Information Age and their implications for preparing children and youth for the 21st century. Now, less than a decade into the century, Pink (2005) proposes that humankind is headed into a new age, the Conceptual Age, having strong implications for desired knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Handy (1990) anticipated this shift with a call for “upside-down” thinking to cope with a patternless, discontinuous post-modern world. Kurzweil (1999) concludes these socio-cultural changes are unlikely to slow down anytime soon. In fact, he suggests that there will be as much change in the first quarter century as there was in the entire last century. The Tools of Change Pilzer (1990)