Soft skills

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Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterize relationships with other people.[1] Soft skills complement hard skills which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities. Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects. Unlike hard skills, which are about a person's skill set and ability to perform a certain type of task or activity, soft skills relate to a person's ability to interact effectively with coworkers and customers and are broadly applicable both in and outside the workplace. A person's soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an organization. Particularly those organizations dealing with customers face-to-face are generally more successful, if they train their staff to use these skills. Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and conscientiousness can yield significant return on investment for an organization.[2] For this reason, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications. It has been suggested that in a number of professions, soft skills may be more important over the long term than occupational skills. The legal profession is one example where the ability to deal with people effectively and politely, more than their mere occupational skills, can determine the professional success of a lawyer. [3] Soft Skills are behavioral competencies. Also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills and selling skills, to name a few.

Basic interpersonal communicative skills

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Basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) are language skills needed to interact in social situations, for example, when speaking to a friend on the telephone. BICS refers primarily to context-bound, face-to-face

communication, like the language first learned by toddlers and preschoolers, which is used in everyday social interaction. We use this language skill in face-to-face interactions, rather than in dealing with academic tasks. This term is often credited to Jim Cummins research related to language acquisition and learning. The other term that is often used in conjunction with this term is cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). CALP refers to the highly abstract, decontextualized communication that takes place in the classroom, especially in the later elementary grades. CALP involves the language of learning, which enables children to problem-solve, hypothesize, imagine, reason and project into situations with which they have no personal experience. It is a prerequisite for learning to read and write and for overall academic success. The implications of the BICS and CALP concepts for children are that the second language or language of the classroom needs to be sufficiently well developed for her or him to be able to meet the cognitive demands of the academic setting.[1] Students typically are thought to acquire BICS in 23 years but take 57 years to develop the CALP needed to be on the same level with their native speaking counterparts in the classroom. Although the terms BICS and CALP and still widely used, Cummins has more recently used the terms conversational language and academic language. [1]

Critical thinking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Critical thinking is a way of deciding whether a claim is always true, sometimes true, partly true, or false. It can be traced in the West to ancient Greece with its Socratic method and in the East to ancient India with the Buddhist kalama sutta and abhidharma literature. Critical thinking is an important component of most professions. It is a part of formal education and is increasingly significant as students progress through university to graduate education, although there is debate among educators about its precise meaning and scope.[1]

Contents
[hide]

1 Etymology 2 Skills 3 Procedure

3.1 Competence

4 Habits or traits of mind 5 Research 6 In schooling

6.1 Research in efficiency of critical thinking instruction

7 Importance 8 Various definitions 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

Etymology[edit]
One sense of the term critical means crucial; a second sense derives from (kritikos), which means discerning judgment.[2]

Skills[edit]
The list of core critical thinking skills includes observation, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and meta-cognition. There is a reasonable level of consensus that an individual or group engaged in strong critical thinking gives due consideration to establish:

Evidence through observation Context skills[clarification needed] Relevant criteria for making the judgment well Applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment Applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the problem and the question at hand

In addition to possessing strong critical-thinking skills, one must be disposed to engage problems and decisions using those skills. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectualcriteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance, and fairness.[3]

Procedure[edit]
Critical thinking calls for the ability to:

Recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems Understand the importance of prioritization and order of precedence in problem solving Gather and marshal pertinent (relevant) information Recognize unstated assumptions and values Comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discernment Interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments Recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions Draw warranted conclusions and generalizations Put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives Reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience Render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life

In sum: "A persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends."[4]

Competence[edit]
Critical thinking employs not only logic (either formal or, much more often, informal) but also broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth,significance and fairness.[clarification needed]

Habits or traits of mind[edit]

The habits of mind that characterize a person strongly disposed toward critical thinking include a desire to follow reason and evidence wherever they may lead, a systematic approach to problem solving, inquisitiveness, even-handedness, and confidence in reasoning.[5]

Empathy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the emotional capacity. For other uses, see Empathy (disambiguation). Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being. One may need to have a certain amount of empathy before being able to experience accurate sympathy or compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by the psychologist Edward B. Titchener in an attempt to translate the German word "Einfhlungsvermgen", a new phenomenon explored at the end of 19th century mainly by philosopher Theodor Lipps. It was later re-translated into the German language as "Empathie", and is still in use there.

Life skills
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Life skills are behaviors used appropriately and responsibly in the management of personal affairs. They are a set of human skills acquired via teaching or direct experience that are used to handle problems and questions commonly encountered in daily human life. The subject varies greatly depending on societal norms and community expectations.
Contents
[hide]

1 Enumeration and categorization 2 Headline text 3 Parenting 4 Youth: behavior prevention vs. positive development 5 Life skill development in adults 6 See also 7 References

Enumeration and categorization[edit]

UNICEF states "there is no definitive list" of life skills but enumerates many "psychosocial and interpersonal skills generally considered important." It asserts life skills are a synthesis: "many skills are used simultaneously in practice. For example, decision-making often involves critical thinking ("what are my options?") and values clarification ("what is important to me?"). Ultimately, the interplay between the skills is what produces powerful behavioural outcomes, especially where this approach is supported by other strategies..."[1] Life skills can vary from financial literacy,[2] substance abuse prevention,[3] to therapeutic techniques to deal with disabilities, such as autism.[4][5] Life skills curricula designed for K-12 often emphasizes communications and practical skills needed for successful independent living for developmental disabilities/special education

students with an Individualized Education Program(IEP).[6] However, some programs are for general populations, such as the Overcoming Obstacles program for middle schools and high schools.[7] Parenting 2.0 (P2.0), LinkedIn's largest parenting group with more than 2,700 members (as of March, 2013),[8] defines Life Skills as all the non-academic foundational skills human beings learn and use to thrive individually and live optimally in community with others. P2.0's founder, Marlaine Paulsen Cover created a Life Skills Report Card that lists five basic skills categories:

Personal care Organization Respect for self and others Communication Social skills

and proposes that life skills should be considered as important as academic skills.[9]

==

Headline text[edit]
'Bold text' ==

Parenting[edit]
Life skills are often taught in the domain of parenting, either indirectly through the observation and experience of the child, or directly with the purpose of teaching a specific skill. Yet skills for dealing with pregnancy and parenting can be considered and taught as a set of life skills of themselves. Teaching these parenting life skills can also coincide with additional life skills development of the child. [10][11] Many life skills programs are offered when traditional family structures and healthy relationships have broken down, whether due to parental lapses, divorce or due to issues with the children (such as substance abuse or other risky behavior). For example, the International Labor Organization is teaching life skills to ex-child laborers and risk children in Indonesia to help them avoid the worst forms of child labor.[12]

Youth: behavior prevention vs. positive development[edit]

While certain life skills programs focus on teaching the prevention of certain behaviors the Search Institute has found those programs can be relatively ineffective. Based upon their research The Family and Youth Services Bureau, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advocates the theory of Positive Youth Development[13] as a replacement for the less effective prevention programs. Positive Youth Development, or PYD[13] as it's come to be known as, focuses on the strengths of an individual as opposed to

the older methods which tend to focus on the "potential" weaknesses that have yet to be shown. The Family and Youth Services Bureau has found that individuals who developed life skills in a positive, rather than preventive, manner feel a greater sense of competence, usefulness, power, and belonging.

Life skill development in adults[edit]

Beyond the K-12 domain, other life skills programs are focused on social welfare and social work programs, such as Casey Life Skills.[14] This program covers diverse topics: career planning, communication, daily living, home life, housing and money management, self care, social relationships, work and study skills, work life, pregnancy and parenting.[

Life skills-based education

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This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article with a good introductory style. (October 2009)

Life skills have been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They represent the psycho-social skills that determine valued behaviour and include reflective skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking, to personal skills such as self-awareness, and to interpersonal skills. Practicing life skills leads to qualities such as self-esteem, sociability and tolerance, to action competencies to take action and generate change, and to capabilities to have the freedom to decide what to do and who to be. Life skills are thus distinctly different from physical or perceptual motor skills, such as practical or health skills, as well as from livelihood skills, such as crafts, money management and entrepreneurial skills . Health and livelihood education however, can be designed to be complementary to life skills education, and vice versa. Life Skills-Based Education (LSBE) has a long history of supporting child development and health promotionin many parts In 1986, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion recognized life skills in terms of making better health choices. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) linked life skills to education by stating that education should be directed towards the development of the childs fullest potential. The 1990 Jomtien Declaration on Education for All took this vision further and included life skills among essential learning tools for survival, capacity development and quality of life. The 2000 Dakar World Education Conference took a position that all young people and adults have the human right to benefit from an education that includes learning to know, to do, to live together and to be, and included life skills in two out of the six EFA Goals. Life skills-based education is now recognized as a methodology to address a variety of issues of child and youth development and thematic responses including as expressed in UNGASS on HIV/AIDS (2001), UNGASS

on Children (2002), World Youth Report (2003), World Program for Human Rights Education (2004), UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005), UN Secretary Generals Study on Violence Against Children (2006), 51st Commission on the Status of Women (2007), and the World Development Report (2007). Expected learning outcomes include a combination of knowledge, values, attitudes and skills with a particular emphasis on those skills that related to critical thinking and problem solving, self-management and communication and inter-personal skills.

Theory of multiple intelligences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. For other uses, see Intelligence.

Human intelligence

Abilities, traits and constructs

Abstract thought Communication

Creativity

Emotional intelligence

g factor

Intelligence quotient

Knowledge

Learning

Memory Problem solving

Reaction time Reasoning

Understanding Visual processing

Models and theories

CattellHornCarroll theory Fluid and crystallized intelligence Theory of multiple intelligences

Three stratum theory

Triarchic theory of intelligence PASS theory of intelligence

Fields of study

Cognitive epidemiology

Evolution of human intelligence

Psychometrics

Heritability of IQ

Impact of health on intelligence Environment and intelligence Neuroscience and intelligence

Race and intelligence Religiosity and intelligence

The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in his 1983 book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences as a model of intelligence that differentiates it into specific (primarily sensory) "modalities", rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability. Gardner argues that there is a wide range of cognitive abilities, but that there are only very weak correlations among them. For example, the theory postulates that a child who learns to multiply easily is not necessarily more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty on this task. The child who takes more time to master multiplication may best learn to multiply through a different approach, may excel in a field outside mathematics, or may be looking at and understanding the multiplication process at a fundamentally deeper level. Such a fundamental understanding can result in slowness and can hide a mathematical intelligence potentially higher

than that of a child who quickly memorizes the multiplication table despite possessing a shallower understanding of the process of multiplication. Intelligence tests and psychometrics have generally found high correlations between different aspects of intelligence, rather than the low correlations which Gardner's theory predicts, supporting the prevailing theory of general intelligence rather than multiple intelligences (MI). The theory has been widely criticized by mainstream psychology for its lack of empirical evidence, and its dependence on subjective judgement. Certain models of alternative education employ the approaches suggested by the theory.