Experts agree: As technology becomes more prevalent in our everyday lives, cognitive skills become increasingly critical. "In effect, because technology makes the simple tasks easier, it places a greater burden on higher-level skills" (International ICT Literacy Panel, 2002, p.6). The committee on Workforce Needs in Information Technology (2001) defines intellectual capabilities as "one's ability to apply information technology in complex and sustained situations and to understand the consequences of doing so" (p 18). These capabilities are "life skills" formulated in the context of Digital Age technologies.
Inventive thinking is comprised of the following "life
skills":
Adaptability and Managing Complexity: The ability to modify one's
thinking, attitude, or behavior to be better suited to current
or future environments; and the ability to handle multiple goals,
tasks, and inputs, while understanding and adhering to constraints
of time, resources, and systems (e.g., organizational, technological).
Self-Direction: The ability to set goals related to learning,
plan for the achievement of these goals, independently manage
time and effort, and independently assess the quality of learning
and any products that result from the learning experience.
Curiosity: The desire to know or the spark of interest that leads
to inquiry.
Creativity: The act of bringing something into existence that
is genuinely new and original, whether personally (original only
to the individual) or culturally (where the work adds significantly
to a domain of culture as recognized by experts).
Risk Taking: The willingness to make mistakes, advocate unconventional
or unpopular positions, or tackle extremely challenging problems
without obvious solutions, such that one's personal growth, integrity,
or accomplishments are enhanced.
Higher-Order Thinking and Sound Reasoning: The cognitive processes
of analysis, comparison, inference and interpretation, evaluation,
and synthesis applied to a range of academic domains and problem-solving
contexts.