Authentic Learning

I have been searching online for outstanding resources for my science classroom. In my last post, I honed down my search to only authentic learning resources. Here, I define what authentic learning is, to better explain my perimeters.

Authentic learning is a pedagogical approach that allows students to explore, discuss, and meaningfully construct concepts and relationships in contexts that involve real-world problems and projects that are relevant to the learner (Donovan, Bransford, & Pellegrino, 1999). This sounds familiar, as much of what authentic learning is very similar to what we have been learning in class. Side by side, authentic learning is similarly theory-based, using Piaget's Constructionism and Vygotsky's Social Learning scaffolding and peer learning. We let the students experience, and avoid as much lecture as possible, inserting it only when it is most important. Kruse has not used the words before, and I am sure he has his reasons, but on the surface the choice of teacher as equal parts facilitator and more knowledgeable peer, seems very close to what we are learning to do in class ( if presented correctly).

However, the emphasis in authentic learning on is "hands-on" and most importantly "real-world." There is a quote from John Dewey, from 1916, that says, "the great waste in school is the inability for the child (to use what he gets from the outside and use it in school), and apply in daily life, what he learns in school." Students in authentic learning class become "cognitive apprentices." They may debate the civil war, play a part in collecting data for space scientists, or apply to the state legislature to change the state butterfly.

The term authentic in reference to learning means to learn from the inside out. When applied to learning, students get to research and explore real-life problems across curriculum. Teachers facilitate learning that helps the students apply their knowledge to the real world, outside of school. So, what kind of an impact does this shake-up of traditional curriculum have? What if we didn't do any lecture-based teaching? I go back and forth between Montessorial ideas (which would seem on the surface to want to use the authentic learning approach), versus traditional public schooling style learning. Can authentic learning fit into the public schools? Is there a happy medium in the middle?