Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I have to learn this?” or “Will I ever use this in real life?” These questions often come up when we’re learning, whether it’s in school or picking up new skills. It’s like trying to put together a puzzle without knowing what the final picture will look like. But what if everything we learned had a clear purpose and relevance to our lives? What if learning felt more like solving real problems and less like memorizing facts from a book?
That’s where authentic learning comes in. Authentic learning is about connecting what we learn with how we use it in our daily lives. It’s about doing tasks and experiences that are like real-life challenges. For example, learning math by making a budget for a household or getting better at communication by working on projects with others. Authentic learning, just like context-based learning, makes education feel important and useful, linking what we learn in class with the world outside. In this post, let’s learn about authentic learning in detail and discover why it matters in education today, and how it helps us dive deep into our studies.
What is authentic learning model?
The Authentic Learning Model is a way of teaching that focuses on making learning experiences meaningful, relevant, and like real life. It’s based on the idea that students learn best when they’re doing tasks that are similar to what they’d encounter outside of school. This model aims to help students connect what they learn in class with how it’s used in the real world.
I. Core Principles and Characteristics of Authentic Learning
The Authentic Learning Model is guided by several core principles and characteristics that define its approach to education:
1. Real-world connection:
Tasks in authentic learning are like things that happen in the real world. This makes learning meaningful and useful outside of school.
2. Complexity and realness:
Tasks are often complex and reflect real-life situations. This challenges students to think deeply and solve problems like they would in real life.
3. Focus on students:
Students are at the center of authentic learning. They’re encouraged to explore their interests and take charge of their learning journey.
4. Working together:
Students often work with classmates or experts, just like they would work with other people in the real world. This helps them learn how to communicate well and appreciate different perspectives.
5. Thinking about learning:
Students think about how they learn, what they’ve learned, and how they can improve. This helps them become better learners.
6. Showing what they know:
Assessments focus on how well students can use what they’ve learned in real situations, not just on tests. They might do projects or presentations to show what they know.
7. Using technology and other resources:
Technology is often used to help students learn and collaborate. They use a variety of tools and online resources to support their learning.
8. Respecting diversity:
Authentic learning includes different perspectives and experiences. This helps students understand others better and be more aware of the world around them.
II. Examples of authentic learning experiences
Authentic learning experiences are varied and can encompass a wide range of disciplines and contexts. Here are some examples across different subject areas:
1. Science:
Students might go out and test water quality in streams or see how pollution affects plants. They also collect data, analyze it, and suggest solutions.
2. History:
They could act out historical events, taking on roles of people from the past. This helps them understand history better.
3. Language Arts:
Students might work together on a project like making a podcast about a current issue. For this, they can interview people and tell stories on their podcast to raise awareness.
4. Mathematics:
They could work on a budget project, managing money and making decisions based on real-life situations. This helps them learn about money in a practical way. Or, they could take part in projects relating to real-life applications of sine and cosine graphs to understand the concept better.
5. Social Studies:
Students might do a project that helps the community, like organizing a food drive. It can involve research and plan ways to make a positive difference.
6. Visual Arts:
They could work with local businesses to create art that represents the community. This can give them the opportunity to express themselves and make the community more beautiful.
7. Career and Technical Education:
Students might do internships or job shadowing to learn about different careers and derive some real-world experience from them.
8. Physical Education:
They could create a program to encourage people to be healthy and active. This helps would promote wellness in the community.
III. Benefits of authentic learning
Authentic learning provides a holistic approach to education that prepares students not only for academic success but also for the complexities and challenges of the real world. When teachers employ project-based learning ideas and focus on authentic learning, students become more interested, confident, and skilled. Here’s how it is beneficial:
1. Authentic learning challenges students to think hard and solve tough problems. This helps them become better at thinking and figuring things out.
2. Authentic learning encourages students to come up with new ideas and be creative. When they face real problems, they think of innovative solutions.
3. Authentic learning lets students lead their own learning. They feel responsible and in control of what they’re learning.
4. In today’s world, it’s important to be able to think well and solve problems. Authentic learning teaches students these skills so they can handle whatever comes their way.
5. Authentic learning helps students remember what they’ve learned for a long time. When they learn in real situations, they’re more likely to remember it later.
6. Authentic learning lets students learn about different cultures and perspectives. This helps them understand and care about other people more.
IV. Stages of authentic learning model
The Authentic Learning Model usually has a few steps to help students work through real tasks and experiences. Though the exact steps can change depending on how it’s used, here are the usual stages:
Stage 1: Introduction and Understanding
Teachers introduce students to a real problem or task and explain what they’ll be doing. They give examples from the real world to help students understand.
Stage 2: Exploring and Learning
Students start looking into the problem, gathering information, and learning more about it. They might interview people, do research, or check out different resources to learn more.
Stage 3: Defining the Problem and Goals
Students figure out exactly what the problem is and what they want to achieve. They decide what success looks like and what they need to do to get there.
Stage 4: Planning and Figuring Out Solutions
Students come up with ideas and plans to solve the problem. They might work with classmates to brainstorm and come up with creative solutions.
Stage 5: Doing Something About It
Students put their plans into action and start working on solving the problem. They might carry out experiments, start projects, or try out their ideas in real life.
Stage 6: Thinking Back and Evaluating
After they’ve tried to solve the problem, students think about what they did and how it went. They decide if it worked well and what they could do better next time.
Stage 7: Sharing and Communicating
Finally, students tell others about what they found out and how they solved the problem. They might give presentations, write reports, or show their projects to other people who are interested.
In conclusion
Authentic learning connects what happens in class to real life. It helps students think, solve problems, and work with others, which are all really important skills. When students learn authentically, they not only learn facts but also become more confident in handling everyday situations. As teachers use authentic learning more, they help students become better at learning and ready to face whatever comes their way in the future.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,