Authentic Pedagogy

Authentic Pedagogy – Learning through the ‘real’

 

Would you rather read about beaches to learn or actually go to the beach and learn through exploring and experiencing? That’s a no brainer, who wouldn’t want to sit back and relax but in actuality you learn so much more through hands on activities.  

Authentic practice in education refers to the way teachers use a range of educational techniques and instructions to connect students’ curriculum into the real world. By connecting students’ learning into real world issues and application, students are more engaged, motivated, and are more eager to learn about concepts they genuinely find interest in. (Edglossary, 2013)               

Authentic practice involves:

•        Real-world experience that is found outside classroom environment
•        Self-direct learning
•        Hands on learning
•        Deep and meaningful discussions
•        Teacher as a facilitator, not authoritative instructor
•        Wide range of environments and methods
•        Students feeling like Christopher Columbus
•        Work being an activity rather than an assessment  

Characteristics of Authentic Learning (2007)

(Image retrieved from http://wonderteacher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Students-engaged-in-real-world-learning.jpg)

How can authentic practice be used to teach the literacy and numeracy aspects of specific learning areas?

In Science for instance, students are learning about plants. Rather than getting students to read about plants, teachers can get students to grow their own plant in various environments to see which is the ideal environment for plants to grow. In the experiment, students are given four seeds and clear containers to observe the growth.

-       Students are given a sheet of paper with instructions to follow.

•       Each container will have a seed and 2 containers will have fertilizers and the others without.
•        The two plants with fertilizers will be placed in a dark room and a room with sunlight. Steps are repeated for plants without fertilizers.
•       Students are to water the plants and record the amount of times the plants are watered and how much water is used through glass beakers.
•        Students measure each plants’ growth and plot the information on the graph daily for a x period of time.
•        Students then compare their results with their peers and discuss about their findings.
•        After observing the plants’ growth students write up lab reports of their finding and give possible explanations on the growth of their plants.

(Image retrieved from http://www.greatgrubclub.com/domains/greatgrubclub.com/local/media/images/medium/sunflower-step-1.jpg)

The above task is authentic because it involves hands on learning, the learning is self-guided and students can use this knowledge in the real world. Numeracy is built as students measure the height of each plant daily in which they then plot on the graph to later compare the growth rate and which environment is the best condition. Students also see the impact of fertilizers, amount of sunlight, water and make conclusions/hypothesis on why they think the plants reacted that way. Literacy skills is incorporated when through writing lab reports and is further reinforced when students collaboratively work with their peers to discuss their findings.