This book offers teaching strategies that allow educators to provide students with authentic learning experiences that they can apply to their lives in school—and beyond. Beginning with a justification for authentic learning and how it teaches 21st-century skills, each subsequent chapter discusses a specific strategy and how it allows for authenticity. Strategies include project-based learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and simulations. The book also includes a section on the role of the authentic teacher in the classroom and tips for managing an authentic classroom. The book concludes with specific tactics that can be used inside and outside the classroom to bring the real world to students.

Learn how to implement a real-world approach to project-based learning. Authentic learning experiences are created around genuine, outside audiences and meaningful purposes. They meet the Common Core, engage students in critical thinking and 21st Century learning, teach important skills such as research and collaboration, and improve student learning. This practical guide provides step-by-step instructions to make it easy for teachers to create their own authentic learning experiences. The book is loaded with a variety of examples from different grade levels and content areas. Bonus! Each example incorporates technology and addresses the Common Core State Standards.

"This book is made up of a collection of peer-reviewed chapters that reflect the construct of authentic learning--learning that is centred on rich, real-world, immersive and engaging tasks"--Provided by publisher.

How can you create an authentic learning environment—one where students ask questions, do research, and explore subjects that fascinate them—in today’s standards-driven atmosphere? Author Larissa Pahomov offers insightful answers based on her experience as a classroom teacher at the Science Leadership Academy—a public high school in Philadelphia that offers a rigorous college-prep curriculum and boasts a 99 percent graduation rate. Pahomov outlines a framework for learning structured around five core values: inquiry, research collaboration, presentation and reflection. For each value, she presents: * A detailed description of how the value can transform classroom practice and how a “digital connection” can enhance its application. * A step-by-step outline for how to implement the value, with examples from teachers in all subject areas. * Solutions to possible challenges and roadblocks that teachers may experience. * Suggestions for how to expand the value beyond the classroom to schoolwide practice.* Anecdotes from students, offering their perspectives on how they experienced the value in the classroom and after graduation. The framework is a guide, not a prescription, and middle and high school teachers—individually or as a team—can use it to structure whatever content and skills their current school or district requires. The book also includes suggestions for how to integrate technology into inquiry-based education, but the principles and approaches it describes can be applied successfully even in places without abundant technology. Both practical and inspiring, Authentic Learning in the Digital Age is an indispensable handbook for reinvigorating teaching and learning in a new era.

"Place: it's where we're from; it's where we're going. . . . It asks for our attention and care. If we pay attention, place has much to teach us." With this belief as a foundation, The Power of Place offers a comprehensive and compelling case for making communities the locus of learning for students of all ages and backgrounds. Dispelling the notion that place-based education is an approach limited to those who can afford it, the authors describe how schools in diverse contexts—urban and rural, public and private—have adopted place-based programs as a way to better engage students and attain three important goals of education: student agency, equity, and community. This book identifies six defining principles of place-based education. Namely, it 1. Embeds learning everywhere and views the community as a classroom. 2. Is centered on individual learners. 3. Is inquiry based to help students develop an understanding of their place in the world. 4. Incorporates local and global thinking and investigations. 5. Requires design thinking to find solutions to authentic problems. 6. Is interdisciplinary. For each principle, the authors share stories of students whose lives were transformed by their experiences in place-based programs, elaborate on what the principle means, demonstrate what it looks like in practice by presenting case studies from schools throughout the United States, and offer action steps for implementation. Aimed at educators from preK through high school, The Power of Place is a definitive guide to developing programs that will lead to successful outcomes for students, more fulfilling careers for teachers, and lasting benefits for communities.

An accessible resource to develop authentic learning and teaching in higher education, this book challenges conventional teaching practice and presents meaningful and impactful alternatives across disciplines that are research informed, student-centred and achievable. Bringing together a wide range of contemporary examples, this essential text shows how academics from an increasing range of disciplines and fields have shifted their attention away from the restrictions of campus-based education. Using engaging case study material, underpinned by cutting edge research, the text shares innovations from over 50 different institutions, offers practical advice on how to facilitate authentic learning in real world contexts and examines the range of alternative assessment techniques available to the contemporary teacher. A Handbook for Authentic Learning in Higher Education is ideal reading for early career academics exploring approaches to learning, established academics searching for practical guides to emergent pedagogies and all those responsible for leading teaching and learning practices within their department or institution.

Your single-best way to nurture higher-order thinkingThere′s no doubt about it: the Common Core has us scrambling. With all the pressure to accelerate instruction, how can we possibly find the time to encourage students to do some serious thinking? For Laura Thomas, the answer couldn′t be clearer: through constructivist, experiential teaching methods. In fact, constructivist teaching is the single-best way to nurture the higher-order thinking so central to the Common Core.Fusing the practical with the theoretical, Thomas offers a clear path for facilitating real understanding and real skill-building within a community of learners. Grade 6-12 teachers will learn how to: Plan learning experiences that teach content and process at the same time Assess students′ development of 21st-century skills Coach students to do the hard work of authentic learning--without leaving them to flounder Teach reflection techniques that help students process their experiences and learn from mistakes. Featuring easy-to-follow graphics, sample lessons, and tools from practicing teachers, Facilitating Authentic Learning is an immediately practical resource that both beginning and veteran teachers can put to work in their classrooms. "This is a valuable book for educators, especially as we strive to help our students move from being receivers of knowledge to owners of their learning. Teachers need to develop strategies to be effective guides for our students, and to facilitate their progress toward educational goals."--Norma Barber, Language Arts TeacherUkiah School District, OR "I LOVE this book! It provides step-by-step instructions for making a classroom student-centered and led by a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage. The author′s real-world examples and reader-friendly writing style make this book a winner!"--Nancy Foote, Teacher/AdministratorHigley Unified School District, AZ