Authentic Learning in the Digital Age

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 secondary school that offers a rigorous university-preparation curriculum and boasts a 99 per cent 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 years and secondary school teachers – individually or as a team – can use it to structure whatever content and skills their current school 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 for a new era.