Authentic Intellectual Work

 Authentic Intellectual work is essentially engaging students in their own learning. That is, instead of telling them about a subject or experience, we let them experience it for themselves. We know that human beings of all ages learn best when we get to interact with what we are learning. Once we get to experience something, it has a much deeper meaning to us than if someone simply tells us about it. Traditionally in classrooms, students are receiving information, maybe providing commentary or feedback, but not experiencing it on their own. We tell them about plants and butterflies, we show them pictures, but that is nothing compared to the learning experience they receive when we give them a net, let them catch a butterfly, and observe it for themselves. 

According to Authentic Instruction and Assessment, "Combining results from several studies, research indicated that students who experienced higher levels of instruction and assessment that promoted authentic intellectual work showed higher achievement than students who experienced lower levels of instruction and assessment aimed toward authentic intellectual work" (Newmann, King, & Carmichael, 2007). That is to say, that the research shows when we engage students in Authentic Intellectual work, they not only show impressive growth in their ability to create and think critically, but they also score higher on standardized and traditional assessments than students who do not receive this form of instruction. 

I would argue that this research indicates that when we teach students to think and create, we open doors to allow them to explore anything they want to learn. When they understand how to look past the worksheet right in front of them, we are showing them the value of curiosity and learning that will last a lifetime. 

As an early childhood educator, I see this every day. When students take ownership of their learning, when they start seeing numbers and words in their world, it becomes real for them and it makes learning so exciting. One of my favorite ways to implement Authentic Intellectual work with my students is in Science. As I mentioned above with butterflies, it is one of my favorite activities to study the life cycles of butterflies. We watch videos, look at pictures, draw butterflies, and discuss life cycles. Then, to the delight of my students we order caterpillars. We create a beautiful habitat and watch them go through each phase of their life cycle. Finally, when they emerge as beautiful butterflies, we release them into our school garden where we watch them and visit them often. Students get to learn about them and then they get to truly experience what we are learning making it real and meaningful to them. 

When we are considering the use of technology with early childhood students it is so critical that we use good discernment. I love the way that the Office of Educational Technology describes it. They discuss that for our early childhood students; technology shared with another person is the most engaging and meaningful (Office of Educational Technology, 2021). It is so important that we are using technology alongside our students and not simply using technology to instruct them. To continue my previous example, when we watch videos in science, we are pausing the video, asking for what students are observing, hearing their comments, pointing out things we want them to see. The goal of technology with our youngest students is always to follow the Kolb Triple E Framework. We must engage our students well. We should respect their attention spans and make sure that the screen-time we are giving is a valuable use of their time. Next we must enhance their learning experience. We should use the opportunity we have to give them a better experience than they could have without technology. For example, to keep with the butterfly theme, we can show them videos of butterflies from all around the world. Tours of places that they may never get to visit. Finally, we must help them to extend their learning to make it relevant to their own lives (Kolb, 2017).

References:

Kolb, L. (2017). Learning first, technology second: The educator’s guide to designing authentic lessons. International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Newmann, F. M., King, M. B., & Carmichael, D. L. (2007). Authentic instruction and assessment: Common standards for rigor and relevance in teaching academic subjects. Iowa Department of Education.

Office of Educational Technology. (2021). Early learning and educational technology policy brief. U.S. Department of Education.