the activity involves real-world problems that mimic the work of professionals in the discipline with presentation of findings to audiences beyond the classroom.
open-ended inquiry, thinking skills, and metacognition (awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.) are addressed.
students engage in discourse and social learning in a community of learners.
students are empowered through choice to direct their own learning in relevant project work.
Source: Editorial: The Components of Authentic Learning, Audrey C. Rule, 2006
Scoring Guides/Rubric: A scoring scale used to assess student performance along a task-specific set of criteria. A list of required elements are grouped together to make the scoring guide with point specific designations.
Portfolio/E-Portfolio: A collection of a student's work specifically selected to highlight achievements or demonstrate improvement over time (e-portfolio is electronic and usually accessible on the Internet).
Authentic Task: An assignment given to students designed to assess their ability to apply standard-driven knowledge and skills to real-world challenges.
Self-Assessment: Evaluating one's own performance to determine stregth and weaknesses and reflecting on what improvements can be made to enhance product
Oral Interviews: Teacher asks student questions about personal background, activities, readings, and other interests.
Story or Text Retelling: Student retells main ideas or selected details of text experienced through listening or reading.
Writing Samples: Student generates narrative, expository, persuasive, or reference paper.
Projects/Exhibitions: Student works with other students as a team to create a project that often involves multimedia production, oral and written presentations, and a display.
Experiments/Demonstrations: Student documents a series of experiments, illustrates a procedure, performs the necessary steps to complete a task, and documents the results of the actions.
Constructed-Response Items: Student responds in writing to open-ended questions.
Teacher Observations: Teacher observes and documents the students attention and interaction in class, response to instructional materials, and cooperative work with other students.