What is authentic practice and why does it matter?

What is authentic practice and why does it matter?

One term that educators use a lot is the term “authentic practice”. On the surface it may seem like educational jargon, however knowing what authentic practice is, or “authentic learning” as it is more widely known in educational circles is essential for providing the best educational methods for teaching students the literacy and numeracy aspects of a specific subject.

            First of all, what is authentic practice? Put simply, it is learning focused on real-world problems and practical activities. It is real life learning that encourages students to find tangible and practical solutions to challenges the educator provides. For historical context, the focus on authentic practice in modern schools as a response to the shortcomings of teaching styles in the previous centuries, which over emphasized rote learning, with a student taking notes and simply regurgitating information related to the subject (Lombardi, 2007).

            Teachers can use authentic practice to teach the literacy and numeracy aspects of a specific subject by finding practical activities centered in real-life contexts related to teaching the specific topic that stimulate the student’s senses (Herrington & Oliver 2000) . Consider this example of using authentic practice to teach the literacy and numeracy aspect of a specific subject: An English class is learning the Shakespearian classic “The merchant of Venice”. The English teacher in this case wants to teach how the English language has evolved since Shakespearian times (literary aspect), while at the same time, the teacher also wants to teach the class how mercantile trading worked during those times to provide some context on what is happening in the story from an economic viewpoint (numeracy aspect). A solution to teaching the literary aspect using authentic practice might be for the teacher to set up a task where the students act a scene from “The merchant of Venice” using modernized language to understand how English has evolved. On the other hand, a task that involved the class simulating mercantile transactions in renaissance Venice using monopoly money would be an example of using authentic practice to teach the numeracy aspect in this English class.      

            In summary, we can see that authentic practice means finding practical and real-life ways of engaging students to provide better engagement and learning outcomes. Additionally, contemporary educators can find ways to incorporate authentic practice to teach the literacy and numeracy aspects of specific subjects by implementing creative practical exercises. Authentic practice can be a useful tool for educators to improve their student’s learning experience (Fig. 3).

           

Figure 4. Students involved in authentic practice. Reprinted from Royal society of Chemistry. Retrieved from https://eic.rsc.org/cpd/laboratory-skills/2500137.article