Definition of Student-Centered Learning

   Authentic learning based on student interests that empowers and engages them in making connections through active learning.

Social Studies Scenario

     After a discussion of different types of sources of historical evidence (i.e. archaeology, oral history, letters, diaries, etc.) students will be asked how we know what we know, how we learn about history.  Students will look at the roles of different sources of information that historians use.  They will also consider the role that bias may play and why it's important to consider bias, whether intentional or unintentional.  Students could be placed into groups via types of historical evidence and investigate how those sources are used to create an understanding of the past as well as any bias that could be involved in that specific type of evidence.  Students could then present their findings in a presentation of choice - video, podcast, oral presentation, etc.

Here are some more random thoughts:

Big idea:  Historians must use multiple sources of information to develop a complete picture of the past because limited sources can be incomplete and/or biased.

Hook:  Fable of the Blind Men & the Elephant

Also use the Motel of the Mysteries - photo analysis and then story to look at how historians might make mistakes.

What if there were an incident or way of life or culture that occurred sometime in history…an example could be "a teenager"

                There are written reflections

                There are oral interviews

                There are photos/videos of the incident

                There are artifacts remaining

Students would be divided into groups, each group would  analyze a type of evidence.

There’s a wiki that students work on as their groups move forward in their work.

Each group will present (medium of their choice) their findings from the specific event.

Whole class will be asked to (individually or group) make sense of all these different forms of data to figure out what happened.

Now, how to make this authentic????  Topic that relates???

How will students see this as meaningful to them?  What will hook them? What makes it authentic to these individual students... how does it connect to their lives? What choices do students have in this unit?  Who will their audience be... to whom will they present?  How is the project or inquiry based? I like the ideas here but it seems to me that the unit needs an anchor... a greater purpose... that students can connect to. Can you come up with an idea that has them research historical evidence around a specific topic that may beof interest to them because of where they live?

I don't expect you to answer the questions above... just ponder them.

Science Scenario:

9th Grade Earth Science Scenario

In this unit the students will study the Eath's past in an effort to help them understand the modern and future Earth.  The students have previously covered topics on plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, weather , atmosphere, as well as a unit describing what science is.  The essential question is "How do we know what really happened in the past?" In this unit the students will be using the skills they have learned to gather, organize, and create data that will lead them to an understanding what the Earth was like in the past, how they know it, and how that information is relevant today. Using texts, worksheets ,computer simulations, rock collections, laboratory activities, and video the student will learn about fossils, relative and absolute dating,  and rock correlation.  During this portion of the course the students will be moving in and out of groups; some  assigned based on  formative assessment of student skills and knowledge other created by self selection. 

Is there a hook that ties this directly to student's lives today? How will this empower your students? How will you individualize and allow for different learning styles? How will you differentiate?  Is therea way to make this more"project-based?"

You don't need to answer these questions... just think about them.

Podcasts:  Authentic Learning

Tom:  What is it

Linda: Technology and Authentic Learning

Jody:  Why it's effective and important

List of resources:

A project citizen newscast example of authentic learning:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=project%20citizen&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=com.google:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#q=project%20citizen&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=com.google%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv&start=20