What do you think?
Rate this book
Authentic Learning in the Digital Age: Engaging Students Through Inquiry
Get the inside story of how a renowned school—the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia—creates an authentic learning environment where students ask questions, do research, and explore subjects that fascinate them. Author and classroom teacher Larissa Pahomov takes the work of 25 teachers and 500 students and distills their ideas, passions, systems, and structures into a framework you can learn from and implement in your school. Discover how you can
•Create an authentic learning environment in today's standards-driven atmosphere.
•Implement a personalized, inquiry-based education in a typical secondary classroom.
•Use a solid but open structure to guide curriculum and classroom design.
•Integrate technology into inquiry-based education.
Find out how a devotion to five core values—inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection—ensures students benefit from their education long after they’ve graduated.
•Create an authentic learning environment in today's standards-driven atmosphere.
•Implement a personalized, inquiry-based education in a typical secondary classroom.
•Use a solid but open structure to guide curriculum and classroom design.
•Integrate technology into inquiry-based education.
Find out how a devotion to five core values—inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection—ensures students benefit from their education long after they’ve graduated.
195 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
8 people are currently reading
145 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 2, 2015
This is useful resource for middle school and high school teachers who are presently transitioning to incorporating more technology in their instruction and student work. It is set up as a guide to use as a reference; however, one can read it from cover to cover. Advice regarding to "make the shift" when trying new ideas is included throughout the book.
June 8, 2015
There were some helpful ideas here and there--especially in the appendices, but much of the material presented here is already what I have received in school/district PD sessions. I was looking for more.
July 25, 2015
It was not earth shattering but an okay book about a staff who is able to accomplish great things by collaboration and working together. I get the feeling that he writer is a glass half full person because I have never worked with a staff that works together so seamlessly.
March 19, 2015
Read this in one sitting. Good information that I've read in multiple other places. Does a good job organizing the information and providing real world examples.
January 25, 2016
In Authentic Learning in the Digital Age, Larissa Pahomov draws upon her experiences with an innovative school in Philadelphia called the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) to illustrate and explain a framework for “… implementing a personalized, inquiry-based education in a typical secondary school.” (2) She also provides strategies for the effective integration of technology.
Each chapter of the book explores one of the 5 core values of this framework. There is a question and answer section, called Roadblocks and Work-arounds, near the end of each chapter with advice on how to overcome challenges associated with implementing the core value.
She begins by hi-lighting some positive features of technology:
• a tonic for the “monotony of memorization”; (5)
• provides authentic learning and engagement in and beyond the classroom;
• democratizes learning by allowing personalization and providing communication among all
students; “Suddenly the teacher is just another commenter on the [online] discussion thread.”
(7);
• allows students to both bring in and reach out to the world; and,
• eases teacher workload by providing timesavers such as online calendars and means such as
Google docs for providing feedback.
The focus of Chapter 2 is the first core value – authentic inquiry-based instruction, which is characterized by choice, personalization, and relevance. The author cautions that choice shouldn’t mean that every student has his/her own adventure; instead, it means that the learning opportunities should honour student preferences as much as possible. As well, she qualifies relevance as follows: “Relevant does not have to mean ‘cutting edge’ or even ‘contemporary’ … [just] relevant to [students] personally.” (23)
The components of authentic classroom inquiry include:
• Identify open-ended higher level questions that don’t have specific factual answers;
• Identify learning goals;
• Build a flexible assessment framework, including both formative strategies, such as checklists
and check-ins and rubrics for summative evaluation; and,
• Model inquiry every day.
In the Roadblocks and Work-arounds section of Chapter 2, the author cautions that inquiry isn’t authentic if the inquiry is some version of “guess what’s in the teacher’s brain”. (34) To avoid this scenario, students should construct their own questions, and the teacher should be comfortable with a certain level of unpredictability in the process.
The second core value is student research that allows for autonomy, activity, and metacognition. Student research is active when students go beyond Google to look for uncollected content – that is, material, like primary sources, that has not been indexed. (44) It is also an active process when students conduct their own surveys, interviews, or labs. According to Pahomov, “A good line of inquiry is un-Googleable.” (49)
Teachers should permit students to choose their own research material; however, teachers should anticipate some of the resources the students will require and provide them with sources of knowledge (ie. periodicals and online research data bases). Teachers should also provide exemplars of good research projects. Most important of all, they should assist students in learning how to assess the credibility of information – especially information found on internet sources such as Wikipedia. The author writes: “Students need a crash course in how Internet search engines work. Algorithms, predictive search fields, and user histories all need to be exposed and explored.” (58)
Chapter 4 explores collaboration – the 3rd core value in the framework. To be successful, student collaboration should be documented (assessed), asynchronous, and classroom-based. With respect to the second characteristic, Pahomov states, “Good collaboration involves work done separately as well as together.” (66) The key to asynchronous collaboration is an anchor document, “which outlines the requirements for the project as well as the expectations and roles of each of the group members.” (67)
Effective collaboration can be achieved by the teacher modeling it every day. Daily collaborative strategies include turn and talk and peer editing. Teachers need to teach collaboration skills by describing the specific roles students will assume in the process and by providing them with success criteria for and exemplars of working together. As well, “a level of scaffolding commensurate with the students’ own comfort level with group work” (73) is key. As much as possible, students should work through group dynamics problems and disputes on their own, but the teacher should provide guidance when required.
Presentations, the 4th core value, should be flexible, shareable, and interactive. Students will gain greater confidence if they can choose the presentation medium. Their presentations should be shared beyond the classroom, since a larger audience will motivate them to produce quality products. “By setting up a common landing page for finished work, students can ‘tour’ projects online.” (87) Peer assessment adds a greater degree of interactivity.
Clear success criteria need to be established for an exemplary product. Encouraging students to enter their presentations in contests or competitions is a great way to add authenticity to the learning process. They will receive useful feedback. For students reticent to share with large audiences, teachers can begin with strategies such as Think, Pair, Share, which require sharing with very small groups. Two work-arounds are suggested to prevent students from spending too much time on the format of the presentation to the detriment of its content:
• Front-load the technical skills;
• Have students draft, edit, and revise their content before transferring the work to its final
medium. (103)
The final value is reflection, which should be metacognitive, applicable, and shared to be meaningful. The author notes that “by sharing their reflections on their academic work, students can both advise and seek help from their peers.” (113)
Reflection should occur throughout the learning process, not just at the end of a unit or after a test. Students will engage in more authentic reflection on their work and better see the value in reflection if teachers provide them with qualitative feedback before grading their work. Peer reflection should be integrated with teacher reflection on a student’s work. The author recommends gallery walks as an effective peer-reflection activity. Her final suggestion on reflection is that teachers should use “a consistent set of questions or prompts for students’ reflections [on their work], asking them to respond to the rubric criteria.” (121)
In the final chapter, the author identifies 5 practices and policies that are part of the school culture at SLA that support its successful inquiry-based model of learning:
• A common language, focused on the five core values, for all learning opportunities, assessment
rubrics, and school rules;
• An open door climate, which is reflected by teachers posting units online and a welcoming
approach to classroom visitors;
• Outside partnerships for all students, including internships with institutions which provide
personalized experiential learning;
• A lengthy student advisory period twice a week that builds strong teacher-student and
student-to-student relationships over the course of the 4-year program; and,
• A first days approach that features a 2-week Summer Institute program for new students.
Authentic Learning in the Digital Age is marred by a few usage errors such as truer (109) and the awkward off of. (85 & 137) There is also an editing error on page 85 – the word took is used instead of look.
Despite the small blemishes, the book presents an excellent framework for learning in the digital age.
Each chapter of the book explores one of the 5 core values of this framework. There is a question and answer section, called Roadblocks and Work-arounds, near the end of each chapter with advice on how to overcome challenges associated with implementing the core value.
She begins by hi-lighting some positive features of technology:
• a tonic for the “monotony of memorization”; (5)
• provides authentic learning and engagement in and beyond the classroom;
• democratizes learning by allowing personalization and providing communication among all
students; “Suddenly the teacher is just another commenter on the [online] discussion thread.”
(7);
• allows students to both bring in and reach out to the world; and,
• eases teacher workload by providing timesavers such as online calendars and means such as
Google docs for providing feedback.
The focus of Chapter 2 is the first core value – authentic inquiry-based instruction, which is characterized by choice, personalization, and relevance. The author cautions that choice shouldn’t mean that every student has his/her own adventure; instead, it means that the learning opportunities should honour student preferences as much as possible. As well, she qualifies relevance as follows: “Relevant does not have to mean ‘cutting edge’ or even ‘contemporary’ … [just] relevant to [students] personally.” (23)
The components of authentic classroom inquiry include:
• Identify open-ended higher level questions that don’t have specific factual answers;
• Identify learning goals;
• Build a flexible assessment framework, including both formative strategies, such as checklists
and check-ins and rubrics for summative evaluation; and,
• Model inquiry every day.
In the Roadblocks and Work-arounds section of Chapter 2, the author cautions that inquiry isn’t authentic if the inquiry is some version of “guess what’s in the teacher’s brain”. (34) To avoid this scenario, students should construct their own questions, and the teacher should be comfortable with a certain level of unpredictability in the process.
The second core value is student research that allows for autonomy, activity, and metacognition. Student research is active when students go beyond Google to look for uncollected content – that is, material, like primary sources, that has not been indexed. (44) It is also an active process when students conduct their own surveys, interviews, or labs. According to Pahomov, “A good line of inquiry is un-Googleable.” (49)
Teachers should permit students to choose their own research material; however, teachers should anticipate some of the resources the students will require and provide them with sources of knowledge (ie. periodicals and online research data bases). Teachers should also provide exemplars of good research projects. Most important of all, they should assist students in learning how to assess the credibility of information – especially information found on internet sources such as Wikipedia. The author writes: “Students need a crash course in how Internet search engines work. Algorithms, predictive search fields, and user histories all need to be exposed and explored.” (58)
Chapter 4 explores collaboration – the 3rd core value in the framework. To be successful, student collaboration should be documented (assessed), asynchronous, and classroom-based. With respect to the second characteristic, Pahomov states, “Good collaboration involves work done separately as well as together.” (66) The key to asynchronous collaboration is an anchor document, “which outlines the requirements for the project as well as the expectations and roles of each of the group members.” (67)
Effective collaboration can be achieved by the teacher modeling it every day. Daily collaborative strategies include turn and talk and peer editing. Teachers need to teach collaboration skills by describing the specific roles students will assume in the process and by providing them with success criteria for and exemplars of working together. As well, “a level of scaffolding commensurate with the students’ own comfort level with group work” (73) is key. As much as possible, students should work through group dynamics problems and disputes on their own, but the teacher should provide guidance when required.
Presentations, the 4th core value, should be flexible, shareable, and interactive. Students will gain greater confidence if they can choose the presentation medium. Their presentations should be shared beyond the classroom, since a larger audience will motivate them to produce quality products. “By setting up a common landing page for finished work, students can ‘tour’ projects online.” (87) Peer assessment adds a greater degree of interactivity.
Clear success criteria need to be established for an exemplary product. Encouraging students to enter their presentations in contests or competitions is a great way to add authenticity to the learning process. They will receive useful feedback. For students reticent to share with large audiences, teachers can begin with strategies such as Think, Pair, Share, which require sharing with very small groups. Two work-arounds are suggested to prevent students from spending too much time on the format of the presentation to the detriment of its content:
• Front-load the technical skills;
• Have students draft, edit, and revise their content before transferring the work to its final
medium. (103)
The final value is reflection, which should be metacognitive, applicable, and shared to be meaningful. The author notes that “by sharing their reflections on their academic work, students can both advise and seek help from their peers.” (113)
Reflection should occur throughout the learning process, not just at the end of a unit or after a test. Students will engage in more authentic reflection on their work and better see the value in reflection if teachers provide them with qualitative feedback before grading their work. Peer reflection should be integrated with teacher reflection on a student’s work. The author recommends gallery walks as an effective peer-reflection activity. Her final suggestion on reflection is that teachers should use “a consistent set of questions or prompts for students’ reflections [on their work], asking them to respond to the rubric criteria.” (121)
In the final chapter, the author identifies 5 practices and policies that are part of the school culture at SLA that support its successful inquiry-based model of learning:
• A common language, focused on the five core values, for all learning opportunities, assessment
rubrics, and school rules;
• An open door climate, which is reflected by teachers posting units online and a welcoming
approach to classroom visitors;
• Outside partnerships for all students, including internships with institutions which provide
personalized experiential learning;
• A lengthy student advisory period twice a week that builds strong teacher-student and
student-to-student relationships over the course of the 4-year program; and,
• A first days approach that features a 2-week Summer Institute program for new students.
Authentic Learning in the Digital Age is marred by a few usage errors such as truer (109) and the awkward off of. (85 & 137) There is also an editing error on page 85 – the word took is used instead of look.
Despite the small blemishes, the book presents an excellent framework for learning in the digital age.
June 30, 2020
This is a particularly useful resource for middle and high school teachers. In short, it offers a framework and strategies, along with potential challenges and solutions, to do more inquiry-based learning within the classroom to make learning more student centered. I found it particularly useful That at the end of framework criteria, or characteristics of different stages of inquiry, there are a series of questions and prompts to encourage you in identifying how to apply this in your own classroom. It was very helpful that it didn’t offer a one size fits all approach, nor did it rely heavily on anecdotal evidence to explain their principles and core values. I identified a lot of ways where I can improve or refine my existing practices to be more intentional with this. This is a very wonderful book for preparing for/considering whatever is to come with/after COVID-19.
December 15, 2019
Great book on implementing effective project-based, collaborative, engaging practices that work through inquiry and intentionally-structured, student-led groups and projects. I would highly recommend this book to anyone getting into project-based and STEAM learning
June 5, 2025
Grabbed this as tech issues are on the rise in my classroom and was looking for ideas. This was great in advice on how to switch to a stronger inquiry model of teaching. Bonus was their ideas on tech use and “policing”. Can’t wait to implement!
April 21, 2019
Overall a good book about the SLA in Philadelphia. It read kind of like a memoir.
July 1, 2020
It wasn't game changing - I knew about a lot of the ideas. But, it was a good read for my school's summer book club.
July 13, 2016
Huzzah! I finally finished reading this. I found reading it by chapters and letting it settle on brain did more good than trying to whiz straight through.
I really like the technology appendix for how the school set up rules for its one-to-one devices. They make a lot of sense. I also liked the ideas for advisory, reflection, and sharing projects.
As a middle school teacher, though, I didn't always enjoy how all the ideas were geared towards high school. I can take and modify down, but it took me awhile to realize the information was from a school with grades 9-12 instead of 6-12.
I really like the technology appendix for how the school set up rules for its one-to-one devices. They make a lot of sense. I also liked the ideas for advisory, reflection, and sharing projects.
As a middle school teacher, though, I didn't always enjoy how all the ideas were geared towards high school. I can take and modify down, but it took me awhile to realize the information was from a school with grades 9-12 instead of 6-12.
July 7, 2016
I think this book does an excellent job of moving from the basics on inquiry to more depth to illustrate the workings of a true inquiry classroom below the surface. The digital connections in each chapter offer some real-world ideas by teachers even if a school like mine is not 1:1. Finally, the appendix provides some key essential question starters and I especially like the group contract, which is something I struggle with in my classroom.
November 9, 2014
Nice articulation of the SLA School's philosophy of research based inquiry and exposition.
Read
December 12, 2014371.3 P141 2014
July 5, 2016
I found the feedback and project chapter helpful in reflecting on my teaching practices and concrete ways to make changes to my teaching approaches for next year.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews