Week 2 Blog Assignment

      Authentic Intellectual Work: A Possible Connection with National Education Technology Plan

    Authentic Intellectual Work

    Authentic intellectual work goes beyond mere following facts and procedures but involves application of knowledge and skills. In contrast, traditional approaches involve memorizing, retrieving data and repetitive computation without much emphasis on higher order thinking and understanding concepts. Unfortunately, they do not prepare students for adult life where they are expected to apply the skills they learn in real life situations. The goal for authentic intellectual work would be to carefully investigate a specific problem resulting in a solution which would be a lesson learnt far outweighing academic achievement (Newmann et al., 2007). The components of authentic intellectual work are construction of knowledge through disciplined inquiry that would have meaning beyond success in school (Newmann et al., 2007).

Construction of Knowledge

Construction of knowledge involves higher order thinking, arranging, explaining, assessing and integrating prior knowledge to apply in new situations (Newmann et al., 2007).

Disciplined Inquiry

Disciplined inquiry has to follow construction of knowledge as the latter is incomplete in isolation. Intellectual achievements are a result of knowledge gained before, complex understanding of the same and elaborate communications (Newmann et al., 2007).

Value Beyond School

Value beyond school is not just a topic or activity which is interesting to a student but also involves intellectual challenges which when met would hold meaning to the student beyond satisfying the teachers requirements (Newmann et al., 2007).

According to the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) 1,000 High School Study, the gap in academic gains between socioeconomic status groups became lesser with high levels of authentic instruction (Newmann et al., 2007).

Example: Sixth grade students learning about convection as a form of heat transfer, see value beyond school when using the same principle while boiling water for pasta with a parent in the kitchen. In adulthood, they could be using the same principle as meteorologists when studying weather patterns, as HVAC technicians for air conditioning or as chefs using convection ovens etc. Learning about kinetic molecular theory and the principle of convection would be construction of knowledge. Experiencing convection first hand by boiling water for pasta (under adult supervision) demonstrates in depth understanding of the concept. The intellectual work holds value beyond school as the principle is relevant to them as a professional in adulthood.

National Education and Technology Plan 2024: According to the plan, Digital Use Divide is the difference between students using technology actively and those who are not. One of the recommendations in the NETP has a direct connection to authentic intellectual work. Building partnerships with local businesses etc., paves the way for students to have access to technologically abled hands on learning and work based experiences. Thus lending itself to value beyond school in the authentic intellectual work framework.

Example: Pendergast Elementary School District in Glendale, AZ has embraced a student centered project based learning culture. They have introduced FUSE studios, a STEAM platform relying on research to necessitate this goal. Students develop 21st century skills in FUSE as they have a choice of more than 30 leveled challenge sequences in areas such as 3D design and printing, digital animation and robotics (Ramey, K.E. et al., 2020). This clearly demonstrates disciplined inquiry following construction of knowledge and holding value beyond school for the students as the skills they learn could be utilized in their future pursuits of careers.

The above example also directly ties with Kolb's Triple E Framework. The students are fully engaged as they choose the activity they are interested in (Engagement). They use technology to explore, create and problem solve (Enhancement). It involves (Extension) as the students are using digital tools to learn skills which they can use in their everyday lives (Kolb, L. 2017).   

                                                                

                                                  

                                                                      References

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

Newmann, F. M., Carmichael, D. L., & King, M. B. (2015). Authentic intellectual work: Improving             Teaching for Rigorous Learning. Corwin Press.

Ramey, K. E., Stevens, R., & Uttal, D. H. (2020). In-FUSE-ing STEAM learning with spatial reasoning: Distributed spatial                   sensemaking in school-based making activities. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(3), 466–                               493. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000422

   U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, National Educational Technology             Plan, Washington, DC, 2024.