Yuntalay Gadson’s Updates
Update 4: Authentic Education and Entrepreneurship
After reviewing the videos and reading from this week, one example of authentic pedagogy and learning that came to my mind was an entrepreneurship program for high school students that I learned about a few years ago. A non-profit, mentoring organization in my city that I had the opportunity to work with integrated an entrepreneurship module in their curriculum to teach high school girls how to develop their business skills. The girls were placed and groups and developed a business based on their interest. They identified their product, developed their business plan, and sell their product. The director had a local business owner come to the educational sessions and assist the girls with their business plan. This learning activity is an example of the incorporating the principles of authentic learning to give students the opportunity to engage in authentic education. The students have the opportunity to explore their own interests by selling products that appeal to them and work together to develop their business and accomplish their goals. They are also given the opportunity to venture outside of the classroom and interact with others in the community. They are engaging in active learning and are acquiring knowledge and skills through hands-on learning and gain a deeper understanding of the information they are given. Overall, I think this approach to learning is a good companion to didactic pedagogy because there is some subjects that still require a didactic approach. Depending on the subject, students need to be given knowledge and information in a more traditional manner instead of acquiring that information from a hands-on approach. Below is an introductory video to Launch X, which is a summer entrepreneurship program for high school students which is a great example of authentic education.