Week 2: AIW, the Digital Use Divide, and Kolb

 Part 1: AIW

Authentic Intellectual Work focuses on learning opportunities that are complex and personally meaningful, where students produce artifacts that are the result of “disciplined inquiry” (Newmann, et. al., 2007, p. 3). AIW focuses on students constructing knowledge to solve real-world problems rather than on learning discrete skills developed without any contextual relevance. These are the major components of AIW: construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and production of artifacts with applications beyond school (Newmann et. al, 2007). Applications of this type of authentic work are supported by empirical research. The most remarkable result showed significant gains on standardized exams for students in high authentic pedagogy classes versus those in low authentic pedagogy classes (Newmann et. al, 2007, Chapter 2). This result is significant particularly because it directly disputes arguments that, in order for students to make appropriate gains on standardized, high-stakes testing, they must be focused on learning those discrete skills. The Newmann study also showed that authentic instruction closes the achievement gap regardless of race, class, or gender. As closing the achievement gap seems to be a constantly beating drum in the education world, this finding is also significant. 

One authentic learning experience for a 7th grade math class involves creating a scaled floor plan at the conclusion of a unit on Scale Drawings. To introduce the activity, I typically show a Friends meme of the infamous “Pivot” scene with the friends attempting to move a couch up a staircase. We discuss the fact that Ross didn’t measure the couch and stair case and create a scale drawing. Then, students are asked to create a scale floor plan of their classroom or a room in their homes. They need to decide on the measurements to take, plan how to measure, and carry out the plan. Next, they decide on a scale and create a drawing of their floor plan. Finally, using presentation software of their choice, they display their work along with an explanation of the process they used. Next, they discuss and compare floor plans with their peers and collaboratively evaluate decisions they made (Illustrative Mathematics, 2019). 

Part 2: Digital Use Divide

This floor plan activity and its culminating presentation is an example of the active use of technology as described in The National Education Technology Plan. In the section of the plan devoted to the digital use divide, the NETP focuses on the “disparity” between students who are actively engaged in technology usage and those who are passively consuming media (Office of Educational Technology [OET], 2024). The plan acknowledges that, in order to empower learners, an active approach to technology use must be central to the integration plan (OET, 2024). The active use of technology engages students in critical thinking that results in the construction of knowledge that they can use far beyond the classroom. Much like the AIW central concepts of knowledge construction, disciplined inquiry, and the production of artifacts with applications beyond school, NETP’s active use of technology encourages learners to take ownership of their learning and provides a basis for acquisition of transferable skills (Newmann et. al, 2007; OET, 2024). One Atlanta school focused on problem-based learning equipped students to solve an issue with bugs eating the produce from a community garden. Using a design process, students selected technologies to help them build houses that brought more bug-eating bats to the garden to protect the produce (OET, 2024).

This active use of technology allowed students to solve a real-world problem and make an important contribution to their community. The school was able to bridge the digital use divide and empower students with authentic intellectual work (OET, 2024).  

Part 3: AIW and Triple E’s

It is easy to recognize Kolb’s Triple E framework in the work that the Atlanta school children did as they constructed bat houses. They were engaged with a motivating task to help their community solve a very real problem. In doing so, they were active, social learners, collectively researching, designing, and creating a solution (Kolb, 2020). The technology enhanced the students’ creativity, first in devising a strategy to solve the bug problem through research and then in providing support as they worked to build the best possible draw to bring bats to the garden. The work that the students did was a clear extension, allowing them to solve an important community problem while learning additional skills like “gardening, composting, nutrition, wellness, and sustainability” (OET, 2024, p. 26).

References

Illustrative Mathematics. (2019). Lesson 13: Draw it to scale. Kendall Hunt. https://im.kendallhunt.com/MS/teachers/2/1/13/index.html

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2025). ISTE Standards for students. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students

Kolb, L. (2020). Triple E Framework. https://www.tripleeframework.com/

Newmann, F. M., King, M. B., & Carmichael, D. L. (2007). Authentic instruction and assessment: Common standards for rigor and relevance in teaching academic subjects. Iowa Department of Education. http://psdsped.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/67042713/Authentic-Instruction-Assessment-BlueBook.pdf. 

Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education. (2024). A call to action for closing the digital access, design, and use divides: 2024 National Educational Technology Plan. U.S. Department of Education. https://tech.ed.gov/netp/