to the learning, is essential for making students use skills such as high-level thinking,
collaborating and problem solving in the classroom. Further, the relevance of the
instruction to the student’s lives is critical for Net-Gen students.
Because PBL is very time consuming for daily practice, embedding some
elements such as simulations, problem solving tasks and collaboration were techniques
that were demonstrated in the 9th grade social studies class. Teacher 2 demonstrated an
understanding of authentic learning by relating the learning to the students’ lives by
asking them to assume the role of a business owner in order to understand economic
upheaval during the Great Depression. In addition to assuming the role of economists and
business owners in the social studies activity, students were in groups with specific roles.
They were asked to work together to support and justify their positions in how they
would tackle the particular task they were given while examining primary source
materials. These high level thinking objectives are integral in an authentic learning
activity as the objectives charge students to exchange ideas about real world problems in
order to come up with a legitimate solution. Teacher 2 briefly mentioned in the interview
how social studies can lend to making connections to the learning.
Teacher 3 connected the math class to areas that would be of interest to students.
He gave the 12 th grade students the example of buying their first car and calculating
compounded interest. Although, this was the only component of PBL in the lesson, it
still showed the researcher that the teacher understood the importance of relating the
content to students’ lives and incorporated it where or when possible.