London teacher Steve Revington understands the importance of real life learning. Over the last thirty years Revington has practiced and applied a learning approach known as authentic learning. Steve says “the more students are involved with complex activities that are relevant to them, the more the learning sticks”.
The London teacher started this method of teaching with the egg drop project. Students built capsules to protect a raw egg which were then dropped from three stories high. Revington says if students are properly connected, they are able to learn the curriculum much better.
Authentic learning allows students to obtain information over time, much better than cramming for a test. If students have a good experience from one practice, there will be many other learning branches that will come from the initial experience. Revington says, “it is important that we have to have something now that can work in the classroom, and move from the classroom out to the community”. The community at Emily Carr Public School, where Steve teaches, has been very supportive with the hands-on approach students must take to fulfill the complete learning experience.
Steve was one of the top 50 finalists for Varkey Gem Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize. Steve continues to devote his career to developing more methods for authentic learning.
