Active learning is any approach to instruction in which all
students are asked to engage the material they study through
writing, talking, listening, problem solving, or reflecting.
Active learning stands in contrast to "traditional" modes of
instruction in which instructors do most of the talking and
students are passive recipients.
(https://cei.umn.edu/active-learning).
Bonwell & Elison define active learning as ‘anything that
involves students in doing things and thinking about the things
they are doing’ (1991, p. 2). In other words, for learning to be
active,learners not only need to do something but also need to
reflect on what they are doing.
(https://www.unmc.edu/tpt/_documents/active-learning-definitions.pdf).
Authentic activities have real world relevance, [...]are
ill-defined, requiring students to define the tasks and sub-tasks
needed to complete the activity, [...] comprise complex
tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained
period of time, [...] provide the opportunity for students to
examine thetask from different perspectives, using a variety of
resources, [...] provide the opportunity to collaborate,
[...]provide the opportunity to reflect, [...] can be integrated
and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain
specific outcomes, [...] are seamlessly integrated with
assessment, [...] create polished products valuable intheir own
right rather than as preparation for something else,[...] allow
competing solutions and diversity of outcome. [Herrington et al,
2003: 60-61].
I think active learning and authentic learning are part of the
same educational methodology. Active learning is a method while
authentic learning is one of the ways to decline it.
