Can anyone give me some ideas (or links) for authentic learning activities?

Question

I find a lot of links telling what authentic learning is, but very few with examples that I can use. I want activities that can involve quite a few children at once (ages 9 -12) and that can be somewhat long term. Some that have worked well have been making a book, writing to a famous person, building a hut... I want some more (many more) ideas like that.

Answer 1

class government/senate

class bake sale/fundraiser

news report/fake tv station

class magazine/newspaper

play/talent show

Answer 2

I ran a year of "The Apprentice" with three teams competing as entrepreneurs.  We combined this with establishing an annual scholarship (that is where the earnings went).

I also helped our local MS beta club create and publish a book called "How to Survive Middle School."

You might consider a student run newspaper (see link).

If you teach science - I think it would be great to build and run your own bio-diesel processor.  It is actually not all that difficult, involves some chemicals, plumbing, tanks (old hot water heaters work well).  You could probably get all the used cooking oil you want from the cafeteria.  You could maybe set a goal of producing enough fuel to power a bus for a year.

I'll try to think of more...