Tech Talk: How does authenticity drive a student's incentive to learn?

"Mommy, I just made a police car that looks like the real thing".  Children are always measuring their performance by what they perceive as real.  Reality for a child is often defined by what they experience outside the protective walls of their school or home.  Teachers frequently make clear connections between classroom activities and the real world.  Authentic experiences are happening all over our campus this week as our Integrated Technology class just submitted a series of Little Rock tourist sites to the 3D Warehouse awaiting Google Earth publication.  Their mentor in this process was professional Draftsman Jeffrey Hughey who has published 363 models on Google Earth.  Our upper school First Tech Challenge robotics team is “learning by doing” as they use science and technology to design and compete with an autonomous/RC robot in the “Ring It Up” global challenge.  While our lower and middle school First Lego League robotics team is also building an autonomous robot and inventing a way to improve the quality of living for seniors in this year’s challenge “Senior Solutions”.  Authentic learning thrives when students are engaged in self-guided challenges involving, role play, simulation, problem solving, competition, modeling, and mentoring.  How do you make your child’s learning authentic?  Please post comments.