AUTHENTICITY IN LEARNING - MULTIMEDIA DESIGN PROJECTS IN THE SOCIAL-STUDIES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Proponents of educational reform highlight the importance of creating instructional environments that encourage students' active involvement in the learning process; To be so involved, students with and without disabilities must construct knowledge, evaluate the products of their work, and engage in the design of solutions to authentic problems. We believe that these goals are especially important fur students with d isabilities, many of whom are passive learners who experience difficul ty with the flexible use of knowledge and skills. Our analysis of the research evidence leads us to conclude that students' thinking skills and attitudes are enhanced when they collaborate in the solution of au thentic problems. We view the social skills curriculum as a rich sourc e of authentic problems that affords opportunities to promote thinking by enabling argument about controversial issues. Further, we contend that educational multimedia are potentially powerful tools for constru cting knowledge, especially when used in collaborative project-based i nstructional environments, or multimedia design projects. We review ev idence about the efficacy of multimedia design projects in promoting s tudents' construction of knowledge, thinking, and problem solving, and discuss some potential challenges to the efficacy of this approach.