Active learning, instead of being a passive recipient of knowledge that is being transmitted to students, students actively build that knowledge by searching out sources, doing projects,and other kinds of activities. It creates deep understanding of students. They are partly responsible for their own learning and they take responsibility for that.
Authentic education is more child-centered, focusing on internalized understanding rather than formal repetition of the ‘right’ answers. But does it necessarily have the effect of changing a child’s life chances? Or is it at times overly ‘practical,’ accepting that unequal life chances are inevitable? Authentic education’s critics argue that, all too often, it does not fulfill the promise of education.