ABSTRACT
Classrooms are places where great ideas are often introduced, ideas that have changed the world. This happens all the time when great literature, scientific discoveries, profound mathematical ideas, and great feats of exploration are taught to students. The purpose of the Authentic Applications strategy is to challenge you and your students to become involved in ways that transform the curriculum from one of potential energy to one of applied, functioning energy. Students in science classes often put together displays of scientific information, including diagrams, photographs, puzzles, models, experiments, posters. Philosopher and academic leader Robert Maynard Hutchins, who served for many years as the Chancellor of the University of Chicago, an elite academic school, once remarked that the reason students like the extracurricular activities so much is because the curriculum is so stupid. He contrasted this with the sterile, unappealing atmosphere of most classroom academic environments.
