Characteristics of Teacher-Centered Learning - Essay Example

A teacher of mine in this program once described traditional teaching methods in which the sat in well-ordered rows and the teacher stood and handed out papers as the "spray and pray" method. The teacher sprayed the material and prayed it stuck. If the students scored well on test, the teacher was successful. If assessments showed wide-ranging weaknesses in internalizing learning, this reflected poorly on the students, not the teacher nor her methods. Researchers have since discovered that the traditional teacher-centered approach to learning neglected many of the psychological theories which now impact the process of teaching and learning. Learner-centered learning environments are founded on the principal that learning is an active process. Learning is an interaction between the student and text, involving the activation of prior knowledge and relating new ideas to preexisting schemata. Based on this paradigm learner-centered environments engage the student both personally and intellectually and provide the best method for meeting the needs of all learners. Characteristics of Teacher-Centered Learning Goals In teacher-centered learning environments, the more traditional and widespread approach, the teacher is viewed as the focal point and leader of learning. The teacher is the authority, leaving the students in the passive role as receivers of knowledge, rather than active constructors of that knowledge. That knowledge is finite and discrete. Activities: Repetitive and static In teacher-centered learning the lessons are instructionally driven, leaving the students unengaged intellectually and emotionally. These traditional methods include memorization, completing worksheets, reading a text and answering predetermined questions - demonstrating knowledge of the "right" answer. In this form of learning there is limited activation of prior knowledge, and therefore students struggle to create personally significant meaning. This is because in teacher-centered learning the background, values and interests of the learner are nonexistent. The student is passively filled in with information, rather than engaged in his own learning process. Learning environments are controlled, organized and with an emphasis on independent seatwork. Lessons, classwork and homework are results-driven. This unresponsive and static approach also fails to meet the needs of special needs populations, because lesson goals and objectives are standardized, meaning students must adapt to the methods oftentimes with some students unable to engage the teacher's attention to meet their needs. Assessment One of the most significant challenges in teacher-centered learning is in assessment. Using traditional methods such as standardized tests rather than qualitative measures, teacher-centered learning places the emphasis on performance and repetition of facts. It leaves little room for students to construct their own meaning based on their own experiences, cultural background, values and interests. This causes a mismatch between goals and assessment. For this reason, many times students can appear to understand material in one format, yet in another appear unsuccessful during assessments because of the focus on success rather than on learning. Characteristics of Learner-Centered Environments Theoretical Basis In learner-centered environments the student becomes the actor in his own learning, and therefore the teacher becomes the facilitator to that learning by designing learning activities which actively engage the learner. This is based on the theory that all know- ledge is organized in schemata - the underlying connections that allow new experiences and information to be aligned with previous knowledge (Landry, 2002). Activities: Engaging and Adaptive As the designer of lessons rather than an authority, and with the understanding that Students exhibit various strengths and weaknesses in learning styles and modalities, the teacher's role is to create activities which are varied and engage these differences, rather than repress them, making lessons student driven. By accounting for diversity of learning styles and respecting the needs of the student to actively create their own meaning "this strategy broadly encompasses the essence of learner-centeredness, which fundamentally emphasizes the act of learning and the needs of the learner as the highest priority in the instructional process (McCombs, 2001 qtd in Feldon, 2005). In this way, learner-centered lessons are inclusive and adaptive to a wide-range of student abilities and special needs populations. These lessons are often cooperative, allowing for students to reach their zone of proximal development within a socially supportive environment. One way that this adaptiveness is achieved is through designing lessons which are discovery based. These are often hands-on lessons which begin with inquiry based activities that excite and engages students' intellectually and emotionally, allowing for multiple meanings to be derived from one learning activity. These lessons also actively engagement student's prior knowledge, allowing them to integrate their learning into already existing schemata. Assessment In learner-centered learning activities, the goal is to assure students succeed in learning new concepts, accumulate new knowledge and become owners of this new knowledge. Therefore, the objectives of the lessons drive the design of lessons, including deciding what materials use. Assessments can range from drawing a picture which encapsulates the students' learning, to writing a letter which integrates concepts taught, or even group projects that demonstrate a variety of concepts mastered. These can include making a diorama, creating a graph, or designing a song. Perhaps most importantly, assessments are a natural outcome of the lesson objectives; therefore they more accurately assess the scope of student learning. The transition from learning, practicing, and demonstrating mastery is smooth, therefore the student does not feel pressured to perform in a manner disconnected from the learning activities. Learner-Centered Example Day One: Grade Level: Early Childhood, 1st to 2nd Grade Subject Area: Math, although may be adapted to other curricular areas. Having students physically engaged in their learning is a good first step for them to be mentally engaged. A good assignment for younger grades would be for them to conduct a survey of how many students have a pet or pets, and what sort of animals they have. The goal is to determine which animal is the most popular pet in the class. Materials: Survey paper - sheet of paper with a picture of types of pets or word headings for 1st and 2nd grade. Make sure to include all student names so each student can be surveyed. Crayons and large-lined graph paper for K, graph paper and pencils for primary Large Graph paper for classroom graph to chart survey result Objective/ Procedure: Model for students how to ask their question and how to record their answer. Students will ask each student if they have a pet and if so, which kind. They will make a tally mark under the appropriate column. After all students have been surveyed have students sit together in their table groups and discuss their findings. Group Discussion: Engage all students by querying their results. Now that they have discussed in small groups they will be more comfortable in sharing in a large group situation. Ask for any interesting results. Prediction is a good way to assist students in connecting with the subject matter, so before making the whole group graph ask for predictions of which type of pet will be the most common. Save the remainder for Day Two. Day Two Pet Survey/ Statistics, Data Analysis and Probability Create Graphic Organizer related to discussion of pets in our families Categories: All types of pets, even frogs, salamanders, bugs, etc. Record Record data from student survey sheets on large graph paper Assessment In table groups students will design a graph that portrays the survey results from the class. Circulate and ask them to discuss their results with to determine their understanding. Research has demonstrated that the key element in student learning is engaging the learner, making the student an active participant in his own learning process. This can be achieved by creating a learning environment which is learner-focused, rather than passive and instructionally driven. Learner-centered environments place the teacher in the role of facilitator rather than expert and by doing so, the teacher supports the students in their own discovery process. Therefore the students will integrate new ideas more readily by connecting them to prior knowledge and building on existing schemata. Learner-centered learning allows students to master new ideas creating a more active and intellectually engaging lessons which are more readily assessed. Finally, these learner-centered classrooms feature students who leave a lesson knowing exactly what they learned and are capable of expressing that knowledge. The question at the end of the day is not what did the teacher teach today, but who can I tell about what I learned References Cited Feldon, David F. "Perspectives on Learner-Centeredness: A Critical Review of Definitions and Practice," White Paper for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Los Angeles, CA University of Southern California Center for Learning. http://www.ed.sc.edu/feldon/papers/FeldonPerspectivesLearnerCentered.pdf Landry, Kevin Lawrence. "Schemata in Second Language Reading." The Reading Matrix, Vol. 2, No.3, September 2002 http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/landry/index.html Characteristics of Learning www.usp.edu/lct/Table1%20Characteristics%20of%20learnings.pdf Read More