Principal reference: Teaching and Learning STEM (TLS) 2nd Edition, Chapters 1, 12, and most of the other chapters
What is learner-centered teaching, and what does it look like in a classroom? Let’s start by defining teaching, which isn’t as simple a task as you might think.
- Two definitions of teaching:
(1) To show or explain something. (2) To cause someone to learn something. Definition (1) says that if I simply present information to students I have taught it to them, whether or not they learn it. Definition (2) says that if they don’t learn it, I haven’t taught it to them.
- Teacher-centered teaching (TCT) and learner-centered teaching (LCT).
In teacher-centered teaching (TCT), the principal focus in the classroom is on the teacher. The teacher lectures most of the time, perhaps occasionally asks questions and generally gets responses from the same small group of students or gets no responses at all. The students in a TCT classroom are mostly passive observers of the presentation of information. This form of teaching has been traditional for many centuries and is still dominant in most classrooms. It is based on Definition (1) of teaching, and it can be done just as well with and without students in the classroom.
In learner-centered teaching (LCT), the focus in the classroom is split between the teacher and the students and is based on Definition (2): If students don’t learn something I have presented, I haven’t taught it to them. Here’s what you might see in a learner-centered STEM classroom:
— Students working individually or in small groups: Solving parts of problems at their seats or on their computers or on the board; discussing possible responses to instructor’s questions; reporting on projects or research.
— Teachers: Lecturing; illustrating problem-solving methods on whiteboards or tablet computers or projected slides or with document cameras; asking students questions; answering students’ questions; circulating among students working on activities and offering help when needed.
- What are some LCT techniques?
Active learning, collaborative and cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning, just-in-time learning, discovery learning, and many other techniques that share the focus of classroom activities between the instructor and the students with the heavier burden being generally placed on the students. Most of those techniques are defined and discussed in other blog posts on this website, and in Chapters 6, 9, and 11 of TLS.
