One of the key tenets of student-centered learning is the need for classroom discussion and collaboration. For students to take control of their learning, it is of course important for them to construct their knowledge individually, however studies show the importance of collaboration with peers as a way of improving understanding and information retention. As such, a classroom should be designed in such a way that students find themselves in close contact; making it easier to discuss relevant topics and split into groups during classroom time. Ideally, the desks themselves should be divided into groups of 4-6, which would form mini-communities between peers within the same classroom. It is also important for the classroom itself to promote inquiry-based teaching. Including resources such as word walls, book collections and other publicly available activities, could encourage students to seek out these potential interests during classroom free-time. By implementing these strategies, the classroom itself would be conducive to promoting collaboration and student inquiry.

The digital classroom, however, has proven to be just as important as the physical one in this day and age. There are a great variety of tools which can also be utilized to promote the concepts of collaboration and inquiry. First of all, centralized class-led software such as Google Classroom can provide the perfect avenue for students to explore the topic at hand without necessarily depending on the teacher. Seeing as most of the resources online are available at just the press of a button, teachers could also add a variety of interesting resources for students, when previously they would be limited by time. This would encourage students to pursue their own interests within the scope of the subject. Additionally, there are a great variety of different organizational software which facilitate students’ ability to collaborate. By integrating Trello or Google Drive into the classroom, students would be able to share information and work together far better than ever before.

 

References

Developing a student-centered classroom. Education Corner - Education That Matters. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.educationcorner.com/developing-a-student-centered-classroom.html#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20a%20student%2Dcentered,the%20hands%20of%20the%20students. 

 

Sandholtz, J. H., Ringstaff, C., & Dwyer, D. C. (1997). Teaching with technology: Creating student-centered classrooms. Teachers College Press. 

 

Writer, A. S. C., Sudderth, A., & Writer, C. (2022, May 23). What is student centered learning and why is it important? Rethink Together. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://xqsuperschool.org/rethinktogether/what-is-student-centered-learning/ 

 

Written by Ada Rigacci Teacher Trainer in Berlin, Rigacci, W. by A., & Berlin, T. T. in. (2022, April 20). Student-centered learning: The ultimate guidebook. Europass Teacher Academy. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.teacheracademy.eu/blog/student-centered-learning/ 

 

This method has gained popularity in recent times due to it being a perfect example of student-centered learning, as well as it’s proven ability to improve student performance. The instructor designs a task or topic that must be divided into smaller ones in order to be completed. Then, a group is assigned to each task, requiring them to investigate, analyze and later present the topic at hand. At the end of the assessment, each group must teach their topic to the rest of the class, and explain how it fits into the greater topic. As the name implies, each group provides a piece of the jigsaw and at the end, each student is able to observe how it comes together. By organizing the task in such a way, students are able to fully develop their knowledge regarding each topic, while understanding how the different elements come together.

 

Another useful technique is to create a weighty assessment, which requires time and effort from each student. An important element however, is to immediately assign specific roles to each group member, so as to give a direction for the project as well as relevance to each individual aspect. In a certain respect, this kind of assessment mimics the Jigsaw Method, in that it requires teamwork and collaboration from individuals in order to piece together the entire scope of the topic. The additional bonus is that it allows full understanding of the general topic in individual groups instead of spreading it out throughout the classroom.

Debating is one of the oldest teaching methods, however it can still prove useful in order to promote student-centered collaboration and discussion. By splitting into groups and assigning topics where students must advocate or oppose, they are able to fully deconstruct the lesson while also understanding differing viewpoints. Another important element is the ability to form arguments while attempting to disprove opposing arguments, which is improved when observing their peers becoming involved. Overall, it is through the this form of discussion that students can come to understand the pros and cons of each position.

 

About The Author TeachThought Staff TeachThought is an organization dedicated to innovation in education through the growth of outstanding teachers. (2022, January 19). 20 collaborative learning tips and strategies for teachers. TeachThought. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/collaborative-learning-tips/ 

 

Hattie, J. (2010). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement ; reveals teaching's Holy Grail. The Times Educational Supplement. Routledge. 

 

Panitz, T. (n.d.). The case for student centered instruction via collaborative learning paradigms. 

 

Requena-Carrion, J., Alonso-Atienza, F., Guerrero-Curieses, A., & Rodriguez-Gonzalez, A. B. (2010). A student-centered collaborative learning environment for developing communication skills in engineering education. IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference. https://doi.org/10.1109/educon.2010.5492499 

 

Walker, C. L., & Shore, B. M. (2015). Understanding classroom roles in inquiry education. SAGE Open, 5(4), 215824401560758. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015607584 

Students have their own unique passions and strengths, and in a student-centered classroom, the teacher needs to know and understand what each student is interested in and where their strengths lie. Using methods like personal conversations with students, journals or other writing projects, and learning preferences cards, the teacher can gain a lot of insight into the interests of the students in order to personalize their lessons and assignments to keep the students engaged and excited about learning.

In addition to assessing the content learned by students, it is equally important to assess the skills that they are building through the activities and assignments. Some examples of student success skills are time management, communication, critical thinking, and digital fluency. Teachers in a student-centered class can provide students with rubrics and other resources to show students what these skills look like and how to sharpen the skills. Students are then able to self-evaluate their own success skills while working on an assignment. Putting as much emphasis on gaining important skills and learning the content and meeting requirements will help the students more effectively move towards mastery of both content and skills.

While this is the area of assessment that is most commonly focused on in most educational settings, it is only a piece of the whole. This existing model for assessment does have its place in school, but its importance should be reexamined. Determining a student’s grade based on a single test puts too much pressure on a student to demonstrate their knowledge in a single event. In a student-centered model, formative assessments can be used in a low-stakes fashion. This means that formal assessments will not be graded, but rather used to gauge what content has already been mastered by the students or what needs to be retaught.

Completed by: Brad Weeder

References

Green, C. & Harrington, C. (2020). Student-centered learning: In principle and in practice. Lansing, MI: Michigan Virtual University. Available from https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/student-centered-learning-in-principle-and-in-practice/

McCarthy, J. (2014, January 16). Learning Preferences Cards. Retrieved from Opening Paths website: https://openingpaths.org/blog/2014/01/learning-profile-cards/

Miller, A. (2015, September 2). Using Assessment to Create Student-Centered Learning. Retrieved from Edutopia website: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessment-create-student-centered-learning-andrew-miller

What are success skills? - FAQS. (n.d.). Retrieved from rasmussen.libanswers.com website: https://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/177767

Here are some examples of student-centered approaches and techniques that coincide with differentiation:

Using learning preferences cards is a strategy that lets students self-evaluate their own strengths and interests when doing group work. Rather than dividing up group work based on menial tasks, each student has academic responsibility in their role in the group. Students will list 3-4 interests from outside of class which the teacher can use to design projects that will be of interest to the students. Next, students will rank their own abilities and skills in particular subject areas, which will help to determine what their role in a group project can entail. This way, students feel confident in their ability to contribute meaningfully to their group and helps ensure the workload is divided evenly among the group members. This technique is a great adaptation to traditional group work because it prevents one student from taking control of the whole project while the other members don’t contribute. The students are able to work together toward a common goal, while each participating in different ways based on their strengths in order to maximize the group output.

This approach can be used to give students more control over the path they would like to take when learning about a topic. The teacher can present an introduction, and then lay out several different paths that the students can take to meet the end goal of the topic. This approach is great for incorporating differentiation into the classroom because the students can choose a path that aligns with their own strengths in order to have the optimal learning outcome. This approach can also double as a kind of jigsaw method where students can become experts in a certain part of the topic, and then teach their peers about their area of expertise in order to contribute to the collective class goal. 

Applying a competency based system into the classroom is a great way for each student to have their needs met without having to be confined to a standardized time limit to meet a learning goal. In a competency based system, the students are expected to master the material of one unit before moving onto the next. In a standard teaching model, all of the students are expected to learn the material at the same pace, take a test at the end of a unit, and then move on regardless of the learning outcome of each student. In that model, students that are more advanced may be bored because they have already mastered the material before the other students, and students who are struggling to keep up end up getting left behind after the test, even if they did badly. In order to meet the needs of each individual student, a competency based system allows for better student learning outcomes for everyone, and gives the students more control in their education path. 

Each student learns the best in different ways. During the pandemic, we saw that some students fell behind because of moving to a virtual learning environment, while other students thrived. In order to maximize the learning outcome of every student as student-centered learning calls for, a school can offer a variety of learning modalities in which the students can take their classes. For example, a school could offer a traditional in-person learning option, a blended education option, and a fully online learning opportunity. This gives the students more freedom and personal agency to choose the type of learning they feel the most comfortable and confident with. These options can cater to a wide range of student differentiation needs, and the teacher is better able to focus on facilitating the best learning outcomes for only one modality of instruction, as opposed to being in charge of both online and in-person classes as many teachers were during the pandemic.

Completed by: Brad Weeder

References

Briggs, S. (2013, November 13). 20 Ideas For A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Model of Learning. Retrieved from InformED website: https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/a-choose-your-own-adventure-model-of-learning/

Green, C. & Harrington, C. (2020). Student-centered learning: In principle and in practice. Lansing, MI: Michigan Virtual University. Available from https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/student-centered-learning-in-principle-and-in-practice/

McCarthy, J. (2014, January 16). Learning Preferences Cards. Retrieved from Opening Paths website: https://openingpaths.org/blog/2014/01/learning-profile-cards/

 Teaching is a lot of listening and observing and using that information to help students into diving into what their interested in. One way to make reading student centered, is by having topics be about what students are “into”. Getting to know students and what they are into has such a huge impact on motivation. 

 

Even if the subject is required, and the topic is about the great depression. Performing exercises that allow student to self-motivate. For example, asking students “What do I know, what do I want to know”. This allows them to explore and grow their curiosity. Another example could be showing them a picture and asking, “what do you see”? “what questions do you have”? Letting them discover, their intention for reading. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandy, A. (2020) The Impact of E-Learning Technologies on Student’s Motivation: Student Centered Interaction in Business Education. International Journal of Research in Tourism and Hospitality (IJRTH), Volume 6, Page 16.