User:Yaelstromer/sandbox

Background[edit]
Theorists like John Dewey, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, whose collective work focused on how students learn, have informed the move to student-centered learning. Carl Rogers' ideas about the formation of the individual also contributed to student-centered learning. Rogers wrote that "the only learning which significantly influences behavior [and education] is self discovered". Maria Montessori was also a forerunner of student-centered learning, where preschool children learn through independent self-directed interaction with previously presented activities.

Self-determination theory focuses on the degree to which an individual’s behavior is self-motivated and 'self-determined'. When students are given the opportunity to gauge their learning, learning becomes an incentive.

Student-centered learning means inverting the traditional teacher-centered understanding of the learning process and putting students at the centre of the learning process. In the teacher-centered classroom, teachers are the primary source for knowledge. On the other hand, in student-centered classrooms, active learning is strongly encouraged. Armstrong (2012) claimed that "traditional education ignores or suppresses learner responsibility".

A further distinction from a teacher-centered classroom to that of a student-centered classroom is when the teacher acts as a facilitator, as opposed to instructor. In essence, the teacher’s goal in the learning process is to guide students into making new interpretations of the learning material, thereby 'experiencing' content, reaffirming Rogers' notion that "significant learning is acquired through doing".

Through peer-to-peer interaction, collaborative thinking can lead to an abundance of knowledge. In placing a teacher closer to a peer level, knowledge and learning is enhanced, benefitting the student and classroom overall. According to Lev Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD), students typically learn vicariously through one another. Scaffolding is important when fostering independent thinking skills. Vygotsky proclaims, "Learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the viewpoint of the child's overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process."

Article needs work[edit]
This article could do with some work to make it better. Specifically, how about adding:


 * examples of student-centered learning
 * ...contrasted with the same content taught in a knowledge-centered way, or other methods of teaching
 * a section of the role of Facilitators - perhaps using material from that page and the Facilitation page
 * a section on Peer Assisted Learning - perhaps using material from the Peer mentoring article (which would also benefit from a re-write)
 * a What student-centered learning is section - the article focuses to much on what it is not
 * links to some videos - there are plenty on the subject Google video search
 * some of the ideas above in the first comment - there are some good points there
 * possible student and teacher resistance to student-centered learning and how to deal with it (this page on Psychological resistance is long but contains many relevant ideas)
 * an explanation of why student-centered learning is so effective - expand on the note in the background section
 * references to books and papers on the subject
 * requirements of student-centered learning: what it requires of the student
 * and what it requires of the facilitator / teacher
 * any criticism of the approach
 * and any contributions you can make to an In popular culture section

User:MorahStacy/sandbox