Abstract:

Students are moving into a new world, but too many educational institutions remain imbedded in the assumptions of the past. With all of the discussions about innovation, little has changed. Teachers all over the world, though, are taking back education and are working hard to put their students at the center of the teaching and learning process. This article will describe a philosophy, characteristics, and elements of student-centered teaching and compare those ideas with what teachers in real schools think about our elements for student-centered teaching and learning.The authors of this study have been working with the concepts of student-centered teaching for a number of years. From the results of our research and research with colleagues, we have become convinced that students welcome the challenges that come with taking on more responsibility for their learning. For example, in a study of a hybrid program in which the more experienced students were asked to mentor their less experienced colleagues, the mentors reported they had to do more work than in other courses, but they reflected they felt proud of their efforts and the growth of their mentees. In another study in which the professor purposefully applied student-centered techniques, students grades rose from their previous classes and from the average grades for three previous groups for the same class. One student offered, “All our professors should use these techniques in their classes.” The teacher reported that her students were better prepared for class, and their efforts in class were more enthusiastic and effective. She stated, “My students made me a better teacher.” These results are not unique to our work. A high school teacher told us that his students are begging to do more meaningful work in school. People like Sir Ken Robinson report that many teachers are producing similar results. Why then do so many teachers continue to be teacher-centered, curriculum-centered, or test-centered? So, with one of our MED students, we developed a survey based on our ten elements of student-centered learning to find out what teachers think about each element. Preliminary results are showing that most high school teacher participants agree with the ten elements, but not overwhelmingly so. We are in the process of analyzing data for elementary, middle school, and special education teachers. We will compare the different groups and make recommendations for moving forward.

Keywords:

Student-centered teaching, student ownership, choice and voice.