Learner-Centered Teaching Foundations and Educational Theories

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering student-centered versus teacher-centered learning, APA psychological principles, educational philosophies (perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, humanism), and core learning theories (behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism).

Student-Centered Learning

A learning approach where learners determine the subject, how they study it, and why by participating in tailored activities and meaningful tasks.

Teacher-Centered Learning

A learning approach where teachers take center stage, guiding the classroom without much input from students.

Learner-Centered Approach (Brown, 2016)

An approach defined by techniques considering learners' needs, style, and goals, giving students control, centering curricula on student input, allowing creativity and motivation, and enhancing confidence.

Learner-Centered Approach (Jones, 2017)

Teaching methods in which instruction is shifted from teachers to students, and students participate directly in the teaching and learning process.

Learner-Centered Approach (Ary, 2010)

An approach where students' questions, feelings, life experiences, and different learning needs guide teachers to consider what can be done to enable students to learn.

Characteristics of Student-Centered Learning (Mary Ann Corley, 2014)

Five key features: learners are active participants; make decisions about learning; construct new knowledge on existing knowledge; understand expectations using self-assessment; and monitor their own learning strategies.

Nature of the Learning Process

The first APA Cognitive and Metacognitive Factor, stating learning is most effective when it is an intentional process of constructing meaning from information and experience.

Goals of the Learning Process

The second APA Cognitive and Metacognitive Factor, stating that over time, successful learners with instructional guidance can create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.

Construction of Knowledge

The third APA Cognitive and Metacognitive Factor, stating that successful learners link new information to existing knowledge to widen and deepen understanding.

Strategic Thinking

The fourth APA Cognitive and Metacognitive Factor, stating that successful learners use a variety of thinking and reasoning strategies to achieve complex learning goals.

Thinking about Thinking

The fifth APA Cognitive and Metacognitive Factor, defined as the ability to select and monitor mental operations that facilitate creativity and critical thinking.

Context of Learning

The sixth APA Cognitive and Metacognitive Factor, stating that learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and instructional practices.

Motivational and Emotional Influences in Learning

The seventh APA Principle, stating that emotions, beliefs, interests, goals, and habits directly influence a learner's motivation to learn.

Intrinsic Motivation to Learn

The eighth APA Principle, stating that natural curiosity, creativity, and higher-order thinking skills serve to motivate learners.

Effects of Motivation on Effort

The ninth APA Principle, stating that learners require guided practice and extended effort to acquire complex knowledge and skills.

Developmental Influences on Learning

The tenth APA Principle, stating that individual development creates unique learning opportunities and limitations across physical, emotional, and intellectual abilities.

Societal Influences on Learning

The eleventh APA Principle, stating that social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others significantly affect learning.

Individual Differences on Learning

The twelfth APA Principle, stating that learning strategies, approaches, and capabilities differ among learners based on prior experience and heredity.

Learning and Diversity

The thirteenth APA Principle, stating that taking into account learners' linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds is key to effective learning.

Standards and Assessment

The fourteenth APA Principle, stating that setting high, challenging standards and using diagnostic, process, and outcome evaluations are vital during learning.

Perennialism

A teacher-centered educational philosophy emphasizing the teaching of timeless concepts, everlasting principles, and great works of literature and art valuable to everyone.

Essentialism

A teacher-centered educational philosophy focusing on teaching students a common core of knowledge systematically and with discipline through a back-to-basics, fact-based approach.

Progressivism

An educational philosophy opposing formal, traditional education, emphasizing learning by doing, hands-on experimental projects, problem-solving, and education for social responsibility.

Humanism

An educational philosophy positing that individuals shape their destinies through intelligence and learning, emphasizing self-evaluation, feelings, and viewing the student as a self-directed, whole organism.

Behaviorism

A learning theory developed by B.F. Skinner and others asserting that learning manifests as changes in behavior through conditioning, stimulus-response arrangements, reinforcement, and punishment.

Cognitivism

A learning theory stemming from Gestalt psychology that views memory as an active, organized information processor and emphasizes mental processes, prior knowledge, and internal information processing.

Constructivism Learning Theory

A learning theory emphasizing personal knowledge construction through experience, where students build understanding through interactions with physical phenomena and interpersonal exchanges.