Student-Centered Learning Notes (TEAL Center Fact Sheet No. 6)

Key Concepts and Definitions

Student-centered learning is an approach where learners choose not only what to study but also how and why, with learner responsibility and activity at the heart of the learning process.
It contrasts with conventional, didactic teaching that emphasizes instructor control and content coverage.
Learning becomes more meaningful when topics are relevant to learners lives, needs, and interests, and when learners are actively engaged in creating, understanding, and connecting to knowledge.
There has been a paradigm shift that moves power from the instructor to the learner, treating the learner as a co-creator in the teaching and learning process.
Instructors who deliver student-centered instruction involve learners in decisions about how and what they learn and how learning is assessed; they respect and accommodate individual differences in backgrounds, interests, abilities, and experiences.
The role of the instructor in student-centered classrooms is to encourage discovery learning and learning from each other, focusing on authentic, real life tasks that motivate learner involvement and participation.

Core Principles and Characteristics

The best class experiences typically involve active engagement, confidence, and motivation to learn driven by both the instructor and intrinsic desire to know more.
The student-centered classroom facilitates learning by increasing motivation and effort.
Learners are distinct and unique, with different rates of learning, styles, abilities, efficacy levels, and developmental stages.
Learning is constructive, meaningful, and connected to the learner prior knowledge and experiences.
The learning environment supports positive interactions among learners and provides a space where learners feel appreciated, acknowledged, respected, and validated.
Instead of trying to fix the learner, the learner is empowered to master their world through the natural process of learning.
The student-centered classroom involves changes in learner and instructor roles, instructional strategies, and even the nature of learning itself, differing from traditional teacher-centered models.
In this model, learners require individualization, interaction, and integration.

Learner Individualization and Interaction

Individualization empowers learners to create their own activities and select authentic materials.
Learners interact through team learning and by teaching one another.
During learning, learners integrate new information with prior knowledge and construct new meaning.

What Learners Do (Examples)

Are active participants in their own learning.
Make decisions about what and how they will learn.
Construct new knowledge and skills by building on current knowledge and skills.
Understand expectations and are encouraged to use self-assessment measures.
Monitor their own learning to develop strategies for learning.
Work in collaboration with other learners.
Produce work that demonstrates authentic learning.

What Instructors Do

Recognize and accommodate different learning modalities.
Provide structure without being overly directive.
Listen to and respect each learner’s point of view.
Encourage and facilitate learners shared decision-making.
Help learners work through difficulties by asking open-ended questions that help them arrive at conclusions or solutions that are satisfactory to them.

Learning is

An active search for meaning by the learner.
Constructing knowledge rather than passively receiving it, shaping as well as being shaped by experiences.

Instructional Strategies and Methods

Manage time in flexible ways to match learner needs.
Include learning activities that are personally relevant to learners.
Give learners increasing responsibility for the learning process.
Provide questions and tasks that stimulate learners thinking beyond rote memorization.
Help learners refine their understanding by using critical thinking skills.
Support learners in developing and using effective learning strategies for each task.
Include peer learning and peer teaching as part of the instructional method.

How Can Students Benefit from Student-Centered Learning?

Benefits are frequently cited in the literature: every learner benefits from effective instruction, regardless of diverse needs.
Motivation and actual learning increase when learners have a stake in their own learning and are treated as co-creators.
Learners who succeed gain self-confidence and feel positive about themselves; success is linked to their own abilities and effort rather than luck.
The move to student-centered learning is not always easy for adult learners, who may resist perceived abdication of instructor control; discussing changes openly can help negotiate new roles.

Creating a Student-Centered Classroom

Student-centered learning has implications for instructors who must be willing to emphasize learning while sharing power with learners; progress is often planned incrementally.
Steps include enabling goal setting and self-directed activities to build confidence and learning skills; this motivates learners to take control and helps instructors gain confidence in managing the environment.
Instructors should help learners discover how they learn best and apply different strategies suitable for each learner; sharing decision making fosters self-direction.
When learners are self-directed, the instructor becomes a facilitator who reviews learner-set criteria, timelines, resources, and collaborations.
In a student-centered classroom, learners have choices, responsibility, and power; instructors become guides on the side, doing less direct lecturing and more facilitation.
Instructors design real-life authentic tasks that encourage involvement and participation; model how to approach tasks and encourage learning from and with each other; maintain a climate of learning.
The shift often moves instruction from whole-class teaching to small-group and individual inquiry, with heterogeneous groupings requiring differentiated instruction.
Learners benefit from authentic materials rather than textbooks; time is balanced between content mastery and learning how to learn and understand content.

Grouping, Materials, and Time Allocation

Groupings are heterogeneous and support differentiated instruction to meet diverse needs.
Instructors focus inquiry on topics of interest to small groups and promote collaboration.
Emphasis on authentic materials over traditional textbooks or basal readers.

Assessment in the Student-Centered Classroom

Assessment relies on portfolios that include both instructor-developed assessments and self-assessments.

Implications for Relationships, Curriculum, Instruction, Grouping, and Evaluation

Relationships: more collaborative between instructors and learners.
Curriculum: more thematic, experiential, and inclusive of multiple perspectives.
Instruction: accommodates a broad range of learning preferences; builds on learners strengths, interests, and experiences; is participatory.
Grouping: not tracked by ability; promotes cooperation, shared responsibility, and a sense of belonging.
Evaluation: considers multiple intelligences, uses authentic assessments, and fosters self-reflection.

Practical Challenges and Open Questions for Instructors

Despite benefits, instructors must be open to changing habits; relinquishing control can be intimidating.
It is helpful to take small steps and practice new approaches incrementally; experience and ongoing practice contribute to successful change.

References (Selected)

Aaronsohn, E. (1996). Going against the grain: Supporting the student-centered teacher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Barr, R., & Tagg, J. (1995). From teaching to learning a new paradigm for undergraduate education. Change, 13-25.
Cannon, R. (2000). Guide to support the implementation of the Learning and Teaching Plan Year 2000. Australia: The University of Adelaide.
McCombs, B. & Whistler, J. (1997). The learner-centered classroom and school: Strategies for increasing student motivation and achievement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Moffett, J., & Wagner, B. J. (1992). Student-centered language arts, K-12. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers Heinemann.
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. (2000). Critical issue: Working toward student self-direction and personal efficacy as educational goals. Available at http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr200.htm
Rogers, C. (1983). As a teacher, can I be myself? In Freedom to learn for the 80s. Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company.
Stuart, A. (1997). Student-centered learning. Learning, 26, 53-56.
Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
TEAL Center and CALPRO materials on student-centered learning.

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