An Inquiry into Student-Centered Learning
“Education is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a flame.” ~ Socrates
In the course of my primary and secondary school education, I have experienced a teacher-based approach to learning. Fortunately, this trend started to change once I started taking senior level courses at university. I remember being intrigued by the fact that most of my professors wanted their students to be engaged in a different type of learning, one that was unfamiliar to many of my colleagues and myself. So it is for this reason that I decided to embark on a journey to find out more about student- centered learning namely it’s history as well as how it has been perceived in the eyes of students and educators. In the course of my inquiry, I also decided to inquire into the possible contributing factors why educators might be hesitant in adopting a student-centered approach, the possible strategies and activities educators may adopt to make school environments more student-centered, as well as the possible effects of inertia in adopting a more proactive approach that unfortunately continues to persist in many educational settings. I believe that any educator not just English language arts educators should consider a change to a student-centered approach to teaching as, “students –our most important critics-are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education” (Wesch, 2008). These words are indicative of the fact that educators need to change their mindsets and start involving students at a level where they themselves are actively engaged in their own learning by way of pursuing their own goals and thereby making the experience more meaningful for them.
In my research, I have found that in the past century many intellectuals like John Dewey, Lev Vygotsyky, Jean Piaget contributed their insights into the progressive formation of this approach. John Dewey thought that, “all genuine education comes about through experience”, but not just any experience as “whether or not an experience is educative depends upon the quality of the experience, whether or not it is engaging to the student and if the experience has continuity with the student’s further experiences” (O’Neill, n.d.). The student-centered approach is based on constructivism, a theory in which the student is considered to be an active organism seeking meaning. Jean Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory saw children as active learners who feel a need to construct a more sophisticated understanding of their world. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory said that children should “co-construct” knowledge with their peers in their social interactions. Contrary to the teacher-centered approach although not necessarily a direct opposite, the student-centered approach is more in tune with today’s lifestyle, at least in the Western world, which places an emphasis on choice and democracy. It allows students to have a deeper understanding of material by actively participating and setting their own goals within their educational setting. Furthermore, the success of this approach is dependent on making the student aware of the rationale behind what they are doing in the process of interaction and the acquisition of transferable skills.
Although most scholarly work advocates for a student-centered approach to learning, it’s important to take into account some of the critiques offered by Simon (1999) and O’Sullivan (2003) (O’Neill, n.d.). Simon notes that this approach may lead to educators overemphasising the needs of individual learners while disregarding the needs of the whole class. Simon writes, “if each child is unique and each requires a specific pedagogical approach appropriate to him or her and to no other, the construction of an all embracing pedagogy or general principles of teaching become an impossibility.” I would argue that this is taking student-centered learning to the extreme, a case that is hopefully a rarity if at all existent. O’Sullivan in offering his critique states that the student-centered approach to learning is a Western concept that is not necessarily applicable to other countries such as Namibia. Although it is true that different countries have cultural conceptions of what constitutes a learning environment and that a lack of resources may also be an issue, people wanting to contribute to change should not be hesitant in bringing forth their notions that may one day be accepted into widespread application. Nevertheless, it is important to consider the cultural implications that would occur if one were to impose a Western model of education in a developing country. In my research I have come about a study in Kyrgyzstan that has long been associated with a Soviet-based education that was rooted in Marx and Lenin’s philosophical approach. It is said that, “because the new reforms promoting a student-centered approach might not have had the support of the majority (80%) during its implementation at the fall of the Soviet Union, it is possible that people reverted back to the teacher/expert approach as they remembered it as a successful one during the Soviet Union” (de la Sablonnière, 2009). This 80% figure is based on the Normative Theory of Social Change that says a change toward student-centered learning is possible only if the minority (20%) supporting it, will find new strategies and become more vocal, organized, and confident in their advocating for it. Unfortunately, inertia continues to persist within many educational contexts. Gunnar Hansson, reporting on a Swedish study focusing on a half-told history of literature due to a lack of recognizing the reader’s role, speaks to this inertia by saying, “It takes a long time — 20, 30 or even 40 years — for a new approach in literary research to find its way into school teaching and to gain a dominant position there” (1992, p. 147) (Mackey, 2012).
The transition from a teacher-centered mode of instruction to a student-centered approach is possible but only when students, administrators, and teachers change their mindsets. A student-centered approach is unsettling for many reasons to lots of students, especially those coming from abroad, as they are accustomed to a teacher-centered approach. Research shows that students often feel uneasy in these student-centered, unstructured environments in which they are not only asked to both ask and answer questions, but also occasionally not being given a definitive answer by the teacher when asked for assistance. Similarly, students also feel awkward when a teacher considering themselves as equals sits among them during the facilitation of discussions. In addition some students are not comfortable in situations where they are given individual work, while the teacher sits at their desk waiting for any potential questions to be asked. It should also be noted that students have a strong desire for “efficient learning,” which is reminiscent of what Hiebert et al. write in that, “school instruction is plagued by a push for quick answers” (Johnson et al, 2009). In the student-centered approach, students are encouraged to discover rather than to merely receive knowledge. Research also shows that administrators also have a difficult job of finding a balanced approach between competing goals and requirements. Educators are often too entrenched and comfortable in their ways to seek meaningful change to their pedagogy. Most teachers tend to educate their students in the way they themselves were taught, which often happens to be in a teacher-centered approach. Johnson et al. note that a transition to a student-centered model requires three things, “planning, persistence, and reflection” as “without careful planning, the teacher usually returns to the “old routine”- the unintentional source of resistance.”
Johnson et al. offer various activities that promote student involvement in class interactions and discussion including, “Think-Pair-Share and its variation Think-Share-Write, Numbered-Heads Reporting, Data Sharing, Board Walk, Roundtable (or Round Robin) and its variation Flock Around, Short Writes (or One-minute Papers), Groups/Pairs Exchange and its variations Group Critique and Triptych, Pairs-Check, Three-Step Interviews, Send-a-Problem, and Jigsaw” all of which are outlined in the referenced article by Fenton et al. In addition to these activities, these researchers also offer various general strategies such as not always feeding information to students, but allowing them to find it (definitions, etc.) by themselves, not being tempted to filling a silence as well as making an effort to regurgitate one student’s question back to the class and seeing what answers can be thought of. Teachers should also set high expectations for their students by setting out the fundamental rules at the beginning of term as well as evaluating students using rubrics that the students themselves helped generate. In the course of my teaching, I will try and incorporate as many of these activities and strategies advocated for within a post-secondary setting to the secondary context and gauge whether or not these can be successfully employed with a younger student population.
When educators choose not to adopt a student-centered approach, they deprive their students in many ways. Research says that not only class participation increases in a student-centered approach, but also that it “supports the development of higher order thinking, both cognitive and metacognitive, as well as performance skills which are based on a constructivist perspective building upon learners’ strengths and needs” (de la Sablonnière, 2009). In addition Kain’s work suggests that students who take on risks in school environments are more prepared for higher education than those who do not. The question that remain are how long will it take some educators to realize that they are actually dosing their students a disservice by being strongly entrenched within a teacher-centered approach to learning and how will this disservice manifest itself in the long term in terms of societal structure. Change is imperative not only to engage 21st century learners, but also to meet the unique needs our students face in society like that of working collaboratively and/or using higher order thinking skills to name a few. It is therefore the job of not only critics and scholars in the realm of Academia, but of individual educators to rise up and bring forth meaningful change by incorporating at least some strategies and activities that are currently being used in post-secondary contexts. Ultimately, it is utterly crucial for educators to consider the fact that they, through their presence and the calling they have undertaken, shape the leaders of tomorrow. In the end, I concur with Wesch who writes, “the best learning almost always occurs in the absence of a teacher, for it is then that learners are free to pursue with great passion the questions that are meaningful and relevant to their own lives” (2008).
Works Cited:
de la Sablonnière, R., Taylor, D. M., & Sadykova, N. (2009). Challenges of applying a student-centered approach to learning in the context of education in Kyrgyzstan. International Journal of Educational Development, 29(6), 628-634.
Estes, C. (2004). Promoting student-centered learning in experiential education. Journal of Experiential Education, 27(2), 141-160.
Fenton, W., B. Reynolds, N. Davidson, B. Baker, R. Berger, and A. Szpilka. 2001. Classroom strategies for cooperative learning. In E. Rogers, B. Reynolds, N. Davidson and A. Thomas, eds. Cooperative Learning: Issues That Matter and Strategies That Work. MAA Notes # 55. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America.
Hansson, G. (1992). Readers Responding: And Then?. Research in the Teaching of English, 135-148.
Johnson, A., Kimball, R., Melendez, B., Myers, L., Rhea, K., & Travis, B. (2009). Breaking with tradition: preparing faculty to teach in a student-centered or problem-solving environment. Primus, 19(2), 146-160.
O’Neill, G., McMahon, T. (n.d.). Student-centered learning: What does it mean for students and lecturers? Retrieved from http://www.aishe.org/readings/2005-1/oneill-mcmahon-Tues_19th_Oct_SCL.html#XBurnard1999
Wesch, M. (2008). Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance. Education Canada, 48(2), 4-7.
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