This is an example of what students can accomplish when working in groups. It is a poster comparing Joan of Arc to peasant women.
Student-centered learning is a key feature of an excellent pedagogy. People learn best when they are actively engaging in an activity, task, or problem-solving exercise. Of course, a student-centered activity provides the best opportunities for such an approach. Furthermore, there is more opportunity for students to talk more when they are working with a partner because it increases the amount of talking time to 50% of the class time (the other 50% of the time of which they are listening intently to their partners) instead of having to compete for the attention of the teacher. In such a way, student-centered pedagogy allows for more critical thought than is the case in teacher-led discussions, as well as more opportunities for students to express their opinions. At the heart of it, a pedagogy that is student-centered inculcates students with a sense of responsibility and agency. Those attitudes drive learning much better than compliance.
An example of student-centered learning in my class would be a jigsaw activity in which students explain the roles of the main groups in the high Middle Ages (e.g. the monarch, nobles, etc.) The students are responsible for knowing what their Middle Ages group, as well as, teaching the group to other students.