7 Principles of Learner-Centered Teaching

7 Principles of Learner-Centered Teaching

(Read for you from Using the Internet for Active Teaching and Learning by STEVEN C. MILLS, The University Center of Southern Oklahoma)

PRINCIPLE 1: Teachers do learning tasks less. Teachers must stop always doing the learning tasks of organizing content, generating examples, asking and answering questions, summarizing discussion, solving problems, constructing diagrams, and others.

PRINCIPLE 2: Teachers do less telling; students do more discovering. Teachers should stop telling students everything they need to know and begin to permit students to find out for themselves what they need to know.

PRINCIPLE 3: Teachers do more design work. With student-centered learning the instructional design functions of the teacher are more important because learning activities become the vehicles by which learning occurs.

PRINCIPLE 4: Teachers do more modeling. Teachers must assume the role of master learner and demonstrate for students how expert learners approach learning tasks.

PRINCIPLE 5: Teachers do more to get students learning from and with each other. Teachers often underestimate the potential of students working together collaboratively and cooperatively on learning tasks.

PRINCIPLE 6: Teachers work to create climates for learning. With student-centered learning teachers are much more involved in designing and implementing activities that create conditions conducive to learning.

PRINCIPLE 7: Teachers do more with feedback. Evaluation and assessment are used to maximize learning through the constructive delivery of feedback to students.

Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.