To the right (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986) we see footage of a highly teacher focused classroom. Students are bored, unmotivated and disengaged. Classrooms should be inviting and enjoyable for students. I believe that if I am able to successfully develop the skills in order to meet my purpose, I will create a fun and safe environment that encourages creativity and critical thinking students. |
Teacher Centred LearningThe traditional teacher-centred learning seen in the video below as well as the cartoon on the left see students as passive learners in the classroom. Students complete their learning on their own or independently as the cartoon suggests. This generally consists of completing exercises related to the teacher's presentation or instruction (Mutlaq, 2013). This form of teaching creates disengagement with the student and the curriculum, which often leads to less information being absorbed by the students.
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Student Centred Learning
Opposite to teacher centred learning we have student centred learning. This form of teaching and learning sees students work together, or take control of their learning as the curriculum demands (Mutlaq, 2013). This learning environment encourages independence, interdependance and self-motivation. Students have an input into the direction of the learning; this builds communication, leadership and team-building skills. Eric Goldstein (One World Education, 2013) suggests that students are in need of schooling to be more relevant, more meaningful and have a stronger connection to the world we currently live in. All of these are skills that students will learn and hold with them for the future. A bonus to this environment is that students are generally more engaged, creating larger amounts of information to be retained and used in the future. This was seen in Ernest Lim Kok Seng's (2013) study completed on a group of educators. Seng's study identifies the process of self-learning developing deeper understanding of a topic and an increase in critical thinking of students.
As the Principles of Teaching and Learning (Department of Education, 2013) suggests is that the above environment only encourages students to grow. Once they feel safe, they work independently and with others at Mulaq (2013) showed and begin to develop the skills needed in order to be a functioning member of society.
John Hattie
Hattie's testing on educational interventions was able to show the effect size of different impacts on a students learning. The best positive intervention was self-assessment (Wiggins, 2015). This occurs when a student is able to control their own learning and develop and assessment to decide if they have successfully completed a section of curriculum. This can be anything from a project or a test. He believes that the most effective teaching is done when educators see learning through the eyes of students and help them become their own teachers (Waack, 2015).
If students are able to feel in control of their learning, they will enjoy the process a lot more. This will allow the educator to use their pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge of student motivation to encourage creativity within their students.
If students are able to feel in control of their learning, they will enjoy the process a lot more. This will allow the educator to use their pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge of student motivation to encourage creativity within their students.