A free-to-share educational resource designed and presented by Stephen Nalder.

What is Student Centred Learning (SCL)?  knowledge is constructed by students and that the instructor is a facilitator of learning rather than a presenter of information  an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process  focuses on each student's interests, abilities, and learning styles  acknowledges student voice as central to the learning experience  places the teacher as a facilitator of learning  requires students to be active, responsible participants in their own learning

What is the role of the teacher?  Teacher-directed Instruction  Students work to achieve curricular objectives in order to become critical thinkers  Students complete activities designed by the teacher to achieve academic success  Students respond to positive expectations set by the teacher as they progress through activities  Students are given extrinsic motivators like grades and rewards which motivates children to internalize information and objectively demonstrates their understanding of concepts  Student work is evaluated by the teacher

How to use SCL as an educator  focus on the students’ learning and ‘what students do to achieve this, rather than what the teacher does’. This definition emphasizes the concept of the student ‘doing’  rely on active rather than passive learning  focus on deep learning and understanding  build interdependence between teacher and learner  increase responsibility and accountability on the part of the student

What the learners gain  the more actively involved students are in their own learning, the more they are likely to remember what they learn  involvement and participation are necessary for learning  they have full responsibility for her/his learning  relationship between learners is more equal, promoting growth, development  learner experiences confluence in his education (affective and cognitive domains flow together)  learner sees themselves differently as a result of the learning experience

Examples of effective SCL in the classroom  give a detailed lesson plan to your students and have them complete it in groups  ask don’t tell: always try to elicit information, ideas, and answers from the students  allowing for more peer assessment  have students keep journals of the learning and have them swap journals to critique each others  encourage learners to think critically and develop problem-solving skills through more creative tasks and group work  debate in class, teacher playing the devil’s advocate

When students are involved in what they are learning and how they learn it, they develop a desire to learn. The information we teach is only a small part of the educational process. The process itself has great consequences for the future of those involved. We are key in developing the way our students process information.