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Learner Centered
From: John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and
Rodney R. Cocking (eds.), How people learn: Brain, Mind, Experience,
and School. http://books.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/ch6.html.
We use the term "learner centered" to refer to environments
that pay careful attention to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs
that learners bring to the educational setting.…Teachers who are
learner centered recognize the importance of building on the conceptual
and cultural knowledge that students bring with them to the classroom….
Learner-centered instruction also includes a sensitivity to the cultural
practices of students and the effect of those practices on classroom learning.…Learner-centered
teachers also respect the language practices of their students because
they provide a basis for further learning.
Overall, learner-centered environments include teachers who are aware
that learners construct their own meanings, beginning with the beliefs,
understandings, and cultural practices they bring to the classroom. If
teaching is conceived as constructing a bridge between the subject matter
and the student, learner-centered teachers keep a constant eye on both
ends of the bridge. The teachers attempt to get a sense of what students
know and can do as well as their interests and passions--what each student
knows, cares about, is able to do, and wants to do. Accomplished teachers
"give learners reason," by respecting and understanding learners'
prior experiences and understandings, assuming that these can serve as
a foundation on which to build bridges to new understandings (Duckworth,
1987).
Also see Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson Editors, Jossy-Bass
(1991), New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Applying the Seven
Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, http://ag.arizona.edu/azlearners/aahe-7principles.html,
and the American Psychological Association's "Learner-Centered Psychological
Principles" web site, http://www.apa.org/ed/lcp2/lcp14.html.
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