Creating A Student Centered Learning Environment Essay

As an educator, it is my job to find new ways for my students to learn that coincides with their particular learning style and takes advantage of their strengths. In all practical terms, this will mean finding new ways for each of my students to learn in their own particular way. As a whole, my students will need more reason to learn with authentic experiences, hands-on

Education serves as the foundation to a lifetime of learning. Since every child is unique, I believe that it is important for them to learn in an environment that is both secure and stimulating. By creating this type of atmosphere, the students will be able to realize their intelligence and use it constructively. As a future educator, it will be my goal to establish a classroom that is, 1) non-authoritarian, 2) student-centered, and 3) focused around student experience. These three elements are part of Progressivism, the educational philosophy I plan to incorporate in my classroom.

Student centered means not following a pre-determined curriculum, and giving a voice to the student with regard to their learning goals. Teaching adults is not the same as teaching children. Materials must be sensitive and respectful of adult learners, and because adults face so many challenges in their daily lives, the learning must be relevant and meaningful.

Many educators operate their classrooms using a “learning theory” that they feel optimizes the best learning environment for their students. As an educator it is very important to create your own customized learning theory to use in your classroom. A customized learning theory is developed to create an optimum learning environment for students. Educators have to research and put into practice the ideas that they feel may work best in their classroom. In this paper, I will be discussing my own customized learning theory incorporating theoretical perspectives that I believe make an ideal learning environment.

Two of these themes correlate directly with the mission statement previously created; lifelong learner and student empowerment. A student centered candidate who is a lifelong learner would be able to “provide a safe and effective learning environment in order to develop students with active and creative minds, a sense of worldly understanding, critical thinking skills, self-reliance, a compassion for others and a love of learning.” as stated in the mission statement.

The student-centred approach as a part of the humanistic theory allows students to be active participants in discovering new information in a creative and independent way. As a means of student-centeredness students participate in group activities, especially co-operative learning, in order to develop social and affective skills. Collectively, theorists responsible for the shift from teacher-centred to students-centred learning believe that through student centeredness an important goal of the humanistic theory – emotional support – will be offered to each student. The student centred approach aims at supporting individuality and diversity by finding the similarities among children (Thompson, n.d.). The main idea behind the student-centred approach to learning is to make learning meaningful to students’ lives, needs and interest. An example of this would be a teacher teaching students about the body’s control, and starts the lesson by asking “what are the different body activities that the brain controls” (Students’ answer may include: hearing, touching, thinking, breathing, tasting, talking…).

Learning by definition is any relatively permanent change in behavior that is brought on by experience or practice. The “Relatively Permanent” part of the definition refers to the fact that when people learn anything, some part of their brain is physically changed to record what they have learned. (Farmer et., 2013; Loftus & Loftus, 1980). This is actually a process of memory, for without the ability to remember what happens people cannot learn anything. It is thought that once a person learns something it is present somewhere in their brain in physical form even if they cant get to it. As for the inclusion of experience or practice in the definition of learning this is seen in the fact that if we do something and have a negative experience such as pain we are likely not to do it again where as if we have a positive outcome after doing something we are more likely to do it again. Other changes in the brain are caused by growing. This is controlled by our genetic blueprint. This is called maturation.

The established higher education model that I tend to gravitate toward and support in my higher education philosophy is the student centered learning theory also sometimes called learner-centered teaching or a student-centered model. The theory of student-centered learning can be contributed to Hayward as early as 1905 and in 1956 to John Dewey (O’Neill and McMahon, n.d.). The student centered model is driven by a need for a change in the traditional educational environment and when incorporated and implemented correctly we will see

The biggest difference between student-centered education and traditional education is that with student-centered education a variety of teaching methods are used (Blumberg, 2008). People all learn in different ways and at different levels and using just one standard teaching method does not always work for everyone. Learner-centered education is beneficial to both the teacher and the student in that it provides the perfect environment for hands on learning. It allows for the instructor to tie the material to real work examples and situations while allowing the learner to relate the learning to their own experiences.

Although this limitation can become a barrier for the experiential learning theory Rogers’ developed, it is possible for this to overcome this with patience. As the main purpose of this theory is to allow personal growth within the student, we must note that personal growth appears differently for each individual learner. The role of the facilitator is to help engage all types of students in self-motivated learning to help them improve their overall growth from significant information.

As teachers we should focus on the importance of creating supportive learning environments which instil the notion of inclusivity of all students, with or without disabilities. As students enter the classroom they bring a mixture of cultural, academic and behavioural diversity with them (Watkins, 2005). As teachers we need to embrace the unique qualities that each student holds and make the most of this diversity to enhance the learning outcomes of all students. This critical reflection aims to identify how teachers can set up the learning environment to specifically maximise teaching and learning for all. In correspondence to each idea mentioned, I will also reflect on some potential advantages and challenges that beginning teachers may

Learning has been described by Howe (1980) as ‘cumulative’ i.e. whatever we learn at any time is influenced by previous learning. It is also clear that developmental processes and learning processes are closely interlinked. Whilst psychologists agree that learning is affected by past experience and is relatively permanent there are differing theories about exactly what changes when learning takes place and what mechanisms are involved. An important issue is whether the focus is on overt behavioural changes (that which can be seen) or covert, cognitive changes (the unseen change in thoughts). The concept of learning is broad and there are different psychological theories as to what is involved in that learning process.

There are several ways that student-centered learning can be described, and they all lead back to the same basic idea, the student. First, student-centered learning can be defined as a discipline that involves the interaction of a team of students that experience creative learning to be used in the real world (Thornburg, 1995). Thornburg (1995) also mention that students are essential to the classroom, just like a team member is essential to a game. He says that teachers are part of the definition of student-centered learning, but they are not the main attraction. The students are the focus, and the teacher is the one who can assist among small groups of students. Eaton

“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” said David A. Kolb (1984, p.38).

I believe a successful learning experience is engaging and valued by the students. I believe students’ will value what they are learning if they believe what they’re learning is relevant. Relevance is important to teaching and learning because it is directly related to student engagement and motivation (Frymier & Schulman, 1995; Martin & Dowson, 2009). Marsh (2008), states a positive classroom environment provides a sense of security, community, belonging and identity (Marsh, 2008). Based on my experience as a practicing teacher, I have found establishing clear expectations within the classroom assist in maintaining control and discipline, to create a safe learning environment (Fatt Hee, 1996). I believe within all classrooms, students’ diversity should be valued. This creates a discrimination free environment and ensures students feel safe and included (Philips, 2010). According to Stanford & Parkay (2007) students are more engaged in class when learning experiences are satisfying, challenging and friendly.