Teacher-Centered vs. Student-Centered Teaching

Before I address my thoughts on the topic, I think I need to define the topics as I understand them. Student-centered teaching is an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators. When choosing mathematics examples, the examples need to relate to each student. If the example does not relate to each student, new examples need to be composed so each student has an example to which they relate. Teacher-centered teaching is when the teacher makes the goals for the students, presents the material for the students to learn, and provides the activities for them to learn.

I am in favor of teacher-centered learning. Due to NCLB and state-required topics that needed to be covered in every secondary subject, there is little time to simply look at what the student wants to learn. The I-STEP requirements do not care about focusing on the needs of the students, just on the needs of meeting state requirements and NCLB. It is teacher’s responsibility to make sure that these needs are met and the teacher needs to set the pace to make sure that all state standards are met. There is no room for the student to set the pace. That is why schools are offering “A” and “B” levels of courses (for example: Algebra II may have sections called “Algebra IIA” and “Algebra IIB”, with each letter designating the pace at which the course is presented.)

However, teacher-centered learning does not remove the teacher’s responsibility of relating the material to the needs of the student. The teacher needs to find examples that the students can relate to. In Algebra II, if there are students are interested in skateboarding, then the teacher should relate a parabola to a half-pipe and how the change in a quadratic equation changes the shape of the parabola/half-pipe.

Also, teachers need to let students make discovers together in teacher-centered teaching. Teachers need to allow students to work on group problems so they can interact in an academic setting, and mentor each other to accomplish the goal of solving problems. A stronger student who understands the material can help a weaker student who needs more help. The weaker student may relate the stronger student, and seek advice of the stronger student. The stronger student can state how they were able to understand the material, which can help the weaker student. After the students work on the problem together the teacher can assess what the student accomplished, and can either approach the topic in another way to meet the student’s needs or move on to something else. In either case the teacher decides what the students needs, but the decision is based on what the students have learned.

I advocate teacher-centered learning where teachers determine what exercises the students would be able to relate to students working in groups to develop their skills. Using this method the state and NCLB standards are met, and hidden curriculum issues like social-building skills are developed.