The average classroom in America is almost entirely absent of student-centered learning.

Oftentimes the teacher is talking, students are in a row of chairs facing the teacher, and students are expected to complete different tasks, assignments, and tests their teacher assigns them. This leads many students to checking out, underperforming, and hyper-focusing on testing.

Even though there have been pushes within education to integrate more student-centered practices, schools have been slow to truly become student-centered.

So what is the difference between teacher-centered and student-centered learning?

1. Who Does Most of the Talking and Thinking?

• Teacher-Centered: Teachers do nearly all of the talking and thinking.
• Student-Centered: Students do most of the talking and thinking.

2. Who Makes The Instructional Decisions?

• Teacher-Centered: Teachers make every instructional decision.
• Student-Centered: Students are empowered to have say in what, how, and when they learn.

3. Who Sets the Rules?

• Teacher-Centered: Teachers set and enforce rules.
• Student-Centered: Students work with their teacher to create community norms.

4. Who Decides What Students Learn?

• Teacher-Centered: Teachers strictly stick to their curriculum.
• Student-Centered: Students are free to ask questions, follow their curiosities, and learn what they want to learn.

5. Who Does The Thinking?

• Teacher-Centered: Teachers present solutions to problems to their students.
• Student-Centered: Students learn how to solve problems independently and with their peers.

The research is clear: students benefit from student-centered instruction. Students develop more of a growth mindset, become more motivated, and self-reflective. They are prompted to be more self-directed, helping them to take ownership of their learning. It should be no surprise that students enjoy this form of learning over the traditional, teacher-centered methods.

Where does your child’s school fall on the spectrum of teacher-centered and student-centered learning? Is your child being empowered to learn what they want to learn?

Unfortunately, many students never get to engaged with student-centered learning.

They are never given the option to direct their own learning, so many students leave school with an aversion to anything that could be labeled “learning.” This is truly a shame.

Here at Strive Learning Solutions, we believed all students deserve a student-centered education, where their learning is highly personalized and relevant to each individual student.

That’s why we created the Self-Directed Student, a personalized learning software that empowers students to learn on their own.

Click here to book a demo to learn more about how the Self-Directed Student can empower your students to truly engage in student-centered learning.