By Rosa Virginia González Z .
What is Student-Centered Instruction?[]
Basically, it is an instructional approach in which students are the center of the learning process. Learners’ variables and interactions directly influence on the way all components of the process are organized and put into work resulting into a learning environment favorable to self- motivation, learning ownership and indepedence on part of the learner.
What is the main role of the teacher in SCI?[]
In a student-centered learning environment, the teacher is seen as a facilitator and a guide rather than as the main source of knowledge. Te teacher supports and motivates students to be responsible managers of their own learning and provides them with the tools they may need along the process: ways to discover and exploit their learning styles, building self-confidence, encouraging and practicing decision-making, increasing self-discipline and reinforcing social skills.
What are the four principles of SCI?[]
- Learning is personalized: Any learning program claiming to follow SCI principles has to consider students' needs, interests,abilities and cultural background in all stages of the learning process since each individual has his/her own needs, preferences and ways of learning. Some may need extra support while others display more independent behaviors and become leaders and carry on peer-teaching within the group.
- Learning is competency-based: learning is defined in terms of learning outcomes which shifts the focus from what the teacher has planned to teach to what degree of understanding and accomplishment is the student expected to achieve. Students do not learn to pass an examination but are prepared to face other extra -school learning opportunities outside the classroom.
- Learning happens anytime, anywhere: This principle is expressed in a flexible curriculum and different organization and sitting arrangement within the classroom. Student-centered learning extends far beyond the classroom and conventional topics to real-life demands and situations at present of for academic/labor future purposes. Not all learning experiences occur within the classroom or school building. Interships, apprenticeships, independent research projects, online classes, travel experiences and community-service projects are -among others, strategies used to enhance a connection between what students are learning in the classroom and life itself. Nowadasys, internet and social media offer more opportunities to extend learning outside the school walls.
- Learning is the result of students' empowerment: Students are trained to become responsible of their own learning. Different grouping techniques, continuous interaction, and team-building experiences encourage students to apply what they are learning and support each other while constructing their own learning. As stated by author Mary Anne Corley (2012), the instructor's role changes from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side".