We entera medium sized, architecturally uninteresting space. At the front of this roomthere is a black, white, or smart board. The person standing near the board isthe teacher. Somewhere to the side is the teacher’s desk. It is small to mediumsized, industrial, no frills, except whatever has been added by the teacher. Inmost of the rest of the room, students sit in rows in smaller desks, in chairsof a type that are rarely found anywhere outside of schools. The teacher’sdesk, though not large, is … [Read more...]
Using Technology to Drive Student-Centered Education
During a trial in the East Auburn Community School in Auburn, Maine, a group of students were “taught to read and write using an iPad” and “another group of students were taught the ‘old fashioned’ way, using a pen and paper, it was found that in every single literacy test, students using the iPad outperformed those who did not use the iPad by a significant margin” (TabTimes, February 2012).Noting this story is important to the expanded view of student-centered education, especially in the … [Read more...]
Movement in the Cybersphere
The launch of theNISCE website has been under production for the last month. The team has beendeeply focused on developing content as it pertains to: our mission, thedefinition of student-centered learning, models to be used as part of thestructure of the initiative, events that we will host, and building the foundationof a movement.Please join NISCE by liking our Facebook Fan Page or following us on Twitter at: @NISCE_. We will betweeting, starting discussions, and linking to interesting … [Read more...]
Can a Traditional Classroom Be Student-Centered?
The image of a traditional classroom is familiar to anyone with a modern education,and it often defines the limits of what we consider when we think about schooling. In this classic image of education, the teacher is literally front-and-center and what happens largely depends on her or him. Yet, it must be noted that there is nothing inherently student-centered in the organization of a traditional classroom. The focus is on the teacher and on the information to be passed from the teacher to the … [Read more...]
What Maria Montessori Taught Us About Being ‘Student-Centered’
"Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences in the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference.” - Maria MontessoriThe research statement above from Maria … [Read more...]
Can A Child In India Teach You Something About Learning And Education?
When most of us think about education we assume the presence of at least one teacher and one student. More often, we imagine a teacher and a room full of students, the classic and ubiquitous model with which we are all familiar. Who of us imagines a room with no teacher?One answer to that would be Sugata Mitra, an education researcher from India who has done remarkable work in an unusual line of thinking. Mitra has made it his business to investigate a very difficult question: What can be done … [Read more...]
Self Teaching – Are you a genius yet?
A great deal of what we learn is self-taught. We learn through modeling, observation, trial and error, and pattern recognition, and we do all these things with or without the help of others.As evolving humans, this is what we do. As many philosophers of education point out, we are hungry for learning and will naturally develop many important skills and realms of knowledge with no more than the slightest nudge from those around us. In a very true sense, we are students of our world, … [Read more...]
A Continuum of Educational Context and Styles
There are various educational practices that embrace the notion of student-centered education. A good way to picture this is to think of a continuum with the least directed, most learner-driven forms of education at one end, and the most ordered and authority-directed forms at the other. Broad Context of EducationLeast directed, Learner-Driven <---------------------------------> Most ordered, Authority Driven Schools School Districts Individual Classroom Forms Range of … [Read more...]
6 Perspectives and Qualities of a Student-Centered Educator
What defines a student-centered educator? Is it enough to know the book, to know the drill, to know the test, to know the system, to know what the administration expects? We think not. A student-centered educator will manage this while saving his or her best energy for observing, appreciating, and considering deeply the one unique learner who sits before him or her, hoping to be understood.What else does it take to be a student-centered educator?The following is a set of perspectives and … [Read more...]
SFC launches NISCE
NISCE, a new initiative of Schools for Children, is focused on broadening the national dialogue on the importance of committing to more ‘student-centered educational’ practices in a ‘standards-based’ world and to partnering with educators, parents, administrators and students explore barriers to these approaches. “We feel as though our internal launch gave us a great sense of how our own educators are feeling about their role in helping students become successful learners" said NISCE Program … [Read more...]
