Learner –Centered Learning:An Instructional Approach

Joy S. Suarez

Student – centered instruction is an instructional approach in which students influence the content , activities, materials , and pace of learning. This learning model places the student in the center of the learning process.

It is a child –centered curriculum and learner-centered curriculum. The teacher provides students with opportunities to learn independently and from one another and coaches them in the skills they need to do so effectively.An approach to education focusing on the needs of the students rather than those of others involved in the educational process. This approach has many implications on the design of the curriculum, course content and interactivity of courses.

This instructional approach focuses on each student’s needs ,abilities,interests and learning styles,placing the teacher as a facilitator of learning.It requires students to be active , responsible participants in their own learning.

It allows students to actively participate in discovery learning processes from autonomous viewpoint. Students spend the entire class time constructing a new understanding of the material being learned in a proactive way.

As teachers our goal for each learner is to succeed and our task as teachers is to help each student to succeed. Our greatest challenge is to move from a teacher –centered approach to a learner –centered one.

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The author is EST – I at Santiago Elementary School