Is student centered learning meeting your academic needs?

By Dr Jeff Hawkins, [email protected]

These days, parents hear a great deal about the benefits of student centered learning / cooperation, team work & socialization as one of the many positive outcomes achieved in K-12 public education.  No doubt the ability to socialize and interact with others is important for K-12 students.  But in globalized world where our teenagers and children in Barrie compete against competitive and skills based education systems globally; is it enough to emphasize student centered learning & team work at the expense of developing demonstrable Math and English literacy skills?  

In any classroom, the teachers ability is the single most important predictor of student success.  The greater the teachers ability and the more access a student has to that teachers influence, the greater the results that student can and will achieve.

Student centered learning is one way for teachers to meet the demands of 25 students or more in class and allow students the opportunity to learn from peers in class under the supervision of the teacher.  No matter how great that teacher may be, the student receives 1/25 of the teachers instructional attention.

Tutoring, mentoring and individual coaching has long been recognized as a way to give individual students the instructional attention that they need to develop the relationship that builds the basis for student academic success.  Teaching expertise combined with 1/1 teacher-student mentoring ensures students ability to accelerate cognition and allow academic skills to flourish.   The student that has the social and academic skills, will be much more likely to succeed at school & in life.

​What has been your experience with students centered learning?  Has it helped you achieve your learning goals?  Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas and comments here:  its through a diversity of views that the best ideas emerge.