Some of the worst fads in education have come from education reformers with no track record of success in public education. So when you hear the term “student-centered learning,” you might want to consider what this means.
Student-centered learning sounds good, but what does it look like in the classroom? I’ve already reported on how classrooms have become chaotic, so how does student-centered learning fit into all of this?
Let’s go back to when we were growing up, and went to school. Our desks would face the teacher, and the teacher would teach us the academic content. We’d raise our hands if we had any questions or when the teacher would call on us for an answer. That was considered teacher-centered-learning.
Student-centered learning is different. If you just Google the term, you will find all kinds of articles promoting student-centered learning. In Education Week, they reported that student-centered learning can modernize classrooms. Nicholas Donohue wrote this article from the Nellie Mae Foundation. The Nellie Mae Foundation is one of those organizations pushing education reforms in our classrooms. What has the Nellie Mae Foundation done to improve public education? NOTHING.
Funded by both the Gates Foundation and the federal government, Nellie Mae has no track record of successfully improving public education in the United States. But they sure do promote a lot of reforms like student-centered learning.
In this article, I explain how Nellie Mae has been focused on turning students into community organizers. You might be starting to realize that these grant organizations aren’t so much about quality public schools as much as they are about education fads, and political activism.
According to Nellie Mae, traditional classrooms need to be transformed into something different:
Rather than simply sitting through lectures, students use class time for interactive projects and thoughtful discourse. Learners complete internships for credit and run their own parent-teacher conferences. They advance by demonstrating understanding of material at their own pace, rather than by accruing credits based on the “seat time” they’ve endured at a desk.
After years of requiring teachers to teach, now kids are expected to discover knowledge. There is no longer a need for a lecture, students can work on projects, and have chat sessions with their classmates. Students can go and intern, where they will never learn all of the content they’d learn in a traditional classroom. But hey, this is all innovative stuff now. Nellie Mae even suggests cutting the teacher out of the parent-teacher conference. Who needs teachers anyway with this model? Students can go at their own pace, which would be impossible for a teacher to do in a classroom with 20 students.
IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE A TEACHER IS NOT NECESSARY.
Then there is the role of the Chromebook or IPad for students to use in class. This student-centered model utilizes 1:1 devices in place of a textbook, and even the teacher. Students can look up information now on the internet, so there may not be a need for teachers anymore.
With this technology comes a whole new set of issues we never had when we were in school. Screen time increases, students have a way to cyberbully their classmates, they might be able to access websites that are not appropriate for children, and a parent cannot take away the Chromebook if there is a problem.
WHAT DO THE TEACHERS THINK ABOUT ALL OF THIS?
You have to always consider the pros and cons of any of these education fads.
What do the teachers think about student-centered learning? This change in pedagogy certainly hasn’t improved academic outcomes. Most private and parochial schools will not touch this model for their students because those parents would never tolerate it for their children.
Some teachers do some things better than others, but did this switch actually make things better or worse for our public schools?
As an education researcher for the last two decades, there is a concerted effort to make teachers obsolete. Maybe not for all students, but teachers should be aware by now that their role has been purposely marginalized.
Here are some of the comments by teachers on this new fad–I mean reform. Maybe we should listen to them?
