Summary
In this session, participants will explore the authenticity component, student-centered learning. First, participants identify characteristics of student-centered learning environments. Next, participants consider common views regarding student engagement and how it affects learning. Participants will read a research document about student-centered learning and create a visual representation that demonstrates their understanding of the component. Finally, they will assess and adapt their teaching methods to be more student-centered and list key features of this approach to demonstrate their knowledge.
Essential Questions
Why does providing students with choice increase the students’ level of engagement?
Learning Goals
Justify the attributes of a student-centered learning climate.
Evaluate the framework needed to support student-centered learning.
Snapshot
Engage
Identify characteristics of student-centered learning environments.
Explore
Examine commonly held beliefs about student engagement and its impact on learning.
Explain
Read about student-centered learning and create a visual representation of your understanding.
Extend
Assess current teaching methods and explore ways to make them more student-centered.
Evaluate
Demonstrate your understanding of student-centered learning by listing key features of this authenticity component.
Materials List
Presentation Slides (attached)
Always, Sometimes, or Never True Discussion Guide (attached; one per facilitator)
Always, Sometimes, or Never True Posters (attached; one set)
Components of Authenticity: Student-Centered Learning handout (linked; one per participant; printed front/back)
Frayer Model handout (attached; one per participant; printed front only)
Improving an SCL Activity handout (attached; one per participant; printed front only)
ABC Graffiti handout (attached; one per participant; printed front only)
Instructional Strategy Note Catcher handout (attached; one per participant; printed front only)
Color A Sticky Notes (one per participant)
Color B Sticky Notes (one per participant)
Color C Sticky Notes (three per participant)
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 3. Instruct participants to reflect on the following prompt: What does a student-centered classroom look like? Sound like? Feel like?
Direct participants to your Padlet. Instruct them to add to the Padlet by clicking on the plus (+) symbol under the column they wish to contribute to, then type or insert an image from online for what a student-centered learning classroom looks, sounds, or feels like.
After most participants have added to all three columns, take a moment to share some of the responses. Consider asking participants to elaborate on their posts, especially if their posts consist only of an image.
Move to slides 4-5 to briefly highlight the session’s essential question and learning goals.
Explore
20 Minute(s)
Move to slide 6 to begin a modified version of the Four Corners strategy. Instruct participants to examine a set of statements regarding student engagement. Some statements are based on research, while others reflect common thoughts or ideas about student engagement. For each statement, allow participants a moment to evaluate whether they think it is always, sometimes, or never true, then instruct them to move to the area of the room that aligns with their opinion.
Once all participants have moved to their chosen areas, prompt them to discuss their decisions with their group members. Then, instruct each group to justify their reasoning for their choice.
Repeat this activity with the remaining selected statements on slides 7-15. After completing the activity, instruct participants to return to their seats. Once most participants have had time to read the materials and discuss the various components, ask groups to share out. After groups have shared their responses, ask them to set the model lesson aside for later.
Explain
20 Minute(s)
Move to slide 16 and place participants into groups of four. You may choose to keep participants in their previous groups or organize them into new ones.
Distribute a copy of the Components of Authenticity: Student-Centered Learning research brief to each participant. Invite participants to read the brief individually and allow them time to do so.
Once it appears that most participants have read the handout, display slide 17 and give each person a copy of the Frayer Model handout. Explain that each group member will fill in a different quadrant of the handout to demonstrate their understanding of Student-Centered Learning. Ask each member of the group to choose one of the following prompts present on the handout:
Define: How would you define “student-centered learning” in your own words?
List the characteristics: List three to five essential characteristics of SCL.
Draw a visual representation: Sketch a scene or symbol that represents SCL.
Reflect: How does this look in your class? Give an example of what SCL looks like in your classroom.
Once each group member has filled out their individual section, ask them to discuss their responses as a group. Each person will fill in the remaining sections of their Frayer Model with the responses from their peers.
Allow groups approximately fifteen minutes to discuss and fill in their Frayer Models. After most participants have completed their handouts, invite each group to share out one of the segments of their model.
Briefly explain the Frayer Model instructional strategy. Inform participants that this strategy encourages students to organize both prior and new knowledge about a topic.
Extend
25 Minute(s)
Display slide 18 and distribute the Improving a SCL Activity handout. Invite participants to describe a lesson they have taught previously in the first box of the handout. Once all participants have written a response, ask them to consider how they could modify the lesson to integrate more aspects of student-centered learning. Instruct participants to record their thoughts in the second box of the handout.
Next, pass out three sets of three sticky notes to each participant, ensuring each set is a different color (Color A, Color B, Color C). Inform participants that they will be making two initial posts: one using a Color A sticky note and another using a Color B sticky note. Display slide 19. For the first post, participants should transfer their original activity from the handout to the Color A sticky note. For the second post, participants will use the Color B sticky note to indicate how they made the activity more student-centered.
Instruct participants to add the sticky notes to any section of their group’s poster and draw an arrow from their original post (Color A) to their student-centered post (Color B).
Display slide 20. Use the Gallery Walk instructional strategy to have participants post feedback on at least two other lessons using the Color C sticky notes. Instruct them to draw an arrow from the student-centered post (Color B) to their feedback post (Color C). Once all participants have left comments on at least two other lessons, instruct them to return to their original lesson to review comments left by their peers and reflect on their modifications.
If time allows, consider providing additional time for participants to record any further thoughts about modifying their lesson to be more student-centered to their handouts.
Evaluate
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 21 and distribute the attached ABC Graffiti handout to each group, or provide each group with a poster and a different-colored chart marker for the instructional strategy ABC Graffiti.
Ask participants the following question: What is student-centered learning? Instruct each group to jot down one word or phrase associated with student-centered learning for each letter of the alphabet, aiming to fill in as many letters as they can in one minute. Start the K20 1-minute timer on the slide.
When time is up, display slide 22. Have groups rotate to the next poster, instructing them to take their marker with them so their contributions can be traced back to their corresponding marker color. At their new poster, participants should continue where the last group left off, adding words and phrases for as many blank letters as they can in 30 seconds. If all letters are filled before time is up, participants can add additional words or phrases to letters that have already been used.
When time is up again, display slide 23 and direct groups to rotate to another poster. Instruct them to fill in as many blank letters on the next poster as possible within 30 seconds. After the third round, have participants return to their original poster. Ask them to review the responses on their poster and develop a summary of student-centered learning. Direct each group to select one spokesperson to share the summary of their poster with the whole group.
Transition to slide 24 and invite participants to reflect on the different instructional strategies they saw used throughout the session. Ask them to consider the impact these strategies had on their understanding or approach.
As they reflect, pass out one copy of the Instructional Strategy Note Catcher handout to each participant. Invite participants to fill in the first column with their thoughts on how each strategy impacted their understanding of the content. Ask them to fill in the second column with their ideas about how to integrate each strategy into their teaching practices.
If time permits, invite participants to share out their ideas about how they could use the instructional strategies in their classrooms.
Follow-Up Activities
Go to Impactful Engagement: Professional Resources for Authentic Teaching collection to explore professional learning activities over the components of authenticity that are used in 5E lessons.
Research Rationale
In a student-centered classroom, students engage in guided learning opportunities where they make purposeful learning decisions that connect to their own experiences and understanding. Teachers incorporate student choice, allowing students to have a voice in their own learning by fostering an environment where students and teachers collaborate to co-construct new knowledge. The learning environment should include scaffolding opportunities, providing structure that enables students to take control over their own learning (Reiser, 2004; Schwartz et al., 2021). Additionally, lessons should be culturally responsive, integrating diverse cultural perspectives into the classroom to help students create meaningful connections from their everyday experiences (Gay, 2018; Hammond, 2015; NASEM, 2018). Student-centered learning supports students in becoming active, independent learners with teachers gradually allowing for increased autonomy throughout the process.
Resources
Gay, G. (2019). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice (3rd ed.). Teachers College Press.
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching & the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin Press.
K20 Center. (n.d.). ABC graffiti. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/96
K20 Center. (n.d.). Always, sometimes, or never true. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/145
K20 Center. (n.d.). Four corners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/138
K20 Center. (n.d.). Frayer model. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/126
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery walk/carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). Looks like, sounds like, feels like. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/88
K20 Center. (n.d.). Padlet. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/1077
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). How people learn II: Learners, contexts, and cultures. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24783
Reiser, B. J. (2004). Scaffolding complex learning: The mechanisms of structuring and problematizing student work. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(3), 273–304.
Schwartz, L., Adler, I., Madjar, N., & Zion, M. (2021). Rising to the challenge: The effect of individual and social metacognitive scaffolds on students’ expressions of autonomy and competence throughout an inquiry process. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 30(4), 582–593. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-021-09905-4