Learner Centered Teaching (LCT) has become a popular phrase among educators nowadays.

It has
been named in several ways such as student-centred approach or learner-centered pedagogy in
many textbooks and journal articles. Looking at the research literature surrounding learner-centred
teaching in the past 20 years, a book published in 2002 by Maryllen Weimer stands as one of the
earlier attempts to comprehensively discuss and define what is LCT about.

In Weimer’s book titled, ‘Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice’, five key changes
were significantly taking place in schools. Each of the features will be discussed briefly below and
are presented in Figure 1.

Balance of Power

 In a traditional classroom, the power to decide what lessons to discuss,

what learning activities students must engage in, and what assessment
tasks to give mainly belongs to the teacher with little input from
students. On the other hand, in a student-centered classroom, a
teacher shares that power
by consulting learners prior to making final decisions.

 The traditional exercise of power in the classroom often benefits the teacher more than it
promotes student learning. The uniform instructional approach or ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept
certainly is more convenient on the part of the teacher who has worked hard in planning,
implementing, and assessing outcomes of learning. However, this uniform approach has been
criticized by scholars by being unresponsive to the diversity of needs, interests, and readiness
among students.

 In order to balance power in the classroom, learners are frequently consulted and given
immediate and ongoing feedback by the teacher. The teacher empowers students by giving
them the opportunity to choose and make decisions like selecting among lesson topics, choose
learning activities, determine pace of learning, and select an assessment task to demonstrate
one’s mastery of targeted learning competencies.

Function of Content

 Current research evidence from educational psychology calls for a change in the function of
curriculum content which should be less on covering it and more on using content to develop a
learner’s individual way of understanding or sense-making. Teachers need to allow learners to
raise their own questions, generate their own answers or solutions.

 From a constructivist perspective, knowledge cannot simply be given to students: Students

must construct their own meanings” (Stage, Muller, Kinzie, and Simmons, 1998, p. 35). In other
words, learners are capable of constructing and reconstructing their knowledge through active
personal effort. This view debunks the current belief about students’ learning from passively
receiving information transmitted from teachers via lectures.

 In order to facilitate learning that changes how students think and understand, teachers must
begin by finding out students’ prior knowledge or conceptions and then design learning
activities that will change these pre-instructional concepts.
 Learner-centered teaching also regards content as more of competency-based learning
in which students master targeted skills and content before progressing to another
lesson. The more important practice here is to accommodate students’ differing pace of
learning. For instance, some students may be able to demonstrate they know how to use
a microscope in 1 hour while others need 2 hours of practice to demonstrate proficiency
in manipulating it.
 With patient guidance and ongoing support from teachers, competency-based learning would
ensure that students advance to new material when they are ready, at their own pace,
whether they can move quickly or whether they need more time.

Role of the Teacher

 Constructivism theory brings the role of the teacher as that of a facilitator

of learning, not as the fountain of learning. He/she instead encourages
students to explore multiple knowledge sources, make sense of it, and
personally organize the information taken from different sources.

 As generally observed, less knowledgeable and experienced learners will interact with
content in less intellectually robust ways, but the goal is to involve students in the process
of acquiring and retaining information.

 This shifting view on the role of the teacher deemphasizes the focus on teaching techniques
and methods if they are considered separate from the subject matter and learning structures of
the discipline.

 Teachers no longer function as exclusive content expert or authoritarian classroom managers

and no long work to improve teaching by developing sophisticated presentation skills.

 Greater involvement with students by the teacher is central to student motivation.

Diekelmann et al (2004) show how a nursing teacher increasingly included students in
‘cocreating compelling courses’ and was surprised ‘by the insights students shared regarding
how to create compelling courses and their willingness to collaborate with …[her] to improve
teaching and learning experiences’ (Diekelmann et al, 2004, p.247).

 Maclellan finds that ‘the teacher is involved in clarifying the subject matter, offering examples,
or suggesting arguments for or against a point of view may minimize the students’ need to
think’ while, equally, ‘little engagement by the tutor, leaving students to determine both
what and how to learn without any criteria to judge their process, is unsatisfactory, inefficient
and makes a nonsense of formal, higher education as a planned and designed system
(Maclellan, 2008, p.418).

 Teachers must become comfortable with changing their leadership style from directive to
consultative-- from "Do as I say" to "Based on your needs, let's co-develop and implement a
plan of action.

Responsibility for Learning

 In recent years, work on self-regulated learning has advanced, and the goal of
21st century education ought to be the creation of independent, autonomous
learners who assume responsibility for their own learning.
  Adults are known to be capable of self-directed learning and that continuous learning
occurs across their career span and lifetime.

 Each student may require different ways of learning, researching and analysing the
information available.

 It establishes that students can and should be made responsible for their own learning.

 Learning skills of autonomous self-regulating learners can be learned and must be taught
even at an early age. This is even more important when entering higher education.

 The learning skills acquired in basic education and higher education will be used
throughout the course of their professional and personal lives.

 Learning is cooperative, collaborative, and community-oriented.

 Students are encouraged to direct their own learning and to work with other students on
research projects and assignments that are both culturally and socially relevant to them.

 Class often starts with a mini-lesson, which then flows into students making choices about
what they need to do next to meet specific learning targets aligned to the standards.

Evaluation Purpose and Process

 The literature on self-directed learning also underscores the importance of assessment, only in
this case it is the ability of students to self-assess accurately. Sophisticated learners know
when they do or do not understand something.
 They can review a performance and identify what needs
improvement.

 They have mechanisms for its collections and methods for

evaluating it and acting on it.

Four Principles of Student-centered Approach

A more recent research on the student-centered approach was reported by Kaput in 2018
that was funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and UMass Donahue Institute. This
study surveyed 12 public high schools in New England in terms of how they apply learner-
centered teaching in their classroom practices. The said survey summarized their findings in
to 4 tenet which are:
 Learning is Students engage in different ways and
Personalized in different places.

Learning is Students move ahead when they have

competency demonstrated mastery of content, not
- based when they’ve reached a certain
birthday or endured the required
Learning hours in a classroom.
happens
anytime, Learning takes place beyond the
anywhere traditional school day, and even the
school year.
Students Learning is also not restricted to the
take classroom.
ownership of
their learning Students are engaged in their own
Learner- success, as well as incorporate their Centered
Principles interests and skills into the learning
process.
Cognitive and metacognitive
factors
This domain refers to thought processes (i.e., cognitive factors) involved in learning as well as the
strategies students use to learn and their reflections about their thought processes (i.e., metacognitive
factors). The Learner-Centered Principles indicate that the learning process, particularly for complex
material, is most effective when students intentionally construct meaning from information and
experience, are provided support and guidance over time to construct coherent representations of
knowledge, can link new knowledge with existing knowledge in meaningful ways, and can use and
develop various learning strategies. In addition, the Learner-Centered Principles indicate that learning is
influenced by various environmental factors such as culture, technology, and instructional or facilitator
practices.
Principle 1: Nature of the learning process
The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process of
constructing meaning from information and experience.

Principle 2: Goals of the learning process

The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can create meaningful,
coherent representations of knowledge.

Principle 3: Construction of knowledge

The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways.
Principle 4: Strategic thinking
The successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning strategies to achieve
complex learning goals

Principle 5: Thinking about thinking

Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate creative and critical
thinking.

Principle 6: Context of learning

Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and instructional
practices.

Motivational and affective factors

This domain refers to students' effort and engagement while learning (i.e., motivational factors) and
emotional states, beliefs, and interests (i.e., affective factors) that influence learning. The Learner-
Centered Principles indicate that students' motivation to learn is natural when they perceive the
context to be supportive and the content to be meaningful and relevant. Enhancing this motivation is
necessary for learning and student motivation impacts what and how much is learned. In addition,
students' affect (i.e., emotional states, beliefs, and interests) influences their motivation and tasks that
are of optimal novelty and difficulty, are relevant to personal interests, and provide personal choice and
control enhance students' intrinsic motivation.

Principle 7: Motivational and emotional influences on learning

What and how much is learned is influenced by the learner’s motivation. Motivation to learn, in turn, is
influenced by the individual’s emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of thinking.

Principle 8: Intrinsic motivation to learn

The learner’s creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn.
Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal
interests, and providing for personal choice and control.
Principle 9: Effects of motivation on effort
Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided practice.
Without learners’ motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion.

Developmental and social factors

This domain refers to students previous experiences and learning readiness (i.e., developmental
factors) as well as interpersonal relations between and among students and teachers or facilitators
(i.e., social factors) that affect current learning. According to the principles in this domain, students
have different previous learning experiences and opportunities and are at different developmental
levels in the intellectual, emotional, physical, and social development. Activities that account for these
differences between and within students are more effective. Furthermore, learning is influenced by
students positive interactions and personal relationships with other students and relevant adults.

Principle 10: Developmental influence on learning

As individuals develop, they encounter different opportunities and experience different constraints for
learning. Learning is most effective when differential development within and across physical,
intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into account.

Principle 11: Social influences on learning

Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others.

Individual differences factors

This domain refers to the differences between and within students (i.e., individual-differences) that
influence learning. The Learner-Centered Principles indicate that individual students have different
strategies and skills for learning based on their backgrounds and prior learning experiences.
Instructional practices that account for these differences in strategies and skills as well as differences in
culture and background are more effective. In addition, setting standards and expectations that are
appropriately high for individual students and assessing students on their progress towards achieving
those standards are integral to learning.

Principle 12: Individual differences in learning

Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior
experience and heredity.
Principle 13: Learning and diversity
Learning is most effective when differences in learners’ linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds are
taken into account.

Principle 14: Standards and assessment

Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing the learner and learning progress –
including diagnostic, process, and outcome assessment – are integral parts of the learning process.

Metacognition is one’s ability to use prior knowledge to plan a strategy for approaching a learning task,
take necessary steps to problem solve, reflect on and evaluate results, and modify one’s approach as
needed. It helps learners choose the right cognitive tool for the task and plays a critical role in
successful learning.

Metacognition refers to awareness of one’s own knowledge—what one does and doesn’t know—and
one’s ability to understand, control, and manipulate one’s cognitive processes (Meichenbaum, 1985). It
includes knowing when and where to use particular strategies for learning and problem solving as well
as how and why to use specific strategies. Metacognition is the ability to use prior knowledge to plan a
strategy for approaching a learning task, take necessary steps to problem solve, reflect on and evaluate
results, and modify one’s approach as needed.

Cognitive strategies are the basic mental abilities we use to think, study, and learn (e.g., recalling
information from memory, analyzing sounds and images, making associations between or
comparing/contrasting different pieces of information, and making inferences or interpreting text).
Stages of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different
stages of intellectual development which reflect the increasing sophistication of children's thought
Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and child development is determined by
biological maturation and interaction with the environment.
At each stage of development, the child’s thinking is qualitatively different from the other stages, that
is, each stage involves a different type of intelligence.

Piaget’s Four Stages

Stage Age Goal
Sensorimotor Birth to 18-24 months Object permanence
Preoperational 2 to 7 years old Symbolic thought
Concrete operationalAges 7 to 11 years Logical thought
Formal operational Adolescence to adulthood Scientific reasoning

The Sensorimotor Stage (object permanence)

Ages: Birth to 2 Years
The first stage is the sensory motor stage, and during this stage the infant focuses on physical
sensations and on learning to co-ordinate his body.
The infants use their actions and senses to explore and learn about their surrounding environment.
A variety of cognitive abilities develop at this stage; which mainly include representational play, object
permanence, deferred imitation and self-recognition.
At this stage, infants live only in present. They do not have anything related to this world stored in their
memory. At age of 8 months, the infant will understand different objects' permanence and they will
search for them when they are not present.
Towards the endpoint of this stage, infants' general symbolic function starts to appear and they can
use two objects to stand for each other. Language begins to appear when they realise that they can use
words to represent feelings and objects. The child starts to store information he knows about the
world, label it and recall it.

From 2 to 7 years: Preoperational stage (Symbolic thought)

Young children and Toddlers gain the ability to represent the world internally through mental imagery
and language.
At this stage, children symbolically think about things. They are able to make one thing, for example, an
object or a word, stand for another thing different from itself.
A child mostly thinks about how the world appears, not how it is. At the preoperational stage, children
do not show problem-solving or logical thinking.
Infants in this age also show animism, which means that they think that toys and other non-living
objects have feelings and live like a person.
By an age of 2 years, toddlers can detach their thought process from the physical world. But, they are
still not yet able to develop operational or logical thinking skills of later stages.
Their thinking is still egocentric (centred on their own world view) and intuitive (based on children's
subjective judgements about events).

7 to 11 years: Concrete operational stage (Logical thought)

At this stage, children start to show logical thinking about concrete events.
They start to grasp the concept of conservation. They understand that, even if things change in
appearance but some properties still remain the same.
Children at this stage can reverse things mentally. They start to think about other people's feelings and
thinking and they also become less egocentric.
This stage is also known as concrete as children begin to think logically. According to Piaget, this stage
is a significant turning point of a child's cognitive development because it marks the starting point of
operational or logical thinking. At this stage, a child is capable of internally working things out in their
head (rather than trying things out in reality).

Stage 3 Processes=
1. Conservation- understand that although an object changes it is still the same.
2. Descentering- takes account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it.
3. Reversibility- ability to sort an object in an order
4. Transitivity- ability to recognize relationships among various things in a serial order.
5. Classification- ability to identify sets of objects according to appearance.

Age 12 and above: Formal operational stage (Symbolic reasoning)

At this stage, individuals perform concrete operations on things and they perform formal operations on
ideas. Formal logical thinking is totally free from perceptual and physical barriers.
At this stage, adolescents can understand abstract concepts. They are able to follow any specific kind
of argument without thinking about any particular examples.
Adolescents are capable of dealing with hypothetical problems with several possible outcomes. This
stage allows the emergence of scientific reasoning, formulating hypotheses and abstract theories as
and whenever needed.

Piaget's (1936, 1950) theory of cognitive development explains how a child constructs a mental model
of the world. He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive
development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the
environment.

Piaget believes that a child's development is led by his own self-centred and focused activities as he is
more independent.
For Piaget, moral development is a construction process, and the interplay of thought and action
creates moral concepts.
Piaget mainly emphasized life events that occur from infancy to the late teenage years. Also, Piaget's
most work is on the topic of cognitive development,

Children’s ability to understand, think about and solve problems in the world develops in a stop-start,
discontinuous manner (rather than gradual changes over time).

▪ It is concerned with children, rather than all learners.

▪ It focuses on development, rather than learning per se, so it does not address learning of information
or specific behaviors.
▪ It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative differences, rather than a gradual
increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc.

The goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the
child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses.
To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of
biological maturation and environmental experience.
Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies
between what they already know and what they discover in their environment.
How is Piaget's Theory Different from others?
Piaget's Theory is different from other theorists in several ways:
Jean Piaget vs Vygotsky: Vygotsky claims that cognitive development is led by social interactions and
children are social beings. Whereas, Piaget believes that a child's development is led by his own self-
centred and focused activities as he is more independent.
Piaget vs Kohlberg: For Piaget, moral development is a construction process, and the interplay of
thought and action creates moral concepts. Whereas, Kohlberg believes that process of exploring
universal moral principles is called development.
Piaget vs Erikson: The main difference between Erikson and Piaget is that Erikson focused on the
understanding of development during the entire life of a person. Whereas, Piaget mainly emphasized
life events that occur from infancy to the late teenage years. Also, Piaget's most work is on the topic of
cognitive development; whereas, Erikson was more interested in the area of emotional development.