Student Centred Teaching Strategies

Student Centred Teaching Strategies

Dr. Sunaina Ahuja Dr. Savita Gupta

Professor and Associate Dean Professor
LPU-HRDC LPU-HRDC
sunaina@lpu.co.in savita.gupta@lpu.co.in

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The Key Takeaways

• How can I re-design the learning experience for my

students?

• Principles of Learner Centered Teaching

• Methods of Learner Centered Teaching

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Section 1

HOW CAN I RE-DESIGN THE

LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR
MY STUDENTS?

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Dr. Sugata Mitra’s Hole-in-the-Wall Project

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Let’s Do It

• Find out about ‘Hole in the Wall Project’ by Dr.

Sugata Mitra and share your findings with the class.

• Time : 10 min.

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Poll

• The first experiment of ‘Hole in the Wall Project’ was

done by Dr. Mitra in :
– Andheri, Mumbai
– Kalkaji , New Delhi
– Dharavi Slum, Mumbai.
– Rajendra Nagar Slum, Bangalore

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Poll

• Dr. Sugata Mitra’s hole in the wall project involved

experimental studies in :-

– Computer Science
– Biotechnology
– Educational Technology
– Theoretical Physics

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Let’s Discuss

• Introduce Dr. Sugata Mitra to the class.

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Dr. Sugata Mitra

• Born 12 February 1952

• Indian computer Scientist and Educational theorist.
• He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and
widely cited in works on literacy and education.
• He is Professor Emeritus at NIIT University, Rajasthan,
India.
• A Ph.D. in theoretical physics, he retired in 2019 as
Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle
University in England, after 13 years there including a year
in 2012 as Visiting Professor at MIT MediaLab in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
• He won the TED Prize 2013.
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Let’s Discuss

• Briefly explain the Procedure and Results of Hole in

the Wall Project.

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The Hole in the Wall Project

• Author : Dr. Sugata Mitra

• In early 1999, some colleagues and I sunk a computer
into the opening of a wall near our office in Kalkaji, New
Delhi.
• The area was located in an expansive slum, with
desperately poor people struggling to survive.
• The screen was visible from the street, and the PC was
available to anyone who passed by.
• The computer had online access and a number of
programs that could be used, but no instructions were
given for its use.

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The Hole in the Wall Project

• What happened next astonished us.

• Children came running out of the nearest slum and
glued themselves to the computer.
• They couldn't get enough.
• They began to click and explore.
• They began to learn how to use this strange thing.
• A few hours later, a visibly surprised Vivek said the
children were actually surfing the Web.

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The Hole in the Wall Project

• We left the PC where it was, available to everyone on

the street, and within six months
– the children of the neighborhood had learned all
the mouse operations
– could open and close programs
– were going online to download games, music and
videos.
• We asked them how they had learned all of these
sophisticated maneuvers, and each time they told us
they had taught themselves.

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The Hole in the Wall Project

• Interestingly, they described the computer in their

own terms, For instance,
– the children's word for the hourglass symbol that
appears when a program is "thinking" was
"damru,"
– The mouse cursor was called "sui," or "teer,"

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The Hole in the Wall Project

• We repeated the experiment in two other locations:

– in the city of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh
– in a village called Madantusi in Uttar Pradesh.
• Both of these experiments showed the same result as
the Kalkaji experiment:
• The children seemed to learn to use the computer
without any assistance. Language did not matter, and
neither did education.

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The Hole in the Wall Project

• Over the next decade we did extensive research in

self-directed learning, in many places and through
many cultures, throughout the world.
• Each time, the children were able to develop deep
learning by teaching themselves.
• I decided to call the method of instruction we had
developed Minimally Invasive Education (MIE).
• The rest of the world continues to call it the Hole in
the Wall.

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Talk : Dr. Sugata Mitra

• Short film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE5GX3U3BYQ
• TED TALK: A must watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU

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What is Learner-Centred Teaching?

• Teacher-led pedagogy - ‘lecturing, note-taking, and

memorizing information for later reproduction’

• Learner-centred approach shifts the focus of activity

from the teacher to the learners
▪ Emphasizes what the learners do as against what the
teacher does

• Based on constructivist theories

▪ Learners are not passive recipients of information; they
construct and reconstruct knowledge in order to learn

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Why do we need Learner-Centred Teaching ?

• Research shows that learner-centered methods

lead to
▪ Increased student engagement with the content
▪ Deep learning
▪ Long term retention
▪ Acquisition of critical thinking or creative
problem-solving skills
▪ Positive attitude toward the subject being taught
▪ Confidence in knowledge or skills

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Poll

Learner Centered Teaching shift the focus of activity to

what the ______ do as against what the _______ does

A : teachers, learner
B : learners, teacher

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Section 2

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNER
CENTERED TEACHING

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Let’s Do It

• Find Out the Principles of Learner Centered Teaching

by (Weimer 2002) and share your findings with other
participants.
• Time : 5 min.

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Five Principles to Learner-Centered
Approach (Weimer 2002)

1. Balance of Power:
– Give students power in making decisions
and contributions to the course

2. The Function of Content:

– Don’t feel stressed to cover everything and
remember, covering content and promoting
learning are mutually reinforcing!!

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Five Principles Continued

3. The Role of Teacher:

– Teachers would be “guides, gardeners, helpers”
not just deliverers or organizers of information
4. The Responsibility for Learning:
– Is the student’s responsibility.
5. The Purpose and Processes of Evaluation:
– Should be more about how much they are
learning than what grade they received.

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Poll

• As per the principles of learner centered teaching, the

role of a teacher is

• A : Sage on the stage

• B : Guide by the side

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Section 3

METHODS OF LEARNER
CENTERED TEACHING

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 Role of Teacher
We won’t meet the needs for
more and better higher
education until professors
become designers of
learning experiences and
not teachers.

- Larry Spence, Ph.D. (2001)

The Pennsylvania State University

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Case Study: Exceptional Teacher

The winner of the USD 1-million annual Global Teacher Prize 2020 in
recognition of his efforts to trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook
revolution in India.

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Research Says…

The person who does the

work is the ONLY one who
learns.

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Look into Several Classrooms

• Who is working?
–Instructor
• Who is learning most?
–Instructor

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Who Should Be Working?

The student should

be the worker.

MAKE THE STUDENT

WORK!!
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Let’s Brainstorm

• How can You make your student work?

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Some learner-Centred methods
• Active learning
▪ Students solve problems, answer questions,
formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain,
debate, or brainstorm during class
• Collaborative/Cooperative learning
▪ Students work in teams on problems and projects
under conditions that assure both positive
interdependence and individual accountability

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TEACHING STYLES ACTIVITY
EXAMPLE ONE EXAMPLE TWO
The teacher was: The teacher was:
• Presenting facts without a context • Drawing on students’ experience
• Doing the majority of the talking • Coaching the students towards finding
• Directing the students every move the answers
• Supplying most of the answers • Modeling thought processes, rather
• Not discussing his/her thought than presenting facts
processes loud • Validating all students suggestions
What does the student feel: What does the student feel:

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How is the 2nd teaching example student-
centered?

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Activity Identify each teaching situation as ‘Teacher-
Centered‘(TC) or ‘Student-Centered‘(SC)

• A teacher teaching about density places different

substances (oil, food coloring, copper coin) in water
and has the class predict and explain the behavior of
these substances in water.
A. Teacher-Centered (TC)
B. Student-Centered(SC)

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• A teacher teaching about combination of circuits
draws a series and a parallel circuit on the board
points to each circuit and writes “series” or “parallel”
under it, and tells the class to repeat the words.
A. Teacher-Centered (TC)
B. Student-Centered(SC)

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• A teacher conducting a lesson about gravity drops a
ball to the floor in the class and then allows the class
to guess why it falls to the floor. The teacher writes
students’ responses on the board after brainstorming
and discussion the correct conclusion is drawn.
A. Teacher-Centered (TC)
B. Student-Centered(SC)

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Learner Centred Teaching Methods

Inductive Teaching

Flipped Classroom

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning

Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE)

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• Inductive teaching and learning
▪ Students are first presented with challenges
(questions or problems) and learn the course
material in the context of addressing the
challenges.
▪ Includes inquiry-based learning, case-based
instruction, problem-based learning, project-based
learning, discovery learning, and just-in-time
teaching.

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Poll

• In ----------- teaching method students are first

presented with challenges (questions or problems)
and learn the course material in the context of
addressing the challenges.

• A : Constructivist
• B : Inductive
• C : Conclusive

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Flipped Classrooms

• Inverts traditional classroom teaching methods

• Delivers instruction outside of class
• Activities, discussions, “homework” in class

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Examples of collaborative learning or
group work
Stump your partner

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Examples of collaborative learning or
group work

Think-pair-share/ Write-pair-share

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Examples of collaborative learning or
group work
Catch-up

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 Examples of collaborative learning or
group work
Team-based learning (adapted from L.K. Michaelsen in
Davis, 2009)

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Examples of collaborative learning or
group work
Group problem solving

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Examples of collaborative learning or
group work
Fishbowl Discussion

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Self-Organized Learning Environments (SOLE)

• Dr. Sugata Mitra : Children group around Internet-

equipped computers to discuss big questions.
• The teacher merges into the background and observes
as learning happens.

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• Source : Jacquelyn O'Malley (2017) :
• This past year, I began teaching a new project-based
elective for middle school students called 3D
Storytelling, which combines humanities and
STEAM objectives.
• Students use the design process to create their own
pop-up books.
• Before they begin, they must build a foundation of
knowledge of both storytelling and paper
engineering.

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SOLE

• Many students have seen a pop-up book before, but

few, if any, have asked themselves, “How can I make
this?”
• To build the foundation of knowledge, my supervisor
encouraged me to adopt SOLE as my main approach.
• I was intrigued yet nervous. I wanted to empower
students to take more responsibility over their own
learning, yet so much about the approach went
against my teaching instincts.

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SOLE

• What would it look like if I were to hand over the

majority of my 55-minute class period to my
students?

• To my surprise, my journey with SOLE has exceeded

my expectations and greatly impacted my practices.

• SOLE is an effective method for fostering student-

centered learning

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The School in the Cloud
• Cloud-based, scalable approaches to self-directed
learning.

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References

• https://www.edutopia.org/blog/self-organized-
learning-sugata-mitra
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE5GX3U3BYQ
• https://www.edutopia.org/blog/getting-started-self-
organized-learning-environments-jacquelyn-omalley
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU
• https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/creating-
significant-
learning/9781118124253/xhtml/Chapter01.html

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Dr. Sunaina Ahuja Dr.Savita Gupta
sunaina@lpu.co.in savita.gupta@lpu.co.in

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