Learning Experiences in Elementary School, Research Paper Example

Learner and Teacher centered instruction styles differ in the way the student learns and takes away the information.  The Teacher centered instruction is where the teacher is the one who does the most talking, and the student listens, a pretty cut and dry lecture type class.  The Learner centered instruction also has the teacher giving a lecture, only the lecture is very short, and the rest of the time is dedicated for the student to learn the material on their own.  Whether that is in groups, on the computer, hands on experiments, or individually, the student has more control over how they learn the presented material.

Some examples of the Learner Centered instruction include:  gathering information, sharing information, group critical thinking, cooperative learning, partner learning and experimenting.  When one wants to plan a Learner Centered lesson plan, take into consideration the size of the class, the amount of time, and the subject.

While Teacher Centered instruction is pretty straight forward, the teacher at this point gets to practice certain strategies and allows the teacher to relay information that they know about the subject.  The teacher at this point has control of the classroom and allows for students to work quietly.

My preference was the Learner Centered instruction because I was able to retain the information better than just sitting and listening to someone talk.  Being told the information was one thing, but by actually being able to apply the knowledge made it stick better and made learning more fun.  Reading a book in class was boring, but our teacher created a “script” so to say, and handed out “parts” to students who were going to read that day.  Not only did they read, but they acted out the part of the book we were reading.  It made it fun, memorable, and a different approach to reading in the classroom.