Student-centered learning. That has such a nice ring to it. It sounds so good that if you mention it in educational circles, people will nod and smile. But while it sounds good and seems like an amazing philosophy, it is rarely practiced. I’m not going to go into why I think that is here. Instead, I’m going to give a structured framework that anyone can use to teach in a student-centered way. This post includes a document that can serve as a guide for you if you decide to employ this framework and teach the way students need to learn.
How many times have you been in a student-centered classroom as a learner? I’m going to bet the answer is not a lot. And, even if you have, just defining what student-centered learning is is such a difficult task that it leaves us all wondering what we are even talking about. There are, in fact, at least 9 or 10 definitions of student-centered and interdisciplinary learning. And I believe that’s the central problem with this approach to learning. Everyone knows it sounds like what we should be doing, but it’s much harder to get on the same page and say, This is how we do it. So, I’m here for that, and I’m going to put out a framework for all teachers to push back against the standards-based, top-down curriculum approach that dominates the education space and give us a way to put structure to philosophy and give learners what they deserve.
Before I get to my framework, I want to make a sincere plea for the necessity of anyone who cares about teachers and teaching to change and change now. Because here’s the truth. If AI can replace what you do as a teacher, you will be replaced. AI is great at presenting facts and knowledge. If you present facts and measure the retention of those facts as your primary function as a teacher, you will be replaced soon. But we know that the true essence of learning is not presenting facts and memorizing. The true nature of learning is to become better humans. This improvement includes creativity, critical thinking, social interaction, and creating. AI can’t and won’t be human. Our job as educators is to lean into those things that robots can’t and won’t do. Our job is to be human in our spaces and to teach others in ways that allow them to lead rich and fulfilling lives.
So, after I said I wouldn’t, I gave you a bit of the why of student-centered learning. Now, let’s get to the how and take a look at my practical framework.
The Free Core
The student-centered framework is known as the core because it presents what is essential to be human in relation to the lives of students. It’s the core or essence of being. The key to this framework is that it mimics the way that learning happens naturally. School, no matter how good, is an artificial recreation of natural learning. The best that schools can do is make learning experiences as natural as possible. The framework consists of four steps that any teacher can go through to teach anything.
Wonder
Learning begins with the wonder of the individual. This is personal wonder. Wonder is related to the things that the student cares about, their experiences, curiosities, and dreams. When we wonder, we learn because those things that we wonder about become the foundation for our explorations.
Challenges
While wonder leads to learning, challenges are the root of all learning. Anything learned is an attempt to overcome a challenge. You might have read that last sentence and instantly have some pushback. I welcome that and will dive deeper into this idea later. However, for now, for the purpose of this framework, I’m stating that challenges are a necessity of learning.
Imagine
The imagine stage is where the learner imagines what is possible to overcome the challenges associated with what they have wondered about. Imagination allows us to creatively invent possible solutions and go through the exercise of mentally testing them out.
Create
The final stage, create, is where the student creates something related to overcoming the challenge. Creating is the manifestation of learning. To create is human. The core framework ends with the creation of a real project that illustrates what has been learned.
This is a very brief synopsis of the framework for student-centered learning that I’ve created. Below is a document that provides more information and structure for the process. There will be follow-up posts to this so that we can continue to explore this concept together.
Miles O'Shea 