Student-Centered Learning by Design

Course

Introduction [1:51]

About
Transcript

One great way to help students engage actively in their research is to help them discover their own investment. Actionable research is the result of student-centered curriculum design: moving from assignments that ask students to "prove you understand" toward those that encourage them to "use this knowledge to make a difference." In this course, Jacquelyn Whiting shares the benefits of and strategies for helping students use research to apply newfound knowledge to a situation they can see firsthand in their own lives, strengthening problem-solving skills through direct, positive action.

In this course, you will:

Collaboratively develop an understanding of the attributes of student-centered learning
Learn and apply the tenets of a design-thinking mindset
Identify real-world problems that affect your student populations
Put the concepts into practice with a model unit of inquiry

This course was created from a professional learning event Teaching Research as a Force for Change hosted by School Library Connection and ABC-CLIO. This event explored the challenges and opportunities in teaching research skills and the research process to today's middle and high school students. Please check out the other courses from this event: Embracing an Inquiry Stance by Barbara K. Stripling, Controlling Chaos!: Build Student Agency with Self-Selected Research Projects by Elizabeth Barrera Rush, and Marketing Your Digital Materials to Students and Teachers by Melissa Thom.

We've talked a lot about student-centered learning, student-centered teaching, student-centered classrooms, or learning environments. So what does student-centered learning mean for you? Let's let's find out what our individual baselines are here today. So pop those ideas in the chat. What is student-centered learning? Student driven. Thank you, Wendy. Yeah, based on their interest and their capacity, students have choice, listening to their ideas. Again, choice, nice. Students drive the activity with initial guidance. That's interesting, Shannon, thank you. The student does the thinking, not the teacher. Yes I like to think about it as the teacher as the lead learner. Right? The person in the classroom who's been learning the longest and perhaps has the widest repertoire of skills for learning, but that you are learning alongside of students, modeling good learning habits, so that they can be making those decisions for themselves about what works best for them—rather than giving everybody a path that everyone must follow, kind of marching along lockstep, even if it's a differentiated path, it's still a teacher-selected path, right? And so the more we empower students to leverage the resources and the materials that are around them, that we can help them to create for themselves, the better they become at developing that inquiry stance that Barbara talked about. The better they become able to really be lifelong learners, to have curiosity, to seek answers, to engage in problem solving, no matter what community they join as they grow and evolve and move on to other phases of their lives. So thank you so much for all of that.

Additional Resources

Bibliography.

About the Author

Jacquelyn Whiting is the Instructional Coach and Technology Integrator for a school district in Connecticut. She has a bachelor's in Government Studies and Studio Art from Connecticut College and a master's in Social Studies and Education from South Connecticut State University. She is also a Google Certified Innovator, a Google Certified Coach, and Local Activator for Future Design School. Jacquelyn is the co-author of News Literacy: The Keys to Combating Fake News and the author of Student-Centered Learning by Design. She presents frequently on human-centered design, student and educator voice, and innovative educational technology practices. You can follow her tweeting @MsJWhiting.

MLA Citation

Whiting, Jacquelyn. "Student-Centered Learning by Design. Introduction [1:51]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, August 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course?LearningModuleId=2267090&topicCenterId=2247903.

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https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course?LearningModuleId=2267090&topicCenterId=2247903

Entry ID: 2267088