The teacher needs to take the role of
facilitator while providing opportunities for real-life applications, problem
solving, and cooperative learning. Meaningful learning is what prepares our
students to communicate and collaborate, research ideas, and collect,
synthesize, and analyze information. Student-centered classrooms with the goal
of constructing knowledge is essential to prepare students for the workforce
and for a life full of powerful, individualized learning strategies.
Proficiency in problem solving allows students to be able to apply various strategies and to think beyond limitations. An instance where problem solving skills can be practiced in a math lesson would be giving students a set of tangrams and asking them to create shapes given a template. This activity would be appropriate for auditory, kinesthetic, and visual learners alike. Auditory learners might talk themselves through the process, or could talk it through with a partner to solve the problem and make connections. Kinesthetic learners will appreciate the movement of tangrams in order to come to a solution while visual learners will utilize the modeled pictures and various tangrams to solve. The planning and construction of knowledge that occurs during a problem solving activity falls into the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy in regards to comprehension. Collaborative learning allows students to effectively work and share ideas with peers. This is a skill that should be practiced in the classroom during opportunities in which they come to consensus and make group decisions. In incorporating collaborative learning into the classroom, the teacher should be presenting an assignment in which students develop positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction. Modifying a game of math bingo can engage students in cooperative learning. The teacher can assign pairs of students to share one board. The teacher then displays equations and asks students to complete the equation with their teammate. Students work the problem together and then check their board, relying on each other to determine the correct answer. This is a fun and exciting way to engage students while allowing them to interact and exchange ideas with peers. Consistently engaging students in these activities will build class community which enhances the student-centered environment as students feel they all share the class and the teacher is not the center of knowledge. Differentiated instruction allows students to develop individualized learning strategies that will help them in the future. The teacher should anticipate and respond to a variety of student needs in the classroom. The more this is practiced in the classroom, the more success the student has, thus motivating them to increase effort. In the context of a lesson about the Pythagorean Theorem, a teacher can instruct based on a tier model that accommodates to all-leveled students based on product, process, outcomes, resources, or challenge level. The lower-leveled students can apply the formula to simple triangles. The typically-leveled students can devise a real-life application to the formula and apply it. The gifted and talented students can identify applications of the formula that are really used in the world of work. All students should be challenged on a level that is appropriate to their academic developmental level to reach their full potential. In being the facilitator, the teacher will push students to learn to be open to several perspectives as they create their own knowledge to prepare them for the future. While students must gain knowledge to guide them in the future, the real learning is in the process. When students develop ways they can learn in the future, they are set up for success beyond the classroom. The teacher must encourage this process by inspiring and motivating learning that guides students to become lifelong learners. |