A Comparison of Teacher-Centered and Student-Centered Approaches in Educational Settings

Abstract

Student-centered instruction in the classroom has recently challenged teacher-centeredness for allowing students to construct their understandings using their experiences and actions. Student-centered pedagogy is based on constructivist and democratic principles. That students make sense of what they learn in a classroom environment in which they are stimulated to develop their reflective and critical thinking and sense of responsibility come to the fore in student-centered pedagogy. Teacher-centered instruction on the other hand relied heavily on the behaviorist theory which was based on the idea that behavior changes are caused by external stimuli. Compared with student-centered classroom, students in teacher-centered classroom are passive and respond to environmental stimuli. Teacher has the ultimate authority and is in charge of learning for that reason students do not have adequate opportunities to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. This article endeavors to compare student-centered and teachercentered approaches and documents their general features in the classroom.