FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
EDUC04
LEIZEL C. DELA CRUZ, LPT
CHAPTER 1
LEARNER-CENTERED THEORIES OF LEARNING
GOAL OF EDUCATION
 The goal of education is to effect learning among students and the population at large.
THE NATURE OF LEARNING
 Learning is generally defined as any change in the behavior of the learner. The change can be
deliberated or unintentional, for better or for worse, correct or incorrect and conscious or
unconscious (Mayer 2011; and Schunk, 2012 in Woolfolk, 2013).
 To qualify for learning, the change should be brought about by experience or by interaction of
the person with the environment.
 It is not learning if the change is brought about by maturation like getting taller or hair turning
gray. Temporary changes due to illness, fatigue, or hunger are not also included as example of
learning.
LEARNING
 Learning is a process that brings together personal and environmental experiences and
influences for acquiring, enriching or modifying one’s knowledge, skills, values, attitudes,
behavior and world views (“Education,” n.d.)
 Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior with behavior including both observable
activity and internal processes such as thinking, attitudes, and emotions (Burns, 1995).
 Learning is a relatively permanent influence on behavior, knowledge, and thinking skills that
comes about through experiences. Santrock goes further to say that it is a long-term change in
mental representations or associations as a result of experiences (Santrock, 2012, p. 217).
 Learning occurs when experience (including practice) causes a relatively permanent change in
an individual’s knowledge, behavior or potential for behavior (Woolfolk, 2016).
 Learning is a long-term change in mental presentations or associations as a result of experience
(Ormrod, 2015).
ELEMENTS THAT COVER THE DEFINITION OF LEARNING:
a) It is a long-term change (though it does not necessarily last forever).
b) The change is brought about by experiences.
c) It does not include changes that are physiological like maturation, mental illness, fatigue, hunger
or the like.
d) It involves mental representation and association, presumably, it has basis in the brain.
TYPES OF LEARNING
a) Motor Learning, it is a form of learning for one to maintain and go through daily life activities.
These activities involve motor coordination. Example, walking, running, driving, climbing, and the
like.
b) Verbal Learning, it involves the use of spoken language as well as the communication devices
used. Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds are tools used in such activities.
c) Concept Learning, a form of learning which requires the use of higher-order mental processes like
thinking, reasoning, and analyzing. It involves two processes: abstraction and generalization.
d) Discrimination Learning, it is learning to differentiate between stimuli and responding
appropriately to these stimuli. An example is being able to distinguish the sound of horns of
different vehicles like bus, car, and ambulance.
e) Learning of Principles, it is learning principles related to science, mathematics, grammar and the
like. Principles show the relationship between two or more concepts, some examples of which
are formulas, laws, associations, correlations, and the like.
f) Problem Solving, this is a higher-order thinking process. This learning requires the use of cognitive
abilities - such as thinking, reasoning, observation, imagination and generalization.
g) Attitude Learning, attitude is a predisposition which determines and predicts behavior. Learned
attitudes influence one’s behavior toward people, objects, things or idea (“Learning, Meaning,
Nature, Types and Theories of Learning,” n.d.).
LEARNING THEORY
 A learning theory is an organized set of principles explaining how individuals acquire, retain, and
recall knowledge.
 Learning theories try to explain how people learn and why they learn. They also try to explain the
phenomenon of learning - its nature, and the conditions under which learning best occurs.
("Educational Learning and Learning Theories," n. d.).
LEARNER-CENTERED
 Learner-centered is the perspective that focuses on individual learners – their heredity,
experiences, perspectives, background, talents, interests, capacities, and needs, with a focus on
learning - the best available knowledge about learning and how it occurs, and about teaching
practices that are most effective in promoting the highest levels of motivation, learning and
achievement for all learners.
LEARNER-CENTERED PRINCIPLES:
a) They pertain to the learner and the learning process.
b) They focus on psychological factors primarily internal and under the control of the learner.
c) They deal with external or contextual factors that interact with the internal factors.
d) They are seen as an organized set of principles; no principle to be viewed in isolation.
e) The principles are classified under cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, affective,
developmental, social, and individual difference factor related to learning.
f) These principles apply not only to all learners but to everybody involved in the educational
system, as for example, teachers, administrators, parents, staff and guidance counselors.
LEARNER-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES:
Learner-centered psychological principles provide the bases for understanding better the learner,
and what learning is and should be (Workgroup of the American Psychological Association Board of
Educational Affairs, 1997 cited in Santrock, 2011). Learner-centered does not only refer to learnercharacteristics, but also to the beliefs, dispositions, and practices that are created by teachers.
COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE FACTORS
1. Nature of the Learning Process. Learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is
an intentional process of constructing meaning from information and experience.
2. Goals of the Learning Process. The successful learner, over time, with support and guidance can
create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.
3. Construction of Knowledge. The learner can relate new information in meaningful ways.
4. Strategic Thinking. The learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning
strategies to achieve complex goals.
5. Thinking About Thinking. Higher-order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations
facilitate creative and critical thinking.
6. Context of Learning. Learning is influenced by environmental factors including culture
technology, and instructional practices.
MOTIVATIONAL AND AFFECTIVE FACTORS
7. Motivational and Emotional Influences in Learning. What and how much is learned is influenced
by the learner's level of motivation. Motivation to learn is in turn influenced by the learner's
emotional states, beliefs, interests, goals and habits of thinking.
8. Intrinsic Motivation to Learn. Learning is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty,
relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.
9. Effects of Motivation in Effort. Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended
learner effort and guided practice. Without this motivation, willingness to exert effort is unlikely,
unless coerced.
DEVELOPMENTAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS
10. Developmental Influences on Learning. As individuals develop, they encounter different
opportunities and experiences, as well as constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when
differential within and across physical, intellectual, emotional and social domains is taken into
account.
11. Social Influences on Learning. Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal
relations, and communication with others.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES FACTORS
12. Individual Differences in Learning. Learners have different strategies, approaches and capabilities
for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity.
13. Learning and Diversity. Learning is most effective when differences in learners' linguistic, social,
and cultural backgrounds are taken into account.
14. Standards and Assessment. Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing
the learner and learning progress - including diagnostic and outcome assessment are integral
parts of the learning process.
LEARNER-CENTERED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES (Santrock, 2011):
1. Problem-Based Learning. This strategy emphasizes real-life problem-solving. It exposes learners
to authentic life problems that they meet in their daily lives. This approach involves small-group
efforts to identify problems and issues they wish to tackle and explore, then identify materials
and resources to solve the problems. The teacher guides and monitors the learners' problemsolving efforts.
2. Essential Questions. Essential questions are asked of learners, which perplex them. This is
followed by other questions, which motivate the students to explore the questions and look for
answers. The questions cause the students to think, and provoke their curiosity. These questions
are creative. A "dull” question, like "What is the effect of the People Power Revolution in our
political and economic life?" can be translated into a more thought-provoking one like, "Is the
People Power Revolution still going on?"
3. Discovery Learning. This approach is in contrast to direct-instruction approach. Teachers create
the situation where students explore and figure out things for themselves. The guided discovery
learning evolved from discovery learning, where students still construct their own understanding
but with the guidance of the teacher.
THEORIES OF LEARNING
BEHAVIORISM
 Behaviorism is a world view that assumes the learner is essentially passive, responding to
environmental stimuli. This perspective emerged in the early 1900s through the research efforts
of Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike who made more objective studies about learning as
opposed to the studies on learning which relied heavily on introspection.
 The learner starts off with a clean slate (i.e., tabula rasa) and behavior is learned or shaped
through positive reinforcement. Both of these increase the probability that the antecedent
behavior will be repeated or will happen again. Behaviorism operates on the principle of
“stimulus-response” (S-R).
 Behaviorism instruction, however, does not prepare the learners for problem-solving which
currently is the skill being developed among learners for survival. This is because behaviorism
looks at the learner as a passive learner. Learning is promoted by environmental factors like
reinforcement, feedback, practice or repetition. (“Behaviorism,” n.d.).
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF BEHAVIORISM (Ormrod, 2015):
a) Principles of learning should apply equally to different behaviors and to a variety of animal
species. This is on the assumption that humans and other animals learn similar ways. Thus
behaviorists-researchers apply to humans what they have derived from the studies of animals.
b) Learning processes can be studied most objectively when the focus of study is on the stimuli and
responses. It is argued that stimuli and responses are observable and measurable which
contribute to objectivity of studying learning.
c) Internal processes tend to be excluded or minimized in theoretical explanations. This thinking
stemmed from the argument that these internal behaviors cannot be directly observed. Recently,
however, there has emerged a thinking propounded by neo-behaviorists that learning is better
understood if cognitive processes, be included as a factor, that explains learning.
d) Learning involves a behavior change.
e) Organisms are born as blank slates.
f) Learning is largely the result of environmental events.
g) The most useful theories tend to be parsimonious (or concise).
The areas of application of theories under behaviorism: (Ormrod, 2015 and Kelly, September, 2012)
a) Drill/Rote work
b) Repetitive practice
c) Giving bonus points
d) Giving participation points
e) Verbal reinforcement
f) Establishing rules
g) Giving of rewards
h) Applying punishment
i) Giving feedback
j) Positive reinforcement
k) Token reinforcers
l) Negative reinforcement
COGNITIVISM OR COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTIVISM
 The human mind is seen as a “black box” and it is necessary to open it for a better understanding
of how people learn. Mental processes such as memory, knowing, problem-solving, reasoning and
other such processes need to be explored. People are seen not as programmed beings that simply
respond to environmental stimuli, as is propounded in behaviorism.
 Cognitivism requires active participation in order to learn and actions are seen as a result of
thinking. Knowledge can be seen as schema or symbolic mental constructions; thus, learning is
defined as change in a learner’s schemata.
 The learner's mind is compared to a computer which does a lot of processing of the data fed into
it. Thus, individuals are thought of as active learners, actively engaged in their learning; and
actively seeking ways to understand and process information that they receive and relate this to
what is already known and stored within memory. Learning is an internal process rather than
responding to external stimuli. Learning involves the reorganization of experiences, either by
attaining new insights or changing old ones. Thus, learning is a change in knowledge which is
stored in memory and not just a change in behavior (Kelly, September 2012).
Examples and applications of the cognitive learning theory (Kelly, September 2012):
a) Classifying or chunking information
b) Linking concepts (associate new content with something known)
c) Providing structure (organizing lectures in efficient and meaningful ways)
d) Real world examples
e) Discussions
f) Problem-solving
g) Analogies
h) Imagery/providing pictures
i) Mnemonics
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
 Learning is an active constructive process. It focuses on collaborative nature of learning. The
learner himself constructs knowledge. People actively construct or create their own
representation of objective reality. New information is linked to prior knowledge, thus mental
representations are subjective. Learning is seen as an active contextualized process of
constructing knowledge instead of simply acquiring it. Knowledge is based on the learners'
personal experiences and expectations of the environment and where they continuously test
these expectations through social negotiations.
Following are some applications of social constructivism (Kelly, September 2012):
a) Case Studies
b) Research Projects
c) Problem Solving
d) Brainstorming
e) Collaborative Learning/Group Work
f) Discovery Learning
g) Simulations
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
1. Social Learning Theory. This theory was espoused by Albert Bandura. This theory suggests that
people learn within a social context and that learning is facilitated through concepts like
modeling, observational learning and imitation. Bandura argues that children learn from
observing others as well as from model behavior, which are process involving attention, retention,
reproduction, and motivation. The importance of positive role modeling on learning is wellestablished.
Implications of Social Learning on the Practice of Education:
a) Students often learn a great deal simply by observing people.
b) Describing consequences of behavior can effectively increase appropriate behaviors and decrease
inappropriate ones.
c) Modelling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching new behaviors. It can provide a faster,
more efficient means of teaching new behavior.
d) Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and take care not to model
inappropriate behaviors.
e) Teacher should expose students to a variety of others model to break down traditional
stereotypes.
2. Socio-constructivism Theory. It emphasized the significant role of context particularly social
interaction in learning. Criticism against the information-processing between constructivist
approach to cognition and learning became stronger as the pioneer work of Lev Vygotsky. The
essence of this criticism was that the information-processing constructivism saw cognition and
learning as processes occurring within the mind in isolation from the surroundings and interaction
with it. Vygotsky believed that learners could achieve much greater level of learning through the
help of a More Knowledgeable Other (instructor). The area where the instructor should be most
sensitive to guidance is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Implications of Socio-Constructivism on the Practice of Education:
a) Teachers should create opportunities for students to engage in a group work or cooperative
learning.
b) In group or cooperative work, teachers should make sure that each learner is able to make his
contribution to accomplish the task.
c) The topics or subject matter should contain local instructional materials which are familiar to the
learners. This is for more meaningful learning.
d) Local resources should be used as jump-off point for group discussions, and problem-solving tasks.
3. Experiential Learning. Experiential learning theories build on social and constructivist theories of
learning but situate experience at the core of the learning process. They aim to understand the
manner in which experiences, whether first- or second-hand motivate learners and promote their
learning. Therefore, learning is about meaningful experiences in everyday life-that lead to a
change in individual’s knowledge and behaviors. Carl Rogers is an influential proponent of these
theories suggesting that experiential learning is “self-initiated” learning as people have a natural
inclination to learn; and they learn if they are fully involved in the learning process.
Rogers put forward the following insights:
a) learning can only be facilitated; we cannot reach another person directly;
b) learners become more rigid under threat;
c) significant learning occurs in an environment where threat to the learner is reduced to a
minimum;
d) learning is most likely to occur and to last if it is self-initiated.
Implications of Experiential Learning to the Practice of Education:
a) Teachers should be keen and sensitive to the history and experiences of the learners, which could
serve as inputs for related lessons. In so doing, students would feel that they are involved in the
learning process, because it is their own experience which they are studying.
b) Teacher should make sure that they have a feel of the experiences of the students, so that they
are better able to create an atmosphere for students that is relaxed.
c) Teachers should apply strategies meant to facilitate and guide students’ learning, so that they do
not have to always be the source of learning materials.
4. Multiple Intelligences (MI). This theory challenges the assumption in many learning theories that
learning is a universal human process that all individuals experience according to the same
principles. Howard Gardner’s theory of intelligence challenges the understanding that
intelligence is dominated by a single general ability. He argues that intelligence actually consists
of many distinct intelligences: logico-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, musical, bodilykinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal ability, and naturalistic ability. This theory is
speculative but appreciated by teachers in broadening their framework of developing skills,
curriculum and testing. The MI theory “requires” the teachers to come up with a variety of
instructional materials and strategies, to make sure that the needs of students with specific
intelligences or abilities are addressed.
5. Situated Learning Theory and Community of Practice. These concepts were developed by Jean
Lave and Ettiene Wenger. Situated learning recognizes that there is no learning that is not
situated. It emphasizes the relational and negotiated character of knowledge and learning as well
as the engaged nature of learning activity for individuals involved. The theory further asserts that
it is within communities that learning occurs most effectively. Interactions taking place within a
community of practice, i.e., cooperation, problem solving, building trust, understanding and
relations-have the potential to foster community social capital that enhances the community
members’ well-being. Sergiovanni reinforces the idea that learning is most effective when it
takes place in communities. Communities of practice is not confined only to schools but to cover
other settings like workplaces and organizations. It seeks to understand both the structure of
communities and how learning occurs in them (“Education,” n.d.).
Concept of Community of practice is based on the following assumptions (McCarthy, 1981, 1987):
a) Learning is fundamentally a social phenomenon. People organize their learning around social
communities where they belong. Therefore, schools are powerful learning environment for
students whose social communities coincide with the school.
b) Knowledge is integrated in the life of communities that share values, beliefs, language and ways
of doing things. These are called communities of practice. Real knowledge is integrated in the
doing, social relations, and expertise of these communities.
c) The process of learning and membership in a community of practice are inseparable. Because
learning is intertwined with community membership, it is what lets us belong to adjust our status
in the group.
d) Knowledge is inseparable from practice. It is impossible to know without doing. By doing, we
learn.
e) Empowerment or the ability to contribute to a community creates the potential for learning. This
is because individuals learn from experiences of others.
6. 21st Century Learning Skills. The study or exploration of 21st century learning or skills emerged
from the concerns about transforming the goals and daily practice of learning to meet new
demands of the 21st century characterized as knowledge and technology-driven. These are skills
necessary for students to master for them to experience school and life success in an increasingly
digital and connected age. Current discussions about 21st century skills lead classrooms and other
environments to encourage the development of core subject knowledge as well as media literacy,
critical and systems thinking. Group learning and use of thematic projects involving inquiry-based
collaborative work that addresses world issues support the learning of the 21st Century Skills.
(Source: https://unesco.org/new/en).