Learner-Centered Teaching

Dear Colleagues,

Twenty years ago, Change: The Magazine for Higher Learning published John Tagg and Bob Barr’s seminal article, “From Teaching to Learning”. In the article, Tagg and Barr outlined what has come to be known as Learner-Centered Teaching (LCT). By definition, LCT employs instructive practices designed to optimize opportunities for student learning. To optimize students’ learning, teachers must be able to answer two essential questions:

1.         Am I up-to-date on what is known about how learning happens in the human brain?

2.         Do I know what teaching actions are in harmony with what is known about human learning?

This Special Issue seeks success stories, proven by research, concerning the use of learner-centered practices that have optimized students’ learning. Much has been written about the need to move to more learner-centered active learning practices. A great deal of brain research supports the notion that the learner-centered approach (where the students do the work of learning) causes the brain to form the neuro-connections and long-term memories that determine whether something has been “learned”. This issue is particularly interested in studies that have shown learner-centered teaching to be the effective learning tool that brain research suggests it can be.

Prof. Dr. Terrence J. Doyle
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

References

Weimer, Maryellen. (2002) Learner-Centered Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Stern, Peter. (2010) Can You Build a Better Brain? In Newsweek, Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/03/can-you-build-a-better-brain.html.
Stern, Y. (2006) The concept of cognitive reserve: A catalyst for research. In: Stern, Y. (Ed). Cognitive Reserve: Theory and Applications, 1-4.
Shams, L. & Seitz, Aaron. (2008) “Benefits of multisensory learning.” Trends in Cognitive Science, 12, 411-417.
Robert C. Barkman. (2000) Patterns, the Brain, and Learning, The Science of Learning November, Volume 4, Number 3.
Hillman, Charles H., Erickson, Kirk & Krame, Arthur, F. (2008) Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 58-65. doi:10.1038/nrn2298.
Doyle, T. (2011) Learner Centered Teaching Putting the Research on Learning into Practice. Virginia: Stylus.
Doyle, T. (2008) Helping Students Learn in a Learner Centered Environment. Virginia: Stylus.

• learner centered teaching
• student centered learning
• multisensory learning and teaching
• patterns used in teaching and learning
• sleep and learning and memory
• exercise and learning and memory
• attention and learning; multitasking
• memory and elaboration
• emotion and memory
• effective uses of technology for learning
• diet and learning