POINTERS FOR PRELIM EXAM

TEST-1. ENUMERATION = 1-10 (Coverage: Weimer’s knowledge only)

TEST II. FILL-IN-THE -BLANKS = 1-30

Because I love all my students, I highlighted the sentences that will come out in the Fill-in-the- Blank questions, so
that you will not feel any difficulties in studying and in answering the test.

1. Weimer’s Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice

Learner-centered teaching: A definition - Learner - centered teaching places
the emphasis on the person who is doing the learning (Weimer, 2002).
A summary Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice(Maryellen
Weimer, 2013)
Over the last decade, the principles of learner-centered teaching have gained
widespread use throughout all levels and disciplines of education. Unfortunately, as the
1
principles have gained popularity, the definition of learner-centered teaching has become
a bit muddied and over simplified. Although strategies like student engagement,
2
active learning and other practices that involve students in their own learning are a
3 4
necessary component of learner-centered teaching; these practices do not represent
the entire philosophy of what it means to be a learner-centered teacher.

According to Weimer (2012), there are five characteristics of learner-centered teaching:

1. Learner-centered teaching engages students in the hard, messy work of learning.

5
“I believe teachers are doing too many learning tasks for students. We ask the
questions, we call on students, we add detail to their answers. We offer the
examples. We organize the content. We do the preview and the review. On any given
day, in most classes, teachers are working much harder than students. I’m not
suggesting we never do these tasks, but I don’t think students develop sophisticated
learning skills without the chance to practice and in most classrooms the teacher gets
far more practice than the students.”1

2. Learner-centered teaching includes explicit skill instruction.

“Learner-centered teachers teach students how to think, solve problems,

6 7
evaluate evidence, analyze arguments, generate hypotheses—all those
8 9
learning skills essential to mastering material in the discipline. They do not assume
that students pick up these skills on their own, automatically. A few students do, but
they tend to be the students most like us and most students aren’t that way.
Research consistently confirms that learning skills develop faster if they are taught
10
explicitly along with the content.
Students not only need to develop an understanding of a discipline’s knowledge
base (content), but they also need to understand how that knowledge is organized
and acquired (learning skills). By learning how to solve problems, think critically,
11 12 13
apply information, and integrate knowledge, students can learn to think like
14 15 16
experts in a discipline. In other words, they not only need to learn content, but they
also need to know how they can learn more, which is critical in today’s
environment
17
where information is easily accessible and exponentially growing. Teachers already
possess these skills because they are experts within a discipline, so they often
overlook the importance of teaching them to students. Research, however,
confirms that students do not automatically learn these skills. Guidelines for
18
 helping students develop general learning skills can be found beginning on p. 132
3. Learner-centered teaching encourages students to reflect on what they are learning
and how they are learning it.
“Learner-centered teachers talk about learning. In casual conversations, they ask
students what they are learning. In class they may talk about their own learning. They
challenge student assumptions about learning and encourage
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them to accept responsibility for decisions they make about learning; like how they
study for exams, when they do assigned reading, whether they revise their writing or
check their answers. Learner-centered teachers include assignment components in
which students reflect, analyze and critique what
20
they are learning and how they are learning it. The goal is to make students

aware of themselves as learners and to make learning skills something

21

students want to develop.” 1

Many of the guidelines for instructing students on how to acquire better

22
learning skills (see #2 above) are also applicable for helping them reflect on

how to take responsibility for changing their learning strategies according to their
23
needs.

4. Learner-centered teaching motivates students by giving them some control over

learning processes.

“I believe that teachers make too many of the decisions about learning for students.
Teachers decide what students should learn, how they learn it, the pace at which
they learn, the conditions under which they learn and then teachers determine
whether students have learned. Students aren’t in a position to decide what content
should be included in the course or which textbook is best, but when teachers make
all the decisions, the motivation to learn decreases and learners become dependent.
Learner-centered teachers search out ethically responsible ways to share power
with students. They might give students some choice about which assignments they
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complete. They might make classroom policies something students can discuss. They
might let students set assignment deadlines within a given time window. They
26
might ask students to help create assessment criteria.” 1

5. Learner-centered teaching encourages collaboration.

“It sees classrooms (online or face-to-face) as communities of learners. Learner-
centered teachers recognize, and research consistently confirms, that students can
learn from, and with, each other. Certainly, the teacher has the expertise and an
obligation to share it, but teachers can learn from students as well. Learner-centered
teachers work to develop structures that promote shared commitments to learning.
They see learning individually and collectively as the most important goal
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of any educational experience.”

Implementing the learner-centered approach Chapter 8: Responding to resistance (p. 199)

More than twenty years of research evidence supports learner-centered teaching

methods as a path to better student outcomes when compared to Traditional
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Teacher-centered methods. A few of these better student outcomes
are:
• Meaningful and long term understanding (Biology example.

• Engaging in deep learning approaches rather than superficial attempts

 30

TEST III. MATCHING TYPE TEST = 1-20 (Coverage: Constructivists and their concepts)
(My dear and beloved students, I granted your request to include MATCHING TYPE TEST because I love all of you.) I promise to you to include
this type of test every exam because you like it.

Directions:

1. Match Column A with Column B.

2. Write only the Letter of the correct answer.

COLUMN A COLUMN B
(Constructivists/Theorists) (Concepts)
1. Jerome Bruner’s Constructivism Theory a.
2. Bruner’s Discovery Learning Theory, (1961) b.
3. Bruner’s (1966) Mode Of Representations c.
4. Piaget's Theory Of Constructivism
d.
5. Vygotsky’s Cognitive Constructivism
e.
6. Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism
7. Social Development Theory (Lev Vygotsky) f.
8. Ernst’s Radical Constructivism g.
9. Dewey’s Pragmatism h.
10. Dewey’s Learning By Doing i.
11. Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving (CPS) j.
12. 1984 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory h.
13. Problem-based Learning, walker et al. i.
14. Montessori Method
j.
15. Project-based Learning, Barell, j. (2007)
k.
16. Online Collaborative Learning Theory (Harasim)
17. Walker’s collaborative learning l.
18. IBI- UNESCO’S collaborative learning m.
19. Situated learning theory (Lave) n.
20.Fleming’s VARK model o.
p.
q.
r.
s.
t.
u.
v.