Page 8 - Learner Centered Teaching

Considering Content

The second principle is the assessment of content. Weimer suggests that we

encourage students to construct their own knowledge. In order to accomplish this,

students need to be “told less and to discover more” (12).

When instructors give students all of the answers (whether through assigned

readings or lectures) and then expect that they learn the material provided, this

encourages students to ‘buy in’ or accept the material without any assessment on

their part. At best, this process results in students who amass knowledge of the

material. However, these same students may also have very little idea of how to

evaluate this knowledge or how to deal with competing claims to knowledge. They

may be able to mimic and espouse the ideas they have ‘learned’, but we do not

allow for or require critical evaluation, we are, in effect, giving learners knowledge,

but not the tools for assessing its quality or use-value.