View article

In the past, the focus has been on the content; curriculum is structured around the basic topics of literacy, history, social studies, science, and mathematics. For each content area, experts divide the topics into small, manageable bundles, each then taught according to a prescribed lesson plan. This framework governs most of the world’s teaching, from the first day of class, on through university education. The new approach, termed “learner-centered” is somewhat akin to the “user-centered” focus of modern interface design. Here, the focus is on the needs, skills, and interests of the learner. Learner-centered is often accompanied by a problem-based approach, where the problems are picked to fit the interests and needs of the learners. The focus is on the learner and authentic problems rather than on the structured analysis of the curriculum content—though both are clearly necessary.

The philosophy is not new, but …