Table 

3: Examples of student centred learning/teaching methods

Outside of the lecture
In the Lecture
format
Independent projects Buzz groups (short discussion in twos)
Pyramids/snowballing (Buzz groups continuing the discussion
Group discussion
into larger groups)
Peer mentoring of other Cross-overs (mixing students into groups by letter/number
students allocations)
Debates Rounds (giving turns to individual students to talk)
Field-trips Quizes
Practicals Writing reflections on learning (3/4 minutes)
Reflective diaries, learning
Student class presentations
journals
Computer assisted learning Role play
Choice in subjects for
Poster presentations
study/projects
Writing newspaper article Students producing mind maps in class
Portfolio development

(WIKIPEDIA the free encylopedia)Traditional education or back-to-basics refers to long-

established customs found in schools that society has traditionally deemed appropriate. Some
forms of education reform promote the adoption of progressive education practices, a more
holistic approach which focuses on individual students' needs and self-expression. In the eyes of
reformers, traditional teacher-centered methods focused on rote learning and memorization must
be abandoned in favor of student-centered and task-based approaches to learning. However,
many parents and conservative citizens are concerned with the maintenance of objective
educational standards based on testing, which favors a more traditional approach.

Depending on the context, the opposite of traditional education may be progressive education,
modern education (the education approaches based on developmental psychology), or alternative
education.[1]

Contents
[hide]

 1 Definition
 2 Instruction Centre
 3 Marking
 4 Subject Areas
 5 Criticism of the concept of teaching in traditional education
  6 See also
 7 Notes

[edit] Definition
The definition of traditional education varies greatly with geography and by historical period.

The chief business of traditional education is to transmit to a next generation those skills, facts,
and standards of moral and social conduct that adults deem to be necessary for the next
generation's material and social success.[2] As beneficiaries of this scheme, which educational
progressivist John Dewey described as being "imposed from above and from outside", the
students are expected to docilely and obediently receive and believe these fixed answers.
Teachers are the instruments by which this knowledge is communicated and these standards of
behavior are enforced.[2]

Historically, the primary educational technique of traditional education was simple oral
recitation:[1] In a typical approach, students sat quietly at their places and listened to one
individual after another recite his or her lesson, until each had been called upon. The teacher's
primary activity was assigning and listening to these recitations; students studied at home. A test
might be given at the end of a unit, and the process, which was called "assignment-study-
recitation-test", was repeated. In addition to its overemphasis on verbal answers, reliance on rote
memorization (memorization with no effort at understanding the meaning), and disconnected,
unrelated assignments, it was also an extremely inefficient use of students' and teachers' time. It
also insisted that all students be taught the same materials at the same point; students that did not
learn quickly enough failed, rather than being allowed to succeed at their natural speeds. This
approach, which had been imported from Europe, dominated American education until the end
of the 19th century, when the reform movement imported progressive education techniques from
Europe.[1]

Traditional education is associated with much stronger elements of coercion than seems
acceptable now in most cultures.[citation needed] It has sometimes included: the use of corporal
punishment to maintain classroom discipline or punish errors; inculcating the dominant religion
and language; separating students according to gender, race, and social class, as well as teaching
different subjects to girls and boys. In terms of curriculum there was and still is a high level of
attention paid to time-honoured academic knowledge.

In the present it varies enormously from culture to culture, but still tends to be characterised by a
much higher level of coercion than alternative education. Traditional schooling in Britain and its
possessions and former colonies tends to follow the English Public School style of strictly
enforced uniforms and a militaristic style of discipline. This can be contrasted with South
African, USA and Australian schools, which can have a much higher tolerance for spontaneous
student-to-teacher communication.[citation needed]

[edit] Instruction Centre

 Topic Traditional approach Alternate approaches
Teacher-centred instruction:
Student-centred instruction:
Person  Educational essentialism
 Educational progressivism
 Educational perennialism

Students dynamically grouped by

interest or ability for each project or
Students matched by age, and possibly also
subject, with the possibility of
Classroom by ability. All students in a classroom are
different groups each hour of the day.
taught the same material.
Multi-age classrooms or open
classrooms.[1]
Traditional education emphasizes:
Progressive education emphasizes:
 Direct instruction and lectures
Teaching  Hands-on activities
 Seatwork
methods  Student-led discovery
 Students learn through listening and
 Group activities
observation[2]

Instruction based on textbooks, lectures, Project-based instruction: Work in a

and individual written assignments: What is small group to build a model of the
Materials
the name and size of the nation's nation's capitol/parliament building
capitol/parliament building? out of 100 toothpicks.
Integrated, interdisciplinary subjects
Individual, independent subjects.
or theme-based units, such as reading
Subjects
a story about cooking a meal and
Little connection between topics[3]
calculating the cost of the food.
Little or no attention to social development.
[4]
Significant attention to social
development, including teamwork,
Social aspects Focus on independent learning. Socializing
interpersonal relationships, and self-
largely discouraged except for
awareness.
extracurricular activities and teamwork-
based projects.
Multiple Students choose (or are steered towards)  A single, unified curriculum
tracks different kinds of classes according to their for all students, regardless of
perceived abilities or career plans. ability or interest.
 Diverse class offerings without
Decisions made early in education may tracking, so that students
preclude changes later, as a student on a vo- receive a custom-tailored
tech track may not have completed education.
necessary prerequisite classes to switch to a  With School to work,
university-preparation program. academically weak students
must take some advanced
classes, while the college
 bound may have to spend half-
days job shadowing at local
businesses.

Students often address teachers formally by

their last names. The teacher is considered a In alternative schools, students may be
Student and
respected role model in the community. allowed to call teachers by their first
teacher
Students should obey the teacher. Proper names. Students and teachers may
relationship
behavior for the university or professional work together as collaborators.
work community is emphasized.

[edit] Marking
Topic Traditional approach Alternate approaches
A few numbers, letters, or words are used Many possible forms of
to summarize overall achievement in communicating achievements:
each class. Marks may be assigned
according to objective individual  Teachers may be required to
performance (usually the number of write personalized narrative
correct answers) or compared to other evaluations about student
students (best students get the best achievement and abilities.
Communicating
grades, worst students get poor grades).  Under standards-based
with parents
education, a government
A passing grade may or may not signify agency may require all
mastery: a failing student may know the students to pass a test;
material but not complete homework students who fail to perform
assignments, and a passing student may adequately on the test may
turn in all homework but still not not be promoted.
understand the material.
Students will graduate with different
All students need to achieve a basic
grades. Some students will fail due to
level of education, even if this
Expectations poor performance based on a lack of
means spending extra years in
understanding or incomplete
school.
assignments.
The value of any given mark is
Achievement based on performance
often hard to standardize in
compared to a reasonably stable,
Grade alternative grading schemes.
probably informal standard which is
inflation/deflation Comparison of students in different
highly similar to what previous students
classes may be difficult or
experienced.
impossible.

[edit] Subject Areas

Topic Traditional approach Alternate approaches
  Curriculum de-emphasizes
procedural knowledge drills in
favor of technology (calculators,
computers) and an emphasis on
conceptual understanding.
 Lessons may include more
exploratory material supportive of
conceptual understanding, rather
than direct presentation of facts
Traditional mathematics: and methods.
 Emphasis may be on practical
 Emphasis is on memorization of applications and greater issues
basic facts such as the such as the environment, gender
multiplication table and mastering and racial diversity, and social
step-by-step arithmetic algorithms justice.
by studying examples and much  Mathematics lessons may include
practice. writing, drawing, games, and
 One correct answer is sought, instruction with manipulatives
using one "standard" method. rather than filling out worksheets.
Mathematics  Mathematics after elementary [3]

grades is tracked with different  Lessons may include exploration

students covering different levels of concepts allowing students to
of material. invent their own procedures
 Mathematics is taught as its own before teaching standard
discipline without emphasis on algorithms.
social, political or global issues.  Grading may be based on
There may be some emphasis on demonstration of conceptual
practical applications in science understanding rather than entirely
and technology. on whether the final answer is
correct.
 In some countries (e.g. the United
States), there may be expectations
of high achievement and
mastering algebra for all students
rather than tracking some students
into business math and others into
mathematics for math and science
careers.

Science Fact-based science: Science class is an With Inquiry-based Science a student

opportunity to transmit concrete might be asked to devise an experiment
knowledge and specific vocabulary from to demonstrate that the earth orbits the
the teacher (or textbook) to the students. sun. The emphasis changes from
Students focus on memorizing what they memorizing information that was learned
are told. "Experiments" follow through a scientific method to actually
cookbook-style procedures to produce using the scientific method of discovery.
 the expected results.
With whole language the child is exposed
to rich, relevant language that can
Phonics: The focus is on explicit training
heighten motivation to read. Learning to
in sound to letter correspondence rules
read is assumed to be as natural as
and the mechanics of decoding individual
learning to speak, so students are not
words. Students initially focus on
formally taught sound to letter
phonics subskills and reading simplified
correspondences, but assumed to infer
Language decodable texts. When they have
them on their own. (Note that this issue is
learning mastered a sufficient number of rules,
limited to languages such as English and
they are allowed to read freely and
French with complex phonetics and
extensively. (In many languages, such as
spelling rules. Instruction in countries
French, Spanish and Greek, phonics is
with languages such as Spanish and
taught in the context of reading simple
Greek, which have relatively simple
open syllables.)
phonetic spelling, still depends mainly on
phonics.)

[edit] Criticism of the concept of teaching in traditional

education
Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every
ounce of teaching there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. However, most of what
we learn before, during, and after attending schools is learned without it being taught to us. A
child learns such fundamental things as how to walk, talk, eat, dress, and so on without being
taught these things. Adults learn most of what they use at work or at leisure while at work or
leisure. Most of what is taught in classroom settings is forgotten, and much or what is
remembered is irrelevant.[4][5][6][7]

[edit] See also