Teacher Centered Instruction vs. Student Centered Instruction

Sage on the Stage: Teacher is the primary conduit of information.  Ex: Lecture Guide on the Side: Teacher facilitates student experiences with content.

Teacher-Centered Advantages  Teacher controls content, time, activity  A lot of material can be covered  Easy to plan Disadvantages  Inefficient for many learners  Low motivation  Limited opportunities to check progress

Student-Centered Advantages  Tends to be more motivational  Provides more opportunities to experience content Disadvantages  Lack of teacher control/organization  Time & resource dependent

Pendulums Prominent position in the history of mathematics and science What have pendulums been used for? In classrooms, pendulums are a common activity for teaching about the control of variables.

Pendulums Make a pendulum What variables could students explore with a pendulum? What issues would students have to work through?

Pendulums What variables could students explore with a pendulum?  Period  Length  Weight  Angle of release What issues would students have to work through?  Holding the point of swing steady  Measuring the period  Manipulating multiple variables simultaneously

Task Create 2 informal plans for instruction  Teacher-centered lesson  Student-centered lesson Lesson Focus: Pendulums Teaching objective: TSSBAT list two everyday items that make use of pendulums. TSSBAT identify the variables which affect the period of a pendulum. TSSBAT design an experiment to test for the effects of multiple variables on a system.