Math Curriculum Selection Committee,

Student-centered learning is considered “approaches to learning in which learners choose

not only what to study but also how and why” (Crumly, 2014, p.4). In this email memo I will
share the important aspects of student-centered learning that should be considered in the
selection process of our district’s curriculum. This email memo will be sent to the members of
the committee that has been formed to select the curriculum for the secondary math course
within our school district.

Student-centered learning is a teaching pedagogy that has many components that are
beneficial to our students. Although allowing for full autonomy for our students to decide what,
when, and how they learn would not be productive within the public school system, there are
principles we can take from this pedagogy to increase students’ intrinsic motivation and
engagement and increase students’ ability to problem solve and think critically.

The first principle of student-centered learning I would suggest including in our

curriculum is creating activities that are relevant to the personal experiences of the student. This
principle would increase students’ intrinsic motivation and engagement. Often a lack of attention
in the classroom is caused by a lack of motivation to be involved with what is happening in the
lesson (Jacobs et al., 2016). Adopting a curriculum that allows for students to more readily
connect the standards being learned to their own lives will help students feel more motivated to
engage with the material because it is connected to their lives (See Figure 2).

The second principle of student-centered learning to adopt in our curriculum is to include

questions and tasks in the curriculum that go beyond rote-memorization of facts and procedure
(Crumly, 2014). This would increase the students’ ability to problem solve and think critically.
Tasks and questions that focus on the memorization of mathematical procedures can be
beneficial for teaching those specific skills but do not necessarily allow students to think
critically. Tasks that include inquiry, exploration, and application of these skills would develop
students’ conceptual understanding while also allowing them to govern their own path of
thinking based on their background knowledge (see Figures 1 & 2).

The last principle of student-centered learning to adopt in our curriculum is including

tasks that allow students to work collaboratively. This would increase students’ engagement and
critical thinking skills. A curriculum driven by students working collaboratively with their peers
allows students to share and teach their background knowledge and newly gained math skills.
When students share what they know they are empowered and have an increased motivation to
engage with the learning as well as improve their comprehension skills (Jacobs et al, 2016) (see
Figure 1).

There is the belief that public schools can’t have student-centered learning because we
are required to teach based on a specific set of state standards. There is some truth to this
statement. A pedagogy solely based on student-centered learning would not allow teachers to
dictate what and when the students learn as is done by our state content standards. That is why I
propose adopting some valuable principles from this pedagogy rather than the pedagogy in its
entirety. Students can be empowered to use their own background knowledge and ingenuity to
explore these concepts included in the state content standards and beyond.

Some researchers are of the view that student-centered learning teaches students that the
individual comes before society (Komatsu et al, 2021). This is a misunderstanding of the
student-centered pedagogy. Student-centered learning is not focused on one student alone,
instead it focuses on highlighting the knowledge and learning of the total student group in the
classroom environment. Student-centered learning promotes the importance of society over the
individual because students are being incorporated in the teaching and learning as a group rather
than learning from one individual, the teacher.

Once again, I encourage you to consider incorporating these aspects of student-centered

learning into the curriculum that will be selected for the district next year. Through activities that
are personally relevant to our students, tasks that go beyond rote-memorization, and activities
that increase student collaboration we will see increased student engagement, motivation,
problem-solving and critical thinking skills. I have attached two examples of curriculum created
by Desmos Classroom that contain each principle discussed in this email (see Figures 1 & 2).
Curriculum is the foundation on which teachers can build their instructional strategies (Crumly,
2014), it is vital the curriculum chosen for our district incorporates the principles of
student-centered learning.

Thank you for your time,

Brooklyn Hunt

Math 1 Teacher

Granger High School

References

Crumly, C. (2014). Student-centered versus teacher-centered learning. In Crumly C., Dietz

P., & D’Angelo S. (Authors), Pedagogies for Student-Centered Learning: Online and
On-ground (pp. 3-20). Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Retrieved September 28, 2022,
from
https://purdue.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01PU
RDUE_PUWL:PURDUE&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=a
lma99169424993401081.

Desmos Classroom. (n.d.). Pizza maker. Desmos Classroom Activities. Retrieved October
8, 2022, from
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/60675917a656b70d671a96e7?coll
ections=5fff36c7a65b820b3c57bc64%2C5fff835ef41fca4711fb3198
Desmos Classroom. (n.d.). Robots: What a point in a scatter plot means. Desmos
Classroom Activities. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5d6481f509c70b736bd7dd64?coll
ections=60358eb2f2b48c44d216cc67

Jacobs, G. M., Renandya, W. A., & Power, M. (2016). Teachers and students as co-learners.
In: Simple, Powerful Strategies for Student Centered Learning. Springer Briefs in
Education. Springer, Cham. (Chapter 1). Retrieved September 28, 2022, from
https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.lib.purdue.edu/book/10.1007/978-3-319-25712-9

Komatsu, H., Rappleye, J., & Silova, I. (2021). Student-centered learning and
sustainability: Solution or problem? Comparative Education Review, 65(1), 6–33.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/711829.

Figure 1: Desmos Robot Activity

Figure 2: Desmos Pizza Maker Activity