Teaching Methods

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Table of Content
 What are Teaching Methods

 The importance of teaching methods

 List of Teaching Methods

 What Is the Best Method of Teaching?

 Conclusion

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 What are Teaching Methods
The term teaching method refers to the general principles, pedagogy and management
strategies used for classroom instruction.

Your choice of teaching method depends on what fits you — your educational
philosophy, classroom demographic, subject area(s) and school mission statement.

Teaching theories can be organized into four categories based on two major parameters:
a teacher-centered approach versus a student-centered approach, and high-tech material
use versus low-tech material use.

The importance of teaching methods

Teaching methods are the broader techniques used to help students achieve learning
outcomes, while activities are the different ways of implementing these methods.
Teaching methods help students:

 master the content of the course

 learn how to apply the content in particular contexts

Instructors should identify which teaching methods will properly support a particular
learning outcome. Its effectiveness depends on this alignment. To make the most
appropriate choice, an instructor should consider learning outcomes, student needs and
the learning environment.

List of Teaching Methods

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1. Teacher-Centered Instruction

Recognized as the most conventional approach, the teacher-centered methodology is

based on the idea that the teacher has the main responsibility in the learning
environment. Teachers are in charge of the classroom and direct all activities.
Typically, in this approach, students are seated at individual desks that face the teacher.
While group work may take place, most classroom time is spent with the teacher
explaining concepts and assigning individual work. In other words, students passively
absorb the information while the teacher actively delivers it.

Advantages:
1. It highlights the importance of the teacher’s role as facilitator. Although the
teacher-centered approach has been criticized for encouraging passive learning, no one
can deny that students need the assistance of a teacher to develop their skills.
2. Having been built on behavioral theory, this teaching method facilitates control
over changes in student behavior through direct instruction. It might be helpful to use
the core of this approach and modify it depending on the teacher’s and students’ needs,
gradually shifting the focus from the former to the latter.

Disadvantages:
1. Critics cite lack of stimulation student motivation. Indeed, the teacher-centered

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method, used blindly, may not allow students enough freedom of mind and creativity.
2. It is poor at promoting analytical thinking and problem solving skills. Not
having enough opportunities for students to make their own choices may result in lack
of decision making skills and even inability to think critically.

This and other comparativist theories developed and proven by many scientists are
described and analyzed in “A Comparison of Teacher-Centered and Student-Centered
Approaches in Educational Settings”

2. Small Group Instruction

Small Group
Small group instruction (SGI) usually follows whole group instruction and provides
students with a reduced student-teacher ratio, typically in groups of four to six students.
SGI allows teachers to work more closely with each student on a specific learning
objective, reinforce skills learned in whole group instruction, and check for student

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understanding. This teaching method is based on constant activities around
workstations: groups working with the teacher and groups working independently on
varied activities, such as using manipulatives or computer/online resources.

Speaking of digital resources, they have been showing their huge potential lately,
and Happy Numbers is no exception. The platform has been effectively used by many
experienced teachers to improve their small group instructional techniques. The Happy
Numbers curriculum perfectly integrates the main principles of the approach and helps
teachers to plan their lessons accordingly.
Happy Numbers meets each student's individual needs, provides direct instruction,
and always keeps them in their zone of proximal development, which allows them to
independently close learning gaps. Moreover, its digital framework keeps students
engaged throughout the whole course, letting them work independently and carefully
monitoring their progress.

Advantages:
1. Lessons are adapted to each student’s level. This allows teachers to provide
targeted, differentiated instruction to small groups of students in a natural way. It helps
the instructor to more closely evaluate what each student is capable of and construct
strategic plans around the assessments.
2. It promotes students’ social adaptation skills. Students who find it difficult to
ask questions and participate in a large group setting may benefit from working in a
small group setting, where they feel more at ease and less overwhelmed.
Disadvantages:
1. It takes more time and effort to prepare materials and organize workstations for
each student group. Teachers need to think through each type of activity that will be
provided at workstations: they should be equally engaging and effective.
2. Students might feel pressure to always be involved, always contributing to
lessons, and always taking some kind of role in group work.

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3. Student-Centered / Constructivist Approach

As we consider shifting the focus from teacher to students, the rest of the approaches
from this list are considered to be student-centered or constructivist. With the
development of the educational sphere and society in general, the idea of a student-
centered approach has become more popular, and there are good reasons for that.
Student-centered classrooms include students in planning, implementation, and
assessments. Involving the learners in these decisions places more responsibility and
ownership on them rather than on the teacher. Also, teachers must become comfortable
with changing their leadership style from directive to consultative. Meanwhile, students
may work in small groups, access centers, and move about the classroom freely.

Advantages:
1. Students play a more active role in their learning and develop a sense of
responsibility.
2. Thanks to teachers avoiding transmission of knowledge directly, students have
a chance to stimulate their analytical thinking, by “making sense of what they are
learning by relating it to prior knowledge and by discussing it with others,” according to
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American educational psychologist J. Brophy.
Disadvantages:
1. There is a risk of facing some behavioral problems by giving students
independence, especially when it comes to young children. To avoid such problems,
teachers must lay a groundwork by creating a model of correct behavior: having the
freedom to do what you want means being ready to take responsibility for the process
and the results.
2. This method works best when the instructor makes the lesson interesting.
Without this, students may get bored, their minds may wander, and they may miss key
information.

The student-centered approach can be difficult for teachers to master or perfect, and
it doesn´t always guarantee a 100% outcome. However, the results can be very positive
if teachers still employ the approach partially, blending these techniques with other
types of lessons.

4. Project-Based Learning

A relatively new teaching method, project-based learning falls within the student-
centered approach. As the name suggests, in project-based learning students complete
projects. However, these are big, meaty projects in which students acquire knowledge,
research, think critically, evaluate, analyze, make decisions, collaborate, and more.

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 Typically, projects are created in response to an open-ended question such as “How
can our school be greener?” or “How was our city planned in the past and how could it
be planned in the future?” Another important part of the projects is that they relate to
real-world problems. The projects shouldn’t just apply to the classroom but have an
impact, too. For example, students might make a radio show for the whole school to
hear. Or, they might write a letter to the town council and attend a meeting to express
an opinion.

Advantages:
1. Between projects, the teacher may provide scaffolding and smaller bite-sized
projects to help build skills such as how to research, how to solve division problems,
how to write a letter, etc. Thus, students build on what they know by asking questions,
investigating, interacting with others, and reflecting on these experiences.
2. Cooperative learning is enhanced by letting students organize their work in
groups.

Disadvantages:
1. It’s quite time consuming and requires good classroom management skills
(from equipment availability to organizing and controlling the usage of it).
2. Students without experience in group work may have difficulties adapting
roles and negotiating compromise.

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5. Montessori

This type of teaching is based on a methodology that’s over 100 years old. Yet, it
continues to offer a novel approach to creating a student-centered classroom.

Today, the Montessori method is most popular in preschools, kindergartens, and

lower elementary grades. In this method, the teacher prepares an ideal classroom
environment full of activities that children may pick from to work on. Moreover, the
teacher guides the children to ensure that they choose an adequate number of lessons
from all of the subject areas.

The Montessori method also encourages the use of “materials” or carefully curated
objects designed for learning. For example, there are trays containing different types of
triangles or cards with definitions explaining the parts of a bird. Furthermore, the
Montessori method includes areas of the curriculum that teach social skills and practical
life skills, such as cooking and cleaning.

Advantages:
1. Strong intrinsic motivation and a strong sense of responsibility are important
qualities that the Montessori method strives to instill in students. Children often work

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independently and have their choice of what to work on and where to work in the
classroom.
2. It creates a positive learning environment. The multi-age learning environment
is unique and a key factor to this educational method. Younger children have a great
opportunity to develop their social, communication, leadership, and emotional skills by
working with older children. Older children also benefit from this approach.

Disadvantages:
1. It can be expensive. For Montessori schools, it is very hard to keep their prices
low.
2. Some teachers and students may find it difficult to get used to the looseness of
the curriculum compared to familiar methods of teaching. It’s important to keep that in
mind before deciding to incorporate some ideas of Montessori or even implement it into
teaching.

Here’s a good scientific review written by Chloë Marshall, one of the researchers of
University College London, in which she describes Montessori education’s
effectiveness and key elements of it that are shared with other educational methods for
those who are interested and want to start implementing it into their teaching.

6. Inquiry-Based Learning

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 What if learning was question-driven? This is exactly what inquiry -based learning is
about: it engages students by making real-world connections through exploration and
high-level questioning.
Advantages:
1. Teachers guide students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
To learn these skills, the teacher helps students think through their processes, teaches
them possible approaches, and encourages them to try various methods.
2. Students are encouraged to fail as a part of the process and then improve their
performance in subsequent activities.
3. Instead of repeating answers students have been taught, students learn to seek
their own answers to questions. So, students develop strong research skills.

Disadvantages:
1. Because students are always encouraged to speak up, participate, and not be
afraid to fail, there is always a risk of embarrassing students who may not be quick
thinkers (or who suffer from learning disabilities and processing issues). This leads to a
higher level of anxiety and loss of motivation.
2. It may result in poorer standardized testing performance. When too much time
is dedicated to student inquiries, there’s always the risk that important “core” topics
could be left out. Naturally, this hurts standardized testing performance.

Still, one may find some useful techniques and ideas of inquiry-based learning for
carefully implementing them into the lesson and benefiting from them, as the approach
gives a lot of opportunities to promote students’ problem solving abilities

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7. Flipped Classroom

The concept of delivering online lectures that students can view from home to
substitute lecturing in the classroom is known as flipped learning. The letters FLIP
represent the four pillars included in this type of learning: Flexible environment,
Learning culture shift, Intentional content, and Professional educator. This technique, in
theory, allows for more time in class to be devoted to active learning rather than
instruction.

Advantages:
1. Students have more control over their learning. When viewing video content or
other materials at home, students have the option of learning at their own pace.
2. It promotes student-centered learning and collaboration.

Disadvantages:
1. It is difficult to implement: unequal access to technological resources
disadvantages certain populations.
2. Being based mostly on auditory perception of students, it leads to less effective
comprehension.
3. It depends highly on students’ compliance: the approach assumes that students
will complete the out-of-class preparation and always be prepared for participation in
class. There’s a risk though that not all students will always be prepared for the lesson.

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 Multiple case studies prove that the positive effect of this method outweighs
shortcomings that may be easily avoided through the use of a partially flipped
classroom. We’re sure that teachers are likely to find some useful techniques of flipped
learning and incorporate them into their own lessons.

8. Cooperative Learning

As the name suggests, cooperative learning involves a lot of group work. However,
it also requires a lot of structure and intervention on the part of the teacher to make
learning as effective as possible. Some commonly used cooperative learning strategies
include “think-pair-share.” Discussions in small groups or pairs can also be effective, as
can a “jigsaw” approach. In the jigsaw model, students are broken into small groups to
read or learn from a certain perspective. Then, changing their groups, members spread
the information and share it with others.

Advantages:
1. It improves social skills through cooperative work, recreating real-world work
situations in which collaboration and cooperation are required. One of the most vivid
results of cooperative learning is described in American psychologist and professor of
the John Hopkins University Robert E. Slavin’s essential work “Cooperative learning:
Theory, Research, and Practice”.
2. It improves critical thinking: during the group work process, students will

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express their opinions or ideas with the other students in the group providing feedback.
This feedback to each student will include critique as well as the interpretation of the
opinions or ideas expressed.

Disadvantages:
1. There may be difficulties with distributing social roles among group members
and, as a result, the detachment of one student from the group. There are risks of
possible conflicts between group members, which demands more attention from the
teacher.
2. Students working in the same group may have different speeds of learning.

9. Personalized Education

Personalized education takes the student-centered approach to a new level by, as

much as possible, responding to each individual learner’s unique needs, strengths, and
weaknesses. Each student gets a learning plan that's based on what he or she knows and
how he or she learns best. Through individualized instruction, learning is tailored to the
student. It provides numerous and yet-to-be-discovered advantages for both teachers
and students.

Advantages:
1. Personal attention is given to ensure that every child develops his or her
intellectual and creative talents.
2. Studying in a supportive and caring environment promotes respectful student-
teacher relationships and even teacher partnership with parents.
Disadvantages:
1. It can be time- and organization-demanding: teachers have to modify their
pace, do a lot of preparation, and learn to comprehend and attend to each student's
needs.

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 What Is the Best Method of Teaching?
There is no “best” method of teaching. However, many researchers today agree that
including more student-centered learning approaches in the classroom can improve
learning. Using only a teacher-centered approach leaves out many skills and learning
opportunities for students. Yet, there may still be space for teacher-centered learning for
some specific topics and learning objectives. However, teacher-centered learning
shouldn’t be the only strategy in your teacher toolbox.

Conclusion
The bottom line is that each teacher needs to find a teaching style that fits his or her
personality. An effective teacher is a passionate teacher who is confident in what
they’re doing! So, if any of the strategies on this list of teaching methods intrigues you,
why not look into it a bit more? You might discover a new method that motivates your
students and improves their learning and your teaching experience!

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