Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine teaching approaches used by teachers in classroom contexts, and to explore how their classroom designs and teaching approaches contributed to learner-centered practices. Using a case study approach, this study involved two elementary classroom teachers who shared their own insights and understandings of learner-centered instruction, and the teaching approaches that they used in their classroom designs. The research design incorporated data collection in classroom contexts over a period of five weeks through: (a) the Approaches to Teaching Inventory questionnaire (Trigwell & Prosser, in press), (b) classroom observations based on the running record instrument developed by Perry (1998), and (c) reflective practice interviews about the teachers' use of teaching activities (Wise, Spiegel & Bruning, 1999), their understandings of learner-centered instruction, and what they considered to be facilitators and barriers to adopting learner-centered practices in classrooms.