The needs of learners Home > Framework > The needs of learners Knowing how to teach content well is only one leg of a tripod of teaching knowledge. Understanding learners is the second leg. Interpreting learners' statements and actions and framing productive experiences for them requires knowledge of development -- how children and adolescents think and behave, what they are trying to accomplish, what they find interesting, what they already know and what they are likely to have trouble with in particular domains at particular ages in particular contexts. This knowledge includes an understanding of how to support further growth in the social, emotional, and psychological spheres as well as cognitive. Teaching in ways that connect with students also requires an understanding of student diversity. Such diversity includes differences that may arise from culture, language, family, community, gender, prior schooling, or other factors that shape people's experiences, as well as differences that may arise from multiple intelligences, preferred approaches to learning, or specific learning difficulties. Educators need to be able to inquire sensitively and productively into children's experiences and their understandings of subject matter so that they can interpret curriculum through their students' eyes and shape lessons to connect with what students know and how they learn well. To get non-stereotypic information that can help them come to understand their students, teachers need to know how to listen carefully to students and look at their work as well as to structure situations in which students write and talk about what they understand. This builds a foundation of pedagogical learner knowledge (Grimmett & Mackinnon, 1992) which grows as educators examine how particular learners think and reason, where they have problems, how they learn best, and what motivates them. STEP candidates begin to develop these understandings in a course on Adolescent Development that engages them in the study of students' growth and development in school, family, community, and cultural contexts and that helps them learn, through a case study approach, how to learn about the experiences of the students they teach. They continue this work thoughout the year-long practicum as they look at the needs of various kinds of students Copyright (c) 2003. Stanford University School of Education. All rights reserved