Teaching Methods

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Types of Teaching Methods at a Glance

The eight teaching methods covered on this page are summarized below by approach and technology level. Each one is described in its own section further down the page.

These labels describe each method in its typical form, and many methods can be adapted. Kinesthetic learning, for example, can become more student-centered when students choose how to use movement to learn.

Teacher-Centered Approach to Learning

Taken to its most extreme interpretation, teachers are the main authority figure in a teacher-centered instruction model. At that extreme, students are cast as “empty vessels” who passively receive knowledge from their teachers through lectures, with an end goal of positive results from testing and assessment. In this style, teaching and assessment are viewed as two separate entities; student learning is typically measured through objectively scored tests and assessments. Most teacher-centered methods fall short of this extreme.

Learn more about the different teaching styles that use a teacher-centered approach.

Student-Centered Approach to Learning

While teachers are still an authority figure in a student-centered teaching model, teachers and students play an equally active role in the learning process.

The teacher’s primary role is to coach and facilitate student learning and overall comprehension of material, and to measure student learning through both formal and informal forms of assessment, like group projects, student portfolios and class participation. In the student-centered classroom, teaching and assessment are connected because student learning is continuously measured during teacher instruction.

Learn more about the different teaching styles that use a student-centered approach.

High-Tech Approach to Learning

Advancements in technology have propelled the education sector in the last few decades. As the name suggests, the high-tech approach to learning utilizes different technology to aid students in their classroom learning. Many educators use computers and tablets in the classroom, and others may use the internet to assign homework. The internet is also beneficial in a classroom setting as it provides unlimited resources. Teachers may also use the internet in order to connect their students with people from around the world.

Below are some tech tools used in classrooms today:

• Google Workspace tools such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive and Calendar, along with Google Classroom
• Tablets/laptops
• Gamification software
• Learning platforms for classroom communication and coursework (such as Schoology and Seesaw)
• Assistive technology for students with disabilities (see the U.S. Department of Education’s 2024 Dear Colleague Letter on assistive technology devices and services under IDEA)

Low-Tech Approach to Learning

While technology undoubtedly has changed education, many educators opt to use a more traditional, low-tech approach to learning. Some teaching methods require a physical presence and interaction between the educator and the student. Additionally, some research has shown that low-tech classrooms may boost learning. For example, Edutopia’s May 2026 research summary of studies on note-taking reports that students who take handwritten notes tend to recall more than students who take typed notes. Ultimately, tailoring the learning experience to different types of students is incredibly important, and sometimes students work better with a low-tech approach.

Here are some examples of low technology usage in different teaching methodologies:

• Movement-based activities give students a chance to learn by doing. Teachers can allow students to move around, speak with hands and gestures.
• Expeditionary learning involves “learning by doing” and participating in a hands-on experience. Students may participate in fieldwork, learning expeditions, projects or case studies to be able to apply knowledge learned in the classroom to the real world, rather than learning through the virtual world.
• Many types of vocational or practical training cannot be learned virtually, whether it be a laboratory experiment or woodworking.

Through these different approaches to teaching, educators can gain a better understanding of how best to govern their classrooms, implement instruction, and connect with their students. Within each category of teacher and student centeredness and tech usage, there are specific teaching roles or “methods” of instructor behavior that feature their own unique mix of learning and assessment practices. Learn more about each one to find the best fit for your classroom.

Teacher-Centered Methods of Instruction

Direct Instruction (Low-Tech)

Direct instruction is the general term that refers to the traditional teaching strategy that relies on explicit teaching through teacher-led explanation and demonstrations. In its 2025 evidence guide, the New South Wales Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation describes explicit teaching as a set of principles that includes modeling, guided practice (“I do, we do, you do”) and checking for understanding, and says it is not the same as lecturing or rote learning.

In this method of instruction, the teacher might play one or all of the following roles:

As the primary teaching strategy under the teacher-centered approach, direct instruction places the teacher in charge of the content, the pace and the activities. Students learn what they need to through precise instruction that they listen to, watch and then practice, and teachers often use systematic lesson plans.

Because the teacher makes most of the decisions about what and how students learn, direct instruction is strongly teacher-centered. It can also be delivered with few or no digital tools, for example with textbooks, workbooks and teacher demonstration instead of computers and 1:1 devices.

Flipped Classrooms (High-Tech)

In a flipped classroom, students’ first exposure to new content happens before class, and class time is used for active work such as practice, application exercises and discussion, according to Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Center. Pre-class work can be readings, instructional videos, individual or collaborative activities, or a combination. Some teachers film their own instructional videos or use pre-made videos from online sources, and others assign readings.

A key benefit of the flipped classroom model is that it can allow for students to work at their own pace. In some cases, teachers may assign the same videos to all students, while in others, teachers may choose to allow students to watch new videos as they master topics, taking on a more differentiated approach.

But despite this potential for more student-centeredness, flipped classroom models are still mostly based on a teacher’s idea of how learning should happen and what information students need, so this page groups them under the teacher-centered methods. Technology needs depend on the format: video-based flipped classrooms require devices and a good internet connection for both students and teachers, while formats built on readings may not require technology.

Research on the model is encouraging but varied. In a 2025 meta-analysis published in Review of Educational Research, Li, Fu, Liu and Hwang pooled 129 studies with more than 12,000 K-12 students and found that flipped classrooms had a significant positive effect on learning performance. They caution that outcomes and study methods varied.

Kinesthetic Learning (Low Tech)

Sometimes known as "tactile learning" or "hands-on learning", kinesthetic learning requires students to do, make or create. In a kinesthetic learning environment, students perform physical activities rather than listen to lectures or watch demonstrations. Hands-on experiences, drawing, role-play, building and the use of drama and sports are all examples of kinesthetic classroom activities.

Though a great way to keep students engaged and, at times, simply awake, very few classrooms employ kinesthetic learning activities exclusively. One reason is that, despite the popularity of learning style theories, matching teaching to students’ preferred styles has little research support. In a 2025 review, Hattie and O’Leary report that studies testing this matching hypothesis found a negligible effect (d = .04) and recommend teaching students adaptable learning strategies instead. The University of Twente’s June 2025 summary of that research describes the effect as “virtually zero.”

One upside is that kinesthetic learning is rarely based on technology, as the method values movement and creativity over technological skills. That means it’s cheap and fairly low-barrier to adopt, as well as a welcome break from students’ existing screen time. Kinesthetic learning can be more student-centered than teacher-centered when students are given the choice of how to use movement to learn new information or experience new skills, so it’s also adaptable to a teacher’s particular classroom preferences.

Read More:

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Student-Centered Methods of Instruction

Differentiated Instruction (Low Tech)

Differentiated instruction is the teaching practice of tailoring instruction to meet individual student needs. The practice is closely tied to special education. The federal law now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was signed in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and was renamed in 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s history of IDEA. Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are written statements for a child with a disability, developed under the federal IDEA regulations, and they help guide how instruction is adapted for those students. Today, differentiated instruction is used to meet the needs of all types of students.

Teachers can differentiate in a number of ways: how students access content, the types of activities students do to master a concept, what the end product of learning looks like and how the classroom is set up. Some examples of differentiation include: having students read books at their own reading levels, offering different spelling lists to students or meeting in small groups to reteach topics.

Though differentiation is focused on individual student needs, it is mostly planned and implemented by the teacher. And technology, though a potential aid, is not a hallmark of the differentiated teaching style, making it a fairly traditional, low-barrier method to adopt.

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Inquiry-based Learning (High Tech)

Based on student investigation and hands-on projects, inquiry-based learning is a teaching method that casts a teacher as a supportive figure who provides guidance and support for students throughout their learning process, rather than a sole authority figure.

In this method of instruction, the teacher might play one or all of the following roles:

Facilitator

Facilitators play a strong emphasis on the teacher-student relationship. Operating under an open classroom model, there is a de-emphasis on teacher instruction, and both student and educator undergo the learning process together. Student learning is loosely guided by the teacher, and is focused on fostering independence, hands-on learning and exploration.

Personal Model

Teachers who operate under the "personal model" style are those who lead by example, demonstrating to students how to access and comprehend information. In this teaching model, students learn through observing and copying the teacher's process.

Delegator

Teachers act as a resource to students, answering questions and reviewing their progress as needed. Teachers play a passive role in student’s learning; students are active and engaged participants in their learning. The main goal of a delegator is to foster a sense of autonomy in the learning process.

Teachers encourage students to ask questions and consider what they want to know about the world around them. Students then research their questions, find information and sources that explain key concepts and solve problems they may encounter along the way. Findings might be presented as self-made videos, websites or formal presentations of research results.

Inquiry-based learning falls under the student-centered approach, in that students play an active and participatory role in their own learning. But teacher facilitation is also extremely key to the process. Usually, during the inquiry cycle, every student is working on a different question or topic. In this environment, teachers ask high-level questions and make research suggestions about the process rather than the content. At the end of the inquiry cycle, students reflect on the experience and what they learned. They also consider how it connects to other topics of interest, as an inquiry on one topic often results in more questions and then an inquiry into new fields.

Inquiry-based learning can make great use of technology through online research sites, social media, and the possibility for global connections with people outside of the community. But depending on the subject at hand, it doesn’t necessarily require it.

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Expeditionary Learning (Low Tech)

Expeditionary learning is a form of project-based learning in which students go on expeditions and engage in in-depth study of topics that impact their schools and communities. EL Education, the organization behind the model, describes learning expeditions in its 2015 planning guide as interdisciplinary studies based on standards, usually lasting 6 to 12 weeks, that combine guiding questions, projects and fieldwork.

The learning in this model includes multiple content areas so that students can see how problem-solving can happen in the real world—ideally, their own worlds. A student in a big city, for example, might study statistics about pollution, read information about its effects and travel to sites in their city that have been affected by the problem. When they have a good understanding of the circumstances, students and teachers work to find a solution they can actively implement.

Technology plays a supporting role: Google Workspace tools (Docs, Sheets and Drive) and internet access can aid student research, presentation, and implementation of projects. But it's the hands-on work and getting out into the community that’s the cornerstone of this methodology, which is why it is labeled low-tech here.

Personalized Learning (High Tech)

In a 2021 grant-program definition, the U.S. Department of Education described personalized learning as instruction in which the pace of learning and the instructional approach are tailored to the needs of individual learners. Under that definition, learning objectives, content and pace may all vary, and learning activities are aligned with each learner’s interests. Personalized learning may draw on student-centered models such as competency-based education and project-based learning.

In models that use competency-based progression, assessment is also tailored to the individual: students can move onto the next standards or topics when they’ve mastered what they’re currently working on. That way, students can progress to work beyond their grade level as they master topics, while students who need additional help can have that time built into their daily schedules as well.

Some personalized learning environments also emphasize college and career readiness. Students who don’t require remediation or extension work can instead work with teachers to nurture social skills and other or 21st-century skills lessons and receive mentoring.

Personalized learning is strongly student-centered, but teachers still teach lessons and may look at frequent assessment data and meet with students to adjust their learning plans. The Department’s definition notes that data from formative assessments, student feedback and progress in digital learning activities are often used to personalize learning, so teachers in these models may need a certain comfort level with technology and virtual platforms.

Read More

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Game-based Learning (High Tech)

Game-based learning is an instructional approach in which learning objectives are integrated with game mechanics, according to a 2026 second-order meta-analysis by Bozkuş, Kaya and Arslan in Educational Research Review. The term covers digital games, in-class physical games and gamified environments. Games can ask students to be problem solvers and to use soft skills that they will need as adults, which some teachers use to encourage a mastery mindset rather than a focus on grades. In mathematics, the same review pooled nine earlier meta-analyses and found generally positive but modest effects on achievement, problem solving, motivation and attitudes, with results that depended on context and study design.

In one common format, students work on quests to accomplish a specific goal (learning objective) by choosing actions and experimenting along the way. As students make certain progress or achievements, they can earn badges and experience points, just like they would in their favorite video games. Quests, badges and points are common but optional game mechanics.

Game-based learning can require a lot of time and planning on the teacher’s part. Gamification software can make this process easier for teachers who choose to use it.

Because teachers play a big role in planning and creating content under this model, game-based learning isn’t completely student-centered. But it is still very much focused on the student, who works at their own pace and makes independent choices in a gamified environment.