Those Ever-Popular Learning Centers

Maybe it was just the schools that I attended, but I feel like my teachers tried different variations of learning centers more often than almost any other teaching strategy except lecture.  Sometimes, they worked.  We learned information in an interesting and interactive way that helped us to remember.  At other times, teachers seemed to use learning centers as a way to give themselves breaks from active teaching.  Poorly-planned activities merely gave students the opportunity to socialize while writing down the answers to a few easy questions.  In short, learning centers (a teaching strategy that rotates groups of students around the classroom to learn through a variety of distinct activities) can be effective when, and only when, used to the full extent of their potential.

Learning centers can be a useful way of teaching large amounts of information in an interactive way at many age levels, including middle school.  In fact, they they address multiple developmental domains specific to the middle school age.  Intellectually, middle school students need to actively learn information that they find interesting and favor interaction with peers.  Learning centers guide students through active discovery of information in an interesting and interactive way.  In the social domain, middle school students need to develop positive interaction with peers, a key element of learning center activities.  Finally, learning centers allow for middle school students to explore a variety of moral viewpoints, an important element of moral development.  These qualities can help at many age levels, but they are particularly important for young adolescents.

In social studies classes, learning centers are an appropriate method of exploring primary sources or learning information from a variety of perspectives.  The New York Education Department describes a learning center activity involving analysis of images from World War I to learn about the war itself.  This activity lacks the variety of some learning centers, but it contains the important elements of student discussion, physical movement, and student discovery.  In addition, teachers may change the level of difficulty by altering the specific tasks expected of students.  Another option in learning activities involves a brief introduction to a variety of subjects.  The Montgomery County Public School District has an excellent video of a social studies learning station activity.  Students encounter a variety of elements of world history through watching videos, listening to tapes, writing their names in Arabic, looking at maps, and other tasks.  Although the video intentionally only included images of actively engaged students, it is an excellent example of a learning center activity that includes variety in subjects and methods to help students learn.

Of course, learning centers can cause potential classroom management problems.  With a classroom filled with student discussion, students can easily discuss other subjects and switch to the assignment when the teacher walks by.  Teachers can combat this temptation by walking among students and helping where necessary.  It also helps to hold students accountable for participation in the lesson through clear directions and asking students to turn something in at the end of the lesson.  For example, students in the aforementioned video worked on a worksheet that asked questions pertaining to each station.

As a visual learner who long ago became tired of lectures, I enjoy participating in learning centers.  They involve movement, variety, and often excellent activities beyond lecture with PowerPoint.  The biggest problem that worries me is that of potential classroom management difficulties.  How exactly can a teacher know that students remain on task?  Moreover, how should a teacher develop a worksheet or other method of accountability that ensures student participation without limiting conversation or becoming busywork?  Feel free to comment with a response to these questions or any other thoughts.