The Advantages of Setting Up a Learning Center

Cutting and pasting activities get students involved.

The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) reports that greater learning takes place when students are involved in active learning. Learning centers involve students actively in the process of learning and reviewing math, reading, science or writing The students spend time walking around to different stations, playing educational games or completing activities at each site. There are many reasons teachers incorporate learning centers into their curriculum.

Reviewing Material

Colorful, fun and engaging games make reviewing math fun.

Learning centers are a fun and creative way for students to practice what they learn in class. Some students do not enjoy spending their whole day with a paper and pencil, answering questions. A learning center takes the same objective -- reviewing material -- and changes the method of achievement to a more exciting and novel setting. For example. a teacher who wants to review a math section on adding factors up to 10, can either hand her students a worksheet of math equations or create a math center with colorful magnets the students can use to bring the equations to life.

Differentiated Learning

Learning centers promote learning that caters to students of different levels. Some students who learn faster need enrichment and other students move slower and may need a lot more review and practice. The learning center, if properly set up, caters to all levels. For example, a teacher can create a reading center that labels all the books in different colors to represent each level. The faster readers will take the more difficult books that will challenge them, and the students who read more slowly will take the books that have easier words.

Mobility

A student with ADHD enjoys games that allow her to stand up and move about.

A 2008 National Institute of Mental Health report notes that there is at least one child in every classroom who has attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These students need opportunities to move about because they have trouble sitting for long periods of time. The learning center accommodates the student with ADHD, allowing her to stretch out and move around to different work stations.

Schedule Changes

A change in schedule may destroys a teacher's curriculum plan for the day.

Every teacher experiences a day when his whole schedule changes because of an assembly or school activity, leaving him with a shortened teaching period -- not enough time to teach something new but long enough to not be wasted. Students who are not busy will complain or start acting up. Learning centers can fill in a 15-minute time slot effectively. The students know what to do already and will be able to start working immediately.

References

• Mrs. McDowell: Classroom Centers
• Reading Rockets: Differentiated Classroom Structures for Literacy Instruction
• PBS Teachers: Center Time in the Early Childhood Classroom: Basic Set-Up
• Center for Teaching Learning and Technology: Active Learning

Resources

• Miss Whyte's Kindergarden: Literacy Centers