Planning and Resources

Learning Stations

Learning stations are a good way to organize time in the classroom. Learning stations provide the needed change in a routine while moving students around in an orderly fashion. They can also maximize the use of limited equipment or other resources. If you have only one computer in your room, make it one of the learning stations. Both cooperative learning groups and learning stations provide hands-on learning experiences, require that students practice essential knowledge and skills, free you up to observe and assess learning, and are more likely to meet the needs of individual students.

To use learning stations, divide the class into learning teams and rotate the teams through a series of learning stations that require the teams to perform a key task related to the topic under study at each learning station. Here is a sample time line:

15 minutes	Introduction of the lesson and instructions for using learning stations
15 minutes	Station 1
15 minutes	Station 2
15 minutes	Station 3
15 minutes	Station 4
15 minutes	Review and refinement of the learning by each group

This time line assumes that the next class period will deal with a review to ensure that students have understood the material.

Try this fun way to use learning stations. Assign groups a particular topic that you would like them to "master." Once groups have a thorough understanding of their topic, have them design learning stations for their classmates and conduct the review session. You could assign one group a topic per month and use learning stations creatively throughout the year.