Implementing Learning Centers in the Classroom

Learning centers can be a great alternative to more traditional types of work given to students. Some of the benefits of learning centers include:

1. Students will engage in more hands on type of activities, and as a result they will find the lessons presented to be more stimulating and exciting.
2. Students can become more actively involved in the learning process. Several choices can be offered at each center, so students can choose the activity that they find to be the most interesting.
3. At certain centers students must work together to be successful, and this promotes cooperation and develops skills related to working well with others.
4. Centers can be designed or modified to provide activities for students with a wide range of skills and abilities. In other words, they can easily be modified to meet students unique and individual needs. 
5. Several subject matters or concepts can be covered in a relatively short amount of time. For example, you can have a math center where students must match word problems on one card with the answer on another card, a reading center where students can choose a short story to read and then make a picture of their favorite part of the story, a writing center where students are presented with several silly headlines and then must write a newspaper article based on the headline of their choice, and a science center where students can conduct a simple science experiment. Students can be given 20 minutes at each center, and so in an hour and a half (10 minutes added for transition time between centers), 4 different topics can be covered.
6. The fact that students will be changing activities every 15-30 minutes will help ensure that no one will become bored or frustrated with any one activity.

While centers can be very fun for students, it is important to note that they can take a good deal of time to prepare. It is also vital for the teacher to spend time at each center to ensure that students keep on task and are behaving appropriately. The first few times you try centers things may seem chaotic, but over time students will become more familiar with how centers work, and they will begin to really look forward to having the opportunity to work with their peers doing hands on activities in a small group environment.