Tag: Learning

Teacher Reading to Students
Teacher reading book to young students in classroom. Horizontally framed shot.

Benefits of Small Group Stations in Class

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Small group stations set in place in larger classes can give students more opportunities to participate, work as a team, and receive more personalized instruction.  Here are several benefits of starting small group stations or workshops.

  • Hands-on learning opportunities
    Small group stations afford students the chance to work with their hands with labs, small experiments, puzzles, and even physical activities.  A smaller group means that each student will have more of a chance to take an active role in the activity, and the station becomes a hands-on challenge for the students, rather than a demonstration by the instructor.  Students will generally remember what they learn through these stations better than if they had learned the same concepts from a demonstration because they are actively involved.

  • Group focus
    Small group stations are heavily focused on group work, which is very different than the traditional lecture-based format of the classroom.  Because of this setup, students will feel more motivated to involve themselves in their education, ask questions, and participate.

  • Peer learning
    Often, students who have enjoyed certain workshops in the past will revisit the class in later years and assist in leading a small group station, giving the new students a chance to learn from their peers.  This type of learning can sometimes be more effective, as many students feel more comfortable asking older peers for help or more detailed explanations.  The older students also have the opportunity to learn better teaching skills as a result.

These aspects of small group stations will ultimately provide students with a new and different approach to learning that could be highly beneficial.

The Ability to Collaborate with Other Students via Online Education

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Online collaborative learning efforts were promised to provide everyone with access to the best teachers available. When the concept rolled around, digital learning was still a reasonably new idea, but the implications were far reaching. No longer were students limited to the teachers that populated their school of choice, making selection of a school the ultimate limiting device.

With digital collaboration, the best teachers from each discipline were available to the best and brightest students, who would presumably seek them out. And the system has delivered on the promise. Qualified students are now able to learn from a professor of Harvard rank, while they live in Lincoln, Nebraska, far from the hallowed ivy covered school’s buildings.

It is now possible for the best and brightest to remain in a comfortable and familiar home setting, retaining their own cultural flavor, while collaborating with folks of a similar caliber from across the nation. No longer does coming from an area as remote as Lincoln mean that one’s opportunities are limited to whatever is available in the Midwest. Now, the best minds in physics, for example, can come together and learn about one another’s regional differences as they problem solve. For example, the physicist from South Central Los Angeles and the physicist from Bloomfield, Indiana can now appreciate one another’s cultural nuances while still getting a project completed.

Successful projects and collaborations lead to further unions, and online learning resources such as elearners.com allow talent to reach across the nation. Video chats put your project partner right there in the room with you, so collaborative efforts are more convenient. After this fashion, the best minds quickly learn that remaining at the top of a field of study necessitates remaining amongst the best and brightest in that field. Whether it is in person or via technology, that is no longer relevant. Specific personal traits can also be sought, so the group remains cohesive and highly productive.