Suggestions for using this resource

Learning centres are an extremely flexible resource, and may be used successfully in several different contexts, including:

• The early childhood centre or classroom
• The general primary classroom
• The specialist music lesson

In all of the above contexts I would suggest structuring the use of learning centres as follows:

• Set up between one and three learning centres in your classroom. These should be located in a separate area of your class and be setup with their own tables and all of the necessary equipment, task cards and other resources to hand.
• Schedule learning centre time for students to be involved in learning centres during the week. This may occur as a whole class, depending on the number of learning centres available, or as a reward for students completing other set tasks in class or achieving their personal learning goals.
• At the start of the week schedule a time when you can introduce each learning centre to the class. During this session go through the requirements of the learning centre and demonstrate possible solutions to your students. This ensures that students are aware of the requirements of each learning centre and have viewed a demonstration of completed learning centre tasks, thereby maximising the possibility that they will be able to engage in learning with minimal or no assistance from you.
• At the end of the day or week schedule a time for students to demonstrate completed learning centres to the rest of the class. If all students have completed the same learning centres this may even involve a large group performance or a series of small performances. Either way this is critical for creating and performing learning centres as this allows students to engage in the roles of performer, audience and critic.
• You may like to include a learning centre task board in your classroom, where students can tick off their completion of tasks and track their own progress.
• In the early childhood context the above structures may or may not be appropriate. However key to the success of learning centres in an early childhood context is the provision of adequate time for students to learn through play and exploration. Also the role of the teacher in an early childhood context will be far more hands-on than in the case of older students.
• Using some of the above suggestions learning centres may also be used effectively in the specialist music classroom to supplement the learning of the sequential music education program that is already in place.

When integrated effectively into the existing teaching and learning environment music learning centres can augment the learning already occurring, providing students with opportunities to engage in authentic learning as self-directed problem-solvers. The learning centre ideas provided in this resource are only a beginning; once you have started to use this resource, why not experiment with your own ideas and generative topics for the creation of other learning centres in your classroom?

Dr Bill Baker
December 2007

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