Rotating Stations Discussion Strategy: Explanation
Set up six or seven separate stations in your classroom.
Each should have something that will stimulate discussion.
Examples include:
- A question or statement
- A video or song playing on a laptop
- A collection of sources
- A story or personal narrative
- A series of images
- An object of some kind
- A piece of work produced by a learner
In addition to the stimulus material (all of which should link to the main topic), each station should have a large sheet of sugar paper.
When learners enter the classroom, divide them into groups of three or four.
There should be the same number of groups as there are stations.
Give each group a different coloured felt-tip pen.
Ask the groups to assign themselves to a station.
When at their station, the groups should investigate the stimulus material and discuss their responses to it.
In some cases, it may be necessary to provide a question or a series of instructions to supplement the stimulus material.
Once groups have spent time talking, they should use their felt-tip pens to write their thoughts on the sugar paper.
When the teacher is happy that all groups have done this, they ask pupils to move on to another station and to repeat the process (for ease, ask learners to move clockwise around the room).
It is up to the teacher how many rotations they allow (getting groups around every station may be too time-consuming).
At the least, you’ll finish up with sheets of sugar paper with discussion notes written in three or four different colours.
You can use these as the basis for a whole-class discussion or for written work that is completed individually or in groups.
This activity is particularly good near the start of a topic, as it introduces learners to a range of different resources in a short space of time (giving them an introductory overview, as it were).
Rotating Stations Discussion Strategy: Example
Topic: The World Economy
The teacher has a class of twenty learners.
They intend to divide the class into five groups of four.
They set up stations containing the following material:
- A recent copy of the Economist magazine with the question: What can this tell us about the world economy?
- A series of images showing daily life in a developed country and in a developing country.
- The question: Is globalisation a good thing?
- A lump of coal with the question: How might the world economy affect the environment?
- A video charting the recent development of the Indian economy with the question: How might India’s development affect the rest of the world?
This is a highly stimulating set up, offering lots of opportunity for discussion.
There are a range of resources covering many different aspects of the world economy, with these presented through different mediums.
Groups can rotate through the stations, discuss what they encounter and then make notes of their discussions.
After the first rotation, groups will also discuss what previous groups have noted down on the sugar paper.
On completion of the activity, the teacher must decide how to follow up.
They may ask each group to create a report explaining the material and responses at their final station.
Alternatively, they may invite learners to choose any one of the stations and to write about this, with the proviso being that they must ensure their writing connects to the wider topic of the world economy.
Rotating Stations Discussion Strategy: Extensions and Developments
- Create a handout containing the same number of boxes as there are stations. Ask learners to fill this in as they go around, thus creating their own personal record of the discussions had by their group.
- Challenge learners to rank the stations they visited from most to least relevant. Ask them to explain and defend their choices. You could extend to a group or whole-class discussion.
