Learning Centers in American Elementary Schools - Disadvantages of The Learning Center Approach

Disadvantages of The Learning Center Approach

Despite its success in many schools across the country, the effectiveness of learning centers is called in to question. Because children are expected to primarily learn through autonomous exploration and discovery, some people feel that teachers' jobs are minimized.

Furthermore, the learning center approach is much more informal than the traditional lecture-and-worksheet format of most American classrooms. Walking into a learning center classroom, many would interpret the hustle and bustle of independent learning as chaotic and uncontrollable. Many teachers are overwhelmed by the size of their classroom and feel that they could not accurately assess or monitor their students’ independent work in centers. Also, many people do not believe that children learn best when at play, and instead subscribe to the view that children should be disciplined, quiet, and attentive at all times.

Some teachers simply cannot find the time or materials needed for a learning center environment. Constructing learning centers is much more time consuming than traditional approaches because the teacher must create the materials for the many activities in each center. Centers must also be changed out at least every two weeks. Finally, centers require a lot of space, which is not always available to public school teachers.