Theory and Practice of Interactive Learning Centers

In Taylor and Otinsky's “Embarking on the Road to Authentic Engagement: Investigating Racism Through Interactive Learning Centers” the researchers seek to understand how deep affective learning on the topic of racism can be achieved. The interactive learning center is shown to be an extremely effective structure to reach this goal. With my experience at the Newark Museum I have seen just how powerful the potential for genuine learning can be in this environment. I would like to reflect on what I think is effective in light of findings of the article and my own experience of setting up an interactive museum exhibit/interactive learning center at the museum as well as observing the exhibits of my peers.

The study makes clear that slowing down the normal class flow is important to the process of implementing the learning center. An distinct advantage of the interactive learning center is that it helps student see material in a new context. Knowing that they are stepping out of a sometimes hurried and harried rush towards completing material this type of activity signals that something special will be happening – it conveys the message that what is about to take place will be significant and important to them personally. The interactive learning center is an excellent choice for a topic such as racism – it prepares the student for an experience that hopefully will change their outlook on an important issue in the society in which they live.

That the learning center must be interactive goes without saying, but what is the best way to implement this? First and foremost it should be inviting – it should literally extend an invitation into the experience as well as immerse the student in it. The experience should be unified and total. It must appeal to all learning modalities (visual, tactile, etc.) and appeal to the multiple intelligences of the student. It is important that the learning center be designed with the developmental and cognitive level of the students that will be using it in mind. Most importantly however it should take into account the socio-economic and cultural backgrounds of the students. In the article these students had little experience with people of color although they had been exposed to or immersed in many second hand ideas, unfounded beliefs and outright stereotypes through many media. Finally it is important that the center be a long term experience. At Grover Cleveland Middle School the center was set up for three months and served as a unifying point for successively planned units on racism. To have the kind of success related in the article it is important that the interactive learning center not be approached as a gimmick but an integral part of the long term curriculum.

Although a short term project my exhibit at the Newark Museum was designed to be the kernel of an interactive learning center for an inter-disciplinary unit for sophomores. The exhibit entitled “Sacred Geometry of the Circle: The Cosmology and Cosmogony of Cultures” was designed so that students could look at a seemingly simple idea (the circle) from the perspectives of math, religion, art, and culture and discover many new insights that they hadn't realized were possible. Interdisciplinary by nature it was designed to be a jumping off point for exploration of themes in all of their academic classes in order to see how these disciplines approach basic ideas such as this from different perspectives. This unifying experience is one of the hallmarks of an effective interactive learning center as pointed out previously. Students would not be the only ones working collaboratively – teachers from these disciplines would also collaborate in designing units for the learning center. Multimedia lessons which appeal to visual, analytical, and other intelligences would naturally flow from such an effort. It would hopefully be an inspiration to students to design their own exhibits based on an inquiry question of their own design, a very effective formative assessment. Ultimately the goal would be affective, to ensure that the students would come away from the experience looking at the world from a more enlightened frame of mind.