Learning Center #2

My second learning center was created for my Personal Finance class for a lesson on banking.  I decided to do a learning center for this particular class because they enjoy doing hands-on activities and working together.  They generally enjoy and appreciate anything I can do to make learning the material more fun.  At the beginning of the course (it is a half year course) the students were not as willing to work with other people besides their friends.  Now, they have become very comfortable working collaborating and helping each other.  Having the class complete a learning center is a great way to keep the students working as a group.  My idea for this learning center came partially from Miss Hahn who has already done lessons on banking and a Microsoft Office default diagram in the form of a triangle.  I was looking for a creative way to organize the different types of banking institutions on a PowerPoint slide, but it did not quite work the way I wanted it to.  I decided it would make a great learning center.  I created four large triangles.  The center pink triangle would contain all of the common elements of the three types of institutions.  The other three triangles are for each specific type:  Commercial Banks, Credit Unions and Savings and Loan.  The information put in these triangles are specific to that type of institution.  The learning center worked very well for lesson close after the students took notes on the topic.  It reinforced their learning during the class period and gave them a great visual for the material.  The students worked together to put each statement in the correct triangle.  As we move on in the banking unit, we can add more facts to each of the triangles.  The learning center is also a great way for the students to quickly reference what they have already learned.