Learning Stations - Ideas for Nurse Educators in an Active Learning Classroom

One of my favorite concepts from Dr. Susan Hrach's book Minding Bodies is that learning is an embodied experience. It is not only a cognitive process but also involves the movement of our muscles, the sensations we feel, and the sounds and temperature of the room where we learn. 

And using learning station is an excellent way to encourage an embodied learning experience.

Active Learning Stations

Using Learning Stations

We are all familiar with stations—designated areas within a classroom where students rotate through, and each location has a different activity and learning objective. Setting up stations is a simple and effective tool for adding body movement to any classroom session. Even a basic station, such as switching to a different table to work, can ignite a curiosity spark and engage the student.

Here are a few basic types of active learning stations:

👋🏾 Hands-on activity

A place to practice clinical skills, use relevant equipment, or create with art supplies. Bring wound dressings or nasal cannulas to a station and let students work with the materials while creating a teaching plan.

💻 Use Available Technology

Include any technology you have access to at a station. If it is a tablet, ask students to create a mind map using a free tool such as Canva. Or work on pharmacology and medication safety using a medication dispensing system like Sim2Grow offers. If you can access an EMR, ask students to complete documentation on a patient in a case study. Or wheel in a low-fidelity simulator that can be used for basic assessment.

📚 Research Using Available Resources

Ask students to use the tools available through your college to check medication compatibility, research a health condition, or look up evidence-based practices related to the content. They could use the library website, a drug book, or an online resource such as Nursing Central.

📝 Incorporate Assessment

This station could include a quiz with practice NCLEX questions, a worksheet, or a demonstration of a skill.

🔮 Ask for Self-Reflection

Including a dedicated space for reflection allows students the time and energy to review their performance and identify areas for improvement. Self-reflection is an essential skill as a nurse, and we can bring this into the classroom with a few open-ended questions.

🗣️ Small Group Discussion

The idea of this station is to engage two groups in discussion or debate. Offer the students a prompt—maybe an ethical dilemma or ask them to find the “best” way to do a nursing skill—and give them a little time to prepare their response. The key is to choose something with a grey area, where there is no right/wrong answer but an opportunity for open dialogue. 

Want to get started planning your active learning station class?

Grab a free worksheet to get started.

Here are a few other tips for using stations in an active learning classroom:

⚖️ Balance independent and instructor-led activities. You can’t be in five places at once, so identify the activities that require your presence and include activities that students can do independently. Self-directed learning is a skill that students may need to practice, including staying on task and completing their objectives. This independence also helps them take ownership of their learning and transfers the responsibility from the instructor to the student.

🦜 Over-communicate - Give clear instructions and expectations around independent stations. Explain how it connects to nursing practice.

📌 Debrief or cool-down activity - If students have been working independently throughout the class period, use the last 10-15 minutes of class to bring the students together and debrief what was learned. The debriefing can be a student-led activity, asking them to share one crucial concept they took away from each station. It can be the reflective station, where students identify what went well and what did not. Or it can be an opportunity to check their work as you go through the correct responses.

🖼️ Have a framework - Giving students a guide or a worksheet to fill out as they work through the stations helps to keep them on track. It can be as simple as four quadrants (if you have four stations) or a more complex, fill-in-the-blank setup. You can ask students to submit the completed sheet at the end, or they can keep it for their notes.

🩺 Align the stations with learning objectives and clinical practice - Consider what skills an entry-level nurse would need to know to work with a patient with CHF and build your stations around these concepts.

🤸🏾‍♀️ Use the in-between - The time between stations is a chance to add a bit of fun and light-hearted energy to the session. Lead them through a few neck stretches or play upbeat music. Use a unique timer to signal the time to rotate stations.

Adding Stations to Your Teaching Toolbox

Using stations, nursing instructors can create an embodied learning experience for students. This technique can improve memory and recall, apply theory to practice, and improve clinical judgment. Please consider adding this active learning tool to your teaching toolbox! 

I hope you come back next week for Part II of using stations!

Looking for ready-to-go active learning tools?

Check out the active learning case studies as a card deck.