Station-Based Learning at GHK LABS

Many of us grew up in teacher-centered classrooms. The teacher stood in the front of the class, paced around, delivered a lecture, or wrote on the board, and students listened. Or, copied silently. If students spoke, we heard things like, "Put your fingers on your lips!", or "Silence Please!", or "Shhhh!", or if you had a teacher like I had, she would bang the lecture-stand with her stick and angrily ask, "Avaaz kyu aa rhi? Pin drop silence!" (Why is there this noise?). I admit, teachers are coming in with strong passion and conviction, but it is time to change our teaching models now.

These classrooms followed what Paulo Freire calls the “banking concept of education” in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Knowledge was “deposited” into students, with little room for exploration or creativity. While this approach once seemed efficient, it often stifled curiosity, collaboration, and critical thinking.

The children in kindergartens today will be parents of the youth of the 22nd century. We don't need these factories anymore.

From Teacher-Centered to Student-Centered Learning

To make personalized, active learning possible, we use station-based learning at GHK LABS - a flexible structure that allows children to explore, create, and learn at their own pace. Here, students are speaking, sharing, discussing, making, drawing, writing, reading, reflecting, or even sleeping at times—all at once, all in one room. The teacher is sitting in a corner with a few students, helping them with what they most need. These classrooms personalize instruction. They blend different modes of learning so every child gets what they need. As a result, the classroom might seem and sound chaotic, but students learn in depth, become independent, and develop a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Children creating a school song and recognizing rhyme scheme

What Happens in a Student-Centered Classroom?

In a station-based learning, the teacher comes prepared with multiple activities for children to do. These can be drama, art, STEM, wellbeing, blocks, math, literacy, etc. The teacher sets multiple stations with some inspirational material on different stations(places), and groups of children rotate through these stations throughout the day. The teacher has to be so well prepared that the stations are set up in a way that doing the activity on each station is intuitive and also lets each child start with inspiration and follow their creativity. For example, there can be a photo of the Starry Night (Exemplar) painting on a station, drawing sheets, painting tools, and colors that match the Starry Night painting. This becomes intuitive for the child that the desired output is a replica of the Starry Night. Now they might start with that inspiration, and children tend to take their paths. This nurtures their creativity.

Children learning Mathematics on KhanAcademy and helping each other.

Why Personalization Matters?

At the teacher-led station, the teacher can focus on a skill or mindset of children in a smaller group and personalize the learning experience for them. For example, a child might need some help in counting, another in writing sentences, or another in calming themselves in anger - personalized learning on the teacher station helps each child meet their need. It is much like working with a fitness trainer - your fitness plan will be tailored to your needs - you need diet, supplements, stretching, motivation, cardio, weights, etc, to be the best version of yourself. (Just imagine going to the gym where there are 40 different humans with different bodies and strength and flexibility, and the fitness coach teaches everyone the same exercise - you will get sore and injured, and not return the next day. Will you?)

Students sketching a collaborative art piece while studying space.

The classrooms we design today will shape the citizens, leaders, and creators of tomorrow. When children have the freedom to explore, collaborate, and take ownership of their learning, they don’t just master subjects—they learn how to think, solve problems, and care for their communities. By shifting from the silence of teacher-centered rows to the vibrant hum of student-centered stations, we prepare our students not just for exams, but for life in a changing world. This is how we nurture confident, compassionate, and capable young people—ready to lead us into the 22nd century. Let's reimagine and reinvent schools,