Many churches are implementing the Workshop Rotation Model* for their church school program. In this format, learners move (or rotate) each week to a different room with a different leader for a four- to six-week unit. Every week during the unit, the learners participate in a different activity, but all the activities are related to one story or theme. For example, they might study a story of Moses for five weeks. One week they would have Bible study; one week, drama; one week, an art or craft activity; one week, computers; and one week, music.

Each leader prepares for only one of these activities. Then each week, a different age-level group comes to each leader's area. Thus, the leaders need to do in-depth planning only once for each story or theme. After that, in succeeding weeks, they have to adapt only to make the session suitable for different age-level learners.

Advantages of the Rotation Model are easy to see. Sessions are more interesting, learners are more actively involved, and, by studying the same story in various ways, the children develop a deeper understanding of the story. The increased amount of time spent on a theme or story allows for activities that would not fit into a single session, such as painting to depict one's feelings about a story. Because of the lack of time, space, or materials in the traditional church school class, leaders often skip these more creative activities that make learning more effective. Another advantage is that leaders can teach in a mode that appeals to them and thus be more comfortable in their role.

A key feature of the Workshop Rotation Model is that it incorporates the theory of multiple intelligences that claims that humans have at least eight different ways of knowing. Everyone has a preferred way of learning. The Rotation Model, with its various activities, engages learners of all kinds whose dominant way of knowing may be spatial, logical/mathematical, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, or naturalist.

One caution: The Rotation Model often errs by placing too much focus on the method of instruction, the "how we teach," and not sufficiently emphasizing the content, or "what we teach."

Planning ahead has many advantages. By knowing what is coming, you can sign up leaders ahead of time. Also, leaders can be thinking about what they might do in a future unit. Stories, activities, and media can be gathered and filed away for the year in which they would be appropriate to the study.

For learners to retain what they have learned, the learning needs to fit into a larger framework. To help make this happen, the Rotation Model design team starts by examining the curriculum resource and identifying a few big ideas, often called "big questions." From the theme, the design team develops some big questions. In Bible Quest, the annual themes provide the big ideas around which activities can be planned. For instance, the Year 1 theme of incarnation raises such big questions as "How do we know God is with us?" or "How has God shown people God's presence?" The question then serves as a framework that holds various stories together. Each week the leaders make sure they link the story and/or activity to the question. For example, they could ask, "How does creation show that God is with us?" "How did Moses know that God was with him?" "How did David know?" You can connect the story to the learners' lives by asking, "How do we know?"

A unique feature of Bible Quest is the Bookmark Stories, those stories studied by learners at all age levels. These stories are particularly important to our faith family, and each quarter's material will feature at least three Bookmark Stories. After the design team looks at the theme for the quarter, they could examine the Bookmark Stories as themes on which to build the Rotation Model. The Bookmark Stories for fall 2000 include: the story of Creation, God's call to Moses from the burning bush, David's selection as the King of Israel,and Isaiah's vision of the peaceable realm.

After deciding which stories to use for a quarter, the design team begins to assess the talents and gifts available in their congregation to determine how many workshops they will offer. They also need to ascertain what space and equipment is available. Churches may take more than one approach to finalizing these decisions. Some churches use the same workshops each time: art, music, drama, and storytelling. Others change the workshops depending on what best accompanies a particular story. For instance, a computer or cooking workshop may fit well with one story, but not with others.

• Prepare for the Story, with suggestions for creating an environment through sounds and sights in which learners experience the story;
• Tell the Story, where learners experience the story through storytelling, drama, music, and art; 
• Connect with the Story, with suggestions to help the stories take on deeper meaning in the lives of the learners; and 
• Celebrate the Story, where learners affirm their new understandings of and insights into the story.

In the adult leader/learner resource, the first two movements are referred to differently. They are called Enter the Story and Encounter the Story. The last two remain Connect with the Story and Celebrate the Story.

To adapt Bible Quest for a Rotation Model, it is important to include activities from all four movements. "Tell the Story" and "Connect with the Story" might be the most useful because planners could build a workshop around storytelling, drama, music, and art.

The audio compact disk and the giant poster are great enhancements for storytelling or drama workshops. The CD includes music and sound effects to use in drama and storytelling. This helps learners more fully experience the story. For example, the CD tracks related to the story of Noah provide sounds of sawing, hammering, thunder, animals, and rain.

The Multi-Age (K–8) resource is another unique feature of Bible Quest. Although this program is appropriate for congregations with smaller membership, its suggestions can be adapted for the Rotation Model. This age-level resource provides leaflets that contain stories, games, puzzles, and dramas designed for learners across a wide age span.

The Workshop Rotation Model offers great promise. By using the Bible Quest curriculum, the model can be implemented in a thoughtful manner so that church school continues to be a place where children learn the basics of the Bible and the Christian faith, where they feel they are known and loved, and where their faith is nurtured.

Step 1 - Outline the scope and sequence for multiple years using Bible Quest's four-year plan.

Step 2 - Choose a theme, the big idea and/or "big questions."

Step 3 - Identify the Bible stories or passages that relate to the theme or big idea and that lead the learners toward finding answers to the big questions. Use the Bookmark Stories for each quarter.

Step 4 - Write objectives: List what the learners will know, be able to do, create, appreciate, value, and/or become committed to as they participate in each session.

Step 5 - Choose the workshops for each story. These may be the same for every story, or they may be unique to certain stories.

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*The terms "Workshop Rotation Model" and "Rotation Model" are trademarked by Neil MacQueen on a web site named "www.rotation.org."