The Logan-Hocking School District (LHSD) is developing an innovative land lab on the Logan High School campus. This outdoor classroom experience will provide an open-air environment for learning that features an amphitheater with a covered stage, pollinator area, shelter house, storage, restroom facilities, and more.
Taylor Reichling, Logan High School science teacher, explained that the facility will be used by local agencies including, but not limited to, Rural Action and Hocking County Soil and Water to provide educational opportunities to children in the community. Reichling said the facility will also be utilized by programs throughout the district, including science lessons to engage elementary students with the natural environment, the FFA program as they work on preparing for Career Development Events (CDE) events, and science programs at the high school that will use the space to conduct experiments and research.
“The possibilities with a facility like this are endless, especially given the access to a diverse ecosystem for learning,” said Reichling. “The Hocking County Soil and Water is adding pollinators for ecosystem health and growth and a watershed ecosystem. I am excited about the access students will have to the watershed, as a variety of educational events could easily surround this feature. We intend to build upon this facility in the coming years to make this a terrific asset for our students both on our campus and away from our campus.”
When the new high school was under construction during 2008 and 2009, several acres of land were left essentially untouched during construction. Stephanie Williams, a retired Logan High School teacher who has been instrumental in the project, shared that several science teachers had the idea of developing that land into an outdoor classroom, and the administration agreed.
“I am looking forward to having a space where students can get outside to learn, rather than being confined to the four walls of a classroom,” said Williams. “The amphitheater and covered shelter will provide more outdoor programs for students to have hands-on, real-life experiences. Additionally, we have planted a pollinator garden and that has already been used as an educational tool for home school students who helped plant that area.”
Williams said a community event will be held in mid-May for local landowners to learn how to plant a pollinator area on their own property. It is being hosted by the county soil and water conservation district and an organization called Pheasants Forever, which provided grant funding for the pollinator garden area.
Alyssa Burns, Logan High School science teacher, said that the land lab will provide a space for students to apply background knowledge learned in the classroom.
“The land lab area includes access to the Hocking River, ponds, forest, and a newly planted native wildflower area,” said Burns. “Students will have the opportunity to explore all of these ecosystems. Using the planned lab space and outdoor equipment, students will be able to complete lab activities focused both on real-world demonstrations of what has been covered through classroom curricula and on new content and discovery.”
Burns explained that career readiness opportunities will include training in forestry management, aquatic ecosystem monitoring. soil health, and wildlife management.
“We also hope to provide experience in outdoor education for our high schoolers as we ask them to help plan programming for visiting elementary and middle school groups,” said Burns.
Burns said another focus will be to work with the Arbor Day Foundation to achieve recognition as a Tree Campus.
“The first stage will be the identification of the trees that are present in the land lab area,” said Burns. “Logan was recently designated as a National Arbor Day Tree City and we plan to follow up with this campus-focused initiative.”
This project was funded with Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER), funds reserved by the Board of Education for this specific purpose from the sale of the prior off-site land lab, and other district Permanent Improvement Funds. The Logan-Hocking School District anticipates the new land lab project will be completed in time for the start of the 2022-2023 school year. Students, staff and community can look forward to this hands-on learning tool that will provide countless new opportunities to students present and future