Discovery Center to aid school’s science program
NORTH GREENBUSH, N.Y.» Earlier this week, Robert C. Parker School hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new Discovery Center.
The 3,000 square foot addition is designed to provide a spacious teaching environment for the school’s active science program. The center includes a bright lobby for displaying student work and exhibits, a science lab, a mud room with snowshoes, boots and nets, space for workbenches and an Adirondack-style porch. New performing arts space is also included in the addition. The learning environments include wallmounted projectors and the science lab overlooks the campus pond, meadows and wetlands.
“Our science program takes advantage of our beautiful and ecologically diverse 77-acre campus. This new space gives us easy access to the outdoors, and provides lots of room for indoor lab work, as well,” said Laura Graceffa, Head of School.
At Parker, classes with specialized science teachers begin in Kindergarten, so students in grades K-8 make use of the new space weekly. Activities as diverse as setting up habitat preference experiments with earthworms, building and testing bridge designs, wiring circuits, and launching rockets have all taken place in the space and outdoor areas in recent weeks. This is the first expansion to the campus since the school moved to its North Greenbush location. The building came together as a result of a $700,000 capital campaign.
“Parker students love to be active learners. We plan and design lessons using materials and let the young learners take the lead in setting up research and drawing conclusions,” said lower school science teacher, Leiana Hawkins.
“Students best remember what they get to experience — so it’s our job to set up science activities that provide them with memorable experiences,” added Graceffa. “That’s how to encourage a love of science throughout these early years — learning by doing.”