Mansfield's hands-on school engages students

The facility, which is being completed in phases, is a fun place to visit. But students leave with more than just a smile on their face. Springmill is giving students in the high-poverty urban district new experiences and new ways to learn — a field trip in their own backyard. The facility is designed to engage students in learning and reinforce Ohio Academic Content Standards, Common Core standards and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts.

“In terms of the reputation of the district, we really want to be known as best in basics and first in innovation,” said Mansfield Superintendent Dan Freund, who proposed the Springmill Learning Center. “That’s what we’re going after with this facility and other programs we have in the district.”

He said the district’s efforts to bolster student achievement and transform a once-vacant elementary school into a center for experiential learning are already bearing fruit. Student enrollment is up, state test scores are climbing and the community is taking notice.

On top of that, Springmill Learning Center is generating new revenue for the district from visits by outside groups.

“We think ultimately, after our initial investment, payback is probably three-to-five years away on this project,” Freund said. “We think we’re doing something really unique here that could be replicated anyplace in the country.”

Building blocks

In spring 2011, Freund and the Mansfield City Board of Education charged a small group of teachers with the task of turning an empty school building into a museum-quality learning center.

“My goal was to give them the support they need, but to really get out of the way and let teachers lead this,” Freund said. “The staff at Springmill has really taken this project and run with it.”

Brad Strong and other Springmill staff have worked with designers and construction crews since April 2011 to transform the 51-year-old school building. The staff was enthusiastic about the project, but it was a little daunting at first, Strong said.

“We decided to split the project into phases, because looking at it was overwhelming,” he said. “When we first came into the building (which was closed in 2010), there was water on the floors, broken windows and truckloads of old equipment stored in here.”

Springmill staff — which now includes six teachers, three paraprofessionals and a custodian — got to work immediately. They crafted a mission statement, consulted experts at local colleges, created plans, and set ambitious project deadlines and put in long hours to meet them.

The school partnered with Splashmakers, a Mansfield-based design company, to turns its ideas into reality. Renovations began in the building, work started on the first phase of construction and the center opened the following school year. The district’s long-running outdoor education program for intermediate school students was relocated from an off-site location to the 40-acre Springmill property, which includes old-growth woods, a ravine and a bedrock stream.

In November 2011, Springmill debuted its first building phase, a nature-themed Adventure Gallery in the renovated gym. The space features a high-ropes course complete with seven obstacles, including a boulder wall, a climbing wall and a tree root climb that designers say is the only one of its kind in the country. Tree-covered murals and faux stone and tree roots now cover the gym walls. Animal tracks run along a stream on the padded floor. Interactive learning stations are scattered around the room, teaching kids about rocks, trees and nature. From fossils in the climbing wall to plants in the murals, every little detail is designed to be educational and consistent with the local environment.

“Mansfield is truly a leader with what they’re doing here,” Herbert Broda, a curriculum and instruction professor with Ashland University told a local newspaper at the Adventure Gallery’s grand opening. “I know of no other school district in Ohio that has done something on a scale like this.”

In navigating the high-ropes course, students learn teamwork, problem-solving and self-confidence. For Mansfield school board member Cliff Crose, the Adventure Gallery came alive once students set foot in it. He said he vividly remembers seeing a disabled student being helped from his wheelchair and up onto the high-ropes course.

“They harnessed him up and helped him across the obstacle,” Crose said. “The other kids watching were just clapping and going crazy. That child will never forget that. It almost brings tears to your eyes.”

Hands-on learning

Today, Springmill Learning Center boasts a wide range of interactive learning experiences — and more are in the works. While the attractions are designed for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders, people of all ages will find them engaging. A bird sanctuary greets visitors as soon as they enter the facility. A fenced-in, open-air garden is visible from a bird observation area lined with stations outfitted with binoculars and electronic devices that play birdcalls. Custom-made charts decorate the walls with illustrations of Ohio birds.

“Those are wrens and finches,” said Strong, pointing to birds at a feeder outside. “We have identified 17 different species of birds out here so far.”

Deeper inside Springmill Learning Center, there are 10 math and science galleries. Each gallery occupies its own classroom, and four galleries were just completed in December. Every gallery is designed around a visual and educational theme, including supporting worksheets and activities.

In the Measuring Mars Gallery, for example, students simulate a journey to Mars and learn about volume, area, perimeter and shapes on the planet’s surface. There is a large spaceship in the room that students must pack with various sized boxes, learning about volume as they go. There’s also a rover that hovers above a mock planet’s surface and moves around as students measure area and perimeter. In addition to other space-themed learning stations, the room is complete with twinkling stars on the ceiling, tables that resemble planets and a futuristic clock.

“We wanted this to be a museum-quality Exploratorium, so the details are very important,” Strong said. “We also wanted to emphasize incidental learning. We want kids to touch things and have fun with science, even when they don’t realize they’re learning.”

The galleries were designed with creative teaching tools in mind. The ceiling of the Earth Studies Gallery is tiled with a map of the planet, including latitude and longitude; teachers can flip a switch and light up certain continents or regions for an impromptu geography lesson. The Chemistry Lab Gallery has mobile lab stations and a giant periodic table on the floor. Teachers are able to lead students in activities by using an iPad to control an interactive periodic table on a nearby flat-screen TV.

“I can click on the iPad and it tells everyone to go stand on a noble gas,” Strong said. “We can then have conversation about how elements are numbered or talk about radioactivity and atomic weight.”

Springmill Learning Center also has hands-on galleries that focus on the following subjects:

   •  Algebra — Students use hands-on materials to learn about algebra and math in a submarine-themed room.

   •  Alternative Energy — Students learn about alternative energy, circuits, battery storage and the U.S. electrical grid.

   •  CSI — Students use science to solve a situational problem that includes exposure to graphing, angles, patterns and other math concepts.

   •  Gadgets — Students use materials to construct a predetermined project using a design process and 21st century skills.

   •  Gears, Levers and Pulleys —Students manipulate and explore gears, levies and pulleys through a variety of stations.

   •  Number Sense — Students learn about multiplication, ratio, proportion and probability in a carnival setting.

   •  Sensory — Students learn about the five senses and are exposed to a variety of science concepts.

Malabar Intermediate School students will visit Springmill Learning Center in small groups throughout the school year. So far, they like what they’ve seen.

“I like that we get to go out and learn and have fun at the same time,” said Malabar fifth-grader Tyler Breeze.

Fifth-grader Adrien Frank said he has learned about “photosynthesis, how trees grow, how leaves look and tiny bugs” so far in outdoor education, and he is looking forward to other experiences at the learning center.

“I’m really looking forward to the ropes course,” he said.

The big picture

Springmill Learning Center staff continues to meet regularly and discuss lesson plans, facility improvements and future projects. They’re developing plans to construct a fourth-grade math immersion program, a fifth-grade science immersion program and two history galleries, one focusing on pioneer history and the other on Ohio and Mansfield history. The development of a community garden, pioneer village and wetlands have all been discussed as part of improvements to the outdoor education program.

Springmill staff has sought school board approval for projects as plans have moved forward. Freund said the district is using permanent improvement funds to pay for the project, which has cost about $1.5 million so far. The learning center was designed to accommodate groups of various sizes and includes meeting space, separate dining areas and a gift shop. When the facility is not being used by Mansfield students, outside groups, businesses and schools are able to rent time to take advantage of the building’s offerings, including the high-ropes course.

“We’re seeing more and more outside groups all the time,” Freund said. “Our goal is to be self-sufficient.”

The project, he said, has helped the district raise community awareness about its innovative approaches to instruction. A district where nearly 85% of students live in poverty, Mansfield City has increased its focus on at-risk students with new intervention programs and the expansion of The Algebra Project, an initiative to prepare students for college-level math.

The district has seen its performance index score climb the last four years, reaching an all-time high last school year, according to preliminary report card data. Freund said the district of 3,500 students has reversed a trend of declining student enrollment, adding about 125 students this school year.

“We’re really on the cutting edge with what we’re doing here, and parents and the community are learning how exciting this is,” said Mansfield school board member Lowell T. Smith. “We believe that teachers and principals make it happen, and we support them.”

Springmill teacher Janet Ellsworth said staff members, encouraged by the support they’ve received from their superintendent and school board, have been inspired to dream big. From the outside, Springmill Learning Center still looks like a regular old school. But inside, it’s a different story.

“I think if students experience learning in a hands-on way they will remember it the rest of their lives,” Ellsworth said, gesturing to the vibrant science gallery around her. “The students are moved when they come into a room like this … it doesn’t look like a traditional school.”

“We’ve had people come from different parts of the country and they say you are building the school of the future. That’s a very special thing to be a part of.” 

Editor’s note: For more information about Springmill Learning Center, contact teacher Brad Strong at bstrong@mansfield.k12.oh.us or (419) 525-6348, ext. 4331.