District 94 students returning to updated math, science spaces

As students left West Chicago Community High School on May 25, they walked out of a science department designed and built in the 1960s. This September, they will return to 21st century learning spaces designed to be adaptable, engaging and inspiring for both students and teachers.

Construction began right after Memorial Day on Phase III of the master facility capital plan for the high school. Estimated to cost approximately $5 million, it is the largest project of the past three summers.

The target this summer has been the portion of the school constructed in 1965, housing math and science classrooms. In all, 14 science rooms and 16 math rooms have been receiving makeovers.

"A key component of science learning is exploration and investigation," Principal Moses Cheng said. "The new rooms allow teachers and students to do that - teach and learn in an environment that supports exploring and investigating in a 21st century way."

"The vision for teaching and learning at West Chicago Community High School is to have students 'think critically in each discipline,' " Assistant Principal Allister Scott said. "In science we want students to develop the content knowledge, critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills of a scientist. To develop these critical skills and content knowledge, students must collaborate, be active problem solvers, be inquisitive learners and be able to communicate scientifically. The new science learning space will help teachers to create the classroom culture that facilitates this learning."

Some science rooms will include furniture on wheels to allow for flexible placement and grouping of tables for demonstrations and projects. This type of learning space gives teachers the ability to adapt the flexible space to the activity going on during the lesson. The science wing also incorporates multiple nontraditional learning spaces, such as small workrooms for students that teachers can utilize to support student learning. In addition, near the science rooms will be an open space that can be used as a classroom for special projects or presentations.

The calendars for both last school year and the coming school year were modified to create a very long summer for this and other construction projects. School ended before Memorial Day in the spring and does not begin again until after Labor Day for our high school students.

The community will be invited to visit West Chicago Community High School this fall to view the upgraded spaces resulting from the past three years of construction projects. In the meantime, architect renderings and photos of the construction progress can be viewed at d94.org/construction.

• Doug Domeracki is superintendent of Community High School District 94. His column appears monthly in Neighbor during the school year.