From parking lot to outdoor classroom
An outdoor interactive classroom has replaced blacktop thanks to the collaborative efforts of the accredited Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the PNC Foundation, fostering a more conducive learning environment for students at Chartiers Early Childhood Center in Pittsburgh.
An asphalt parking lot at the Chartiers Early Childhood Center in Pittsburgh recently transformed into an outdoor interactive classroom, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the accredited Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the PNC Foundation.
In partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools and PNC’s Grow Up Great program, the project replaced the hard, blacktop surface with green space, fostering a more conducive learning environment for the school’s 140 students.
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy staff and contractors designed the new space with input from schoolteachers and administrators. The outdoor classroom encourages motor skill development, nurtures creativity and stimulates curiosity. It features ADA-accessible pathways, picnic tables, benches, native trees and pollinator-friendly perennials. Sensory elements include birdhouses, flower-shaped chalkboards, a nature table, a maze, a play hill, steppingstones and a fruit-stand play store.
Teachers can now incorporate outdoor lessons related to STEM subjects and the natural environment using kits containing educational tools such as binoculars, plant and animal identification guides, and kid-sized gardening tools.
The project marks about a dozen that Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s School Grounds Greening initiative has completed since 2014 at Pittsburgh Public Schools’ early education sites with the support of PNC Grow Up Great. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has also installed greening elements or outdoor learning areas at 57 schools in the Pittsburgh area.