Outdoor 'Classroom Of The Future' Unveiled In Thousand Oaks

THOUSAND OAKS, CA — As the weather gets nicer and students return to the classrooms, there’s a lot of talk about outdoor classes to mitigate potential COVID risks.

This week, Thousand Oaks High School took outdoor learning to an entirely new stratosphere.

On Wednesday, the school hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for its Sustainable Outdoor Learning Environment, a first-of-its-kind outdoor classroom featuring a solar rooftop and battery powering the classroom; an 86” touchscreen TV; LED lighting, energy efficient fans, and an assortment of chairs, stools, and ottomans designed to be easily mobile and stackable.

“We cannot wait to have our students take advantage of this phenomenal, new outdoor learning space,” said TOHS Principal Eric Bergmann. “Innovation sparks innovation, and this state-of-the-art classroom is sure to ignite our students’ creativity and joy for learning.”

Perhaps even more striking than the classroom itself is the fact that aside from some inspection and permit fees, the roughly $250,000 classroom was paid for by Schneider Electric, a Paris-based multinational specializing in sustainable electricity. Schneider brought together a consortium of other firms, including MBarC Construction, Baker Electric, STS Education, Flexground, Meteor Education, and Rexel USA.

Bergmann said that TOHS environmental science teacher Heather Farrell had long advocated for some kind of outdoor learning space, and when he became principal in February 2018, Schneider was installing the school’s new air conditioning system. At the same time, Marc Starkey, a business development associate at Schneider, had a similar idea.

“Marc sat down and began to explain an idea that Schneider had, and felt that TO might be a great partner, and I don’t think Marc at the time realized that the seeds were already in the soil here, that we had been talking about doing something like this for a number of years, so it was really serendipity,” Bergmann said.

“I sort of had this mindset of OK, we’re gonna do a glorified tuff shed on campus where our teachers can outside and teach their kids and put them outside in nature, and what Marc presented to us was this rocket ship of a facility...he handed us the keys to a Lamborghini, and I said, OK, I can drive this.”

Schneider decided to pay for the design and installation of this Lamborghini rocket ship after Farrell convinced the team that it would serve as an effective promotional tool for future projects.

“When the question came up of how are we going to pay for this, Heather Farrell, business minded as she is, came up with the idea saying, you know, you’ve been talking about this concept for a while, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones, but you really need to have us be somewhat of a guinea pig, so you can establish this beautiful outdoor learning environment that we’ve all been talking about,” Starkey said.

Almost three years later, the classroom is ready to go. It has no walls or doors - just a solar panel roof to power the classroom and protect against UV rays. The space is 30 feet by 30 feet, and can fit up to 40 students. Instead of rows of desks, students can sit on chairs, stools, ottomans, or even the cushy, rubberized floor emblazoned with the Thousand Oaks logo. A 12-foot locked cabinet can be used for storage space, while an 86” touchscreen TV, on wheels, is used for instruction.

The classroom will mostly be used for STEM instruction, but Bergmann said the school is currently working out a system where any teacher or club, even from other district schools, can reserve the space. Bergmann said that the classroom’s open concept learning is in keeping with the school’s evolving educational philosophy.

“When you think about a traditional classroom, you’re talking about 36 desks that are all in a row, lined up in military-like fashion and never move - that notion has been disappearing for some time from schools,” Bergmann said. “Teachers are free to set the SOLE up in any way they want to to meet the needs of the class that happens to be out there at the time. Nothing’s bolted down with the exception of the cabinet and the hardware, and that’s the way I would want frankly any classroom on my campus.”