The library at Big Walnut Middle School is no longer a library.

Thanks to an anonymous donation through the Delaware County Foundation, the middle school library has been transformed into a “Learning Center,” similar to the former media center at Big Walnut High School becoming the high school’s “Innovation Center.”

During the Jan. 21 Big Walnut school board meeting, Ed Kitchen, the district’s technology coach, said the library is now a learning pod, complete with 21st-century technology.

The Learning Center has movable furniture, allowing large and small groups of students to gather and collaborate on projects. There are two large movable Smart Boards, including one that rotates into a smart table. There’s a video room with a green-screen background for creating a variety of video presentations, and everyone has access to Chromebooks connected to the cloud.

Kitchen said students from different classes are able to gather and collaborate on multi-disciplinary projects, something they would not be able to do in a structured classroom setting.

“We can get 30 to 50 students in here at one time working on science, math, art,” Kitchen said. “We’re averaging over 115 students in here each day, working on various projects, and they love it. It’s comfortable, they get out of the classroom setting, and yet it’s an extension of the classroom.”

From left, collaborating on a project in the new Big Walnut Middle School Learning Center, are Tanner Merdeath, Kody Knapp, Lauren Murphy, Payton Carter and Elizabeth Ansel. Carter said working on projects in the Learning Center is much better than working in a classroom setting. “This gives us more experience in different ways to do things,” Carter said. “We can work and collaborate with people from other classes, and we’re actually doing real work. That’s better than just sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture about how to do the work.”

http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/02/web1_BWMS.LearningCtr.01.a.jpgFrom left, collaborating on a project in the new Big Walnut Middle School Learning Center, are Tanner Merdeath, Kody Knapp, Lauren Murphy, Payton Carter and Elizabeth Ansel. Carter said working on projects in the Learning Center is much better than working in a classroom setting. “This gives us more experience in different ways to do things,” Carter said. “We can work and collaborate with people from other classes, and we’re actually doing real work. That’s better than just sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture about how to do the work.” Lenny C. Lepola | For The Gazette