Excavators. Rocks. Dump trucks. Mud. When it comes to all that’s found on a busy construction site, there may be no group that appreciates it more than preschoolers.

And on one sunny Friday in early September, a group of Rowland Hall beginning schoolers had an experience that’s rarely available to those their age: they got to walk into a real construction site.
 

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Donning hard hats and highlighter-orange vests that hung past their knees—and safely contained within a taped-off section of the Richard R. Steiner Campus—the 4PreK students were hard at work. In between chatting with the crew and enjoying a front-row view of the excavator, water truck, and grader on hand for the day, the students could be seen scooping excavated soil into two wagons. Something exciting was happening.

While it’s never surprising to see Rowland Hall students learning in new spaces, this activity was noteworthy as it marked the first time this year that students were using the construction site—future home of the Middle School and Upper School, as well as a performing arts center and athletic complex—in their learning. And it seems only fitting that 4PreK students, who not only love construction but study it each year, were the first to engage with the rising campus.

“There’s nothing better than a construction project for preschool kids,” said Jennifer Claesgens, Rowland Hall’s early childhood experiential learning and science specialist, who has spent months thinking about how to connect students with the Steiner Campus site. She saw a natural connection with 4PreK, where the study of construction progresses from topics such as learning to identify shapes to studying the building techniques behind strong, stable structures. (A favorite way students put this work into practice each year is by creating block models of the Utah State Capitol.)

This focus on finding ways to connect students with their campus, as well as the wider community, isn’t new for Jennifer. As an experiential learning and science specialist, she focuses on learning by doing and partners with 4PreK through second-grade teachers to build on what’s happening in their classrooms. As part of this work, she’s always keeping an eye out for new spaces in which students can learn. These spaces take many forms, including the Lower School science garden, where she takes students to see the apple trees when their fruit is at its peak, and the McCarthey Campus quad, where students studied shadows during April’s solar eclipse.

Already, the Steiner Campus promises to be a wonderful new resource for student learning. As Jennifer stood among the four- and five-year-olds on that bright late summer day, she could see how engaged they were. During the visit, the students learned from the construction crew, excitedly observed the excavator dig a hole, and took turns adding shovelfuls of dirt to the wagons. It’s clear the site will continue to be a resource for students of all ages between now and the campus’s 2026 opening, thanks to the support of the school and the partnership of Okland Construction, Rowland Hall’s contractor.

“Okland went above and beyond to make this happen,” said Steiner Campus Project Manager Kathryn Pickford of the 4PreK visit, which she coordinated with Okland’s project manager, Scott Thomsen. “They are keen to do this when the opportunity arises and as we move through construction.”

Okland can certainly look forward to continued interaction with the 4PreK students—the classes’ afternoon site visit was only the first step in what will be a yearlong observation of the rising Steiner Campus, which will complement their in-class units and follow students’ interests.

For instance, in Isabelle Buhler and Mara Kushner’s class, students are already at work building their own school on the dirt they wheeled from the Steiner Campus to their play yard. Since their visit, they’ve transferred the dirt to a kiddie pool and started preparing their building’s foundation. Like the construction crew across campus, the preschoolers have been removing materials, such as rocks and wood chips, in order to level the ground so that they can build. In the coming weeks, they’ll be thinking about the materials they’ll need for their school, and will use ongoing observations of what’s happening on the Steiner Campus as their guide.

Best of all? All of this hands-on, deep learning will complement their in-class studies on subjects including 2D and 3D shapes, materials, literacy, math, and even engineering and physics. And along the way, they’ll be continuing to learn how to work together, communicate, observe closely, and take learning risks—all practices that will support their learning for years to come.

It really is exciting.

Experiential Learning