Peoria Regional Learning Center, situated within Wildlife Prairie Park, is founded on a mission to support at-risk youth. Our mission is enhanced by incorporating the very location of the school through hands-on project-based learning where students are given many opportunities to expand their knowledge through real world projects.
In the spring of 2014, Wildlife Prairie Park was looking to update and expand their aviary. Wildlife's mission is to act as a conserve, a reservation, for native Illinois plants and animals. All of the birds in their aviary are native to the Midwest.
Wildlife and our school, Peoria Regional Learning Center, partnered together to design a new aviary. Wildlife staff educated our students about the many bird of prey currently housed at the park and provided resources for students to learn more about them, as well as learn about other birds they could recommend for the new aviary. The students were also tasked with designing, or redesigning, the bird cages for each of the current and recommended birds and suggesting a new layout with decorative ideas for the entire aviary area.
To complete our project, the students formed smaller groups to create competing designs and recommendations for the park. At our project deadline we presented our information and suggestions to a committee of Wildlife staff members. The committee considered each of the presentations and used our suggestions to construct the aviary you can see at Wildlife Prairie Park today!
The students of Miss Hancock's Publications class were tasked with recording their activities and work throughout the project researching, planning, and presenting periods for each of the project groups. Check out their stories and pictures by clicking on the pages above!
To learn more about our school, visit http://www.peoriaregional.com/ or call 309-495-6800.
