Living Labs Projects

Bishop O'Dowd High School
1999 - Present

The Bishop O'Dowd Living Laboratory has expanded the walls of the classroom into the natural world. Students and volunteers helped design and install every part of the Living Laboratory. A place that was once eroded, weedy, and neglected is now a vibrant outdoor classroom. It is the most extensive outdoor study site of any urban school in the country. The Lab’s design emphasizes ecological restoration and plants native to this area.

Living Lab highlights:

• Aquatic Ecosystem: A tumbling waterfall, pond, and wetlands
• 21,000 gallon rain water storage tank buried in the hillside
• A composting facility
• 80% local native plant species
• Botanic garden with representative groupings of the most common native plant communities
• 60 trees planted by students as a memorial for student Anna Costa
• Memorial garden
• Wildlife habitat
• Capacity for three classes meeting at the same time
• A trail that loops around the site
• A greenhouse for propagation and germination projects
• A mural-covered storage shed that contains garden tools and class materials for
  teachers
• Meditation places

The Living Lab serves as a laboratory for our science classes, especially Connections, Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry, and Earth Science. It is also widely used by art, foreign language, English, social studies, and physical education classes as an outdoor setting for reflective activities, team exercises, and special projects.

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