COVID-19 is fueling a Utah shift to outdoor classrooms

Students in Dasch Houdeshel’s science class are using beakers filled with green, yellow and clear liquids to see how water is transferred in plant cells.

This could be a scene from any high school biology class. The only difference is that this science lab is entirely outdoors; the experiment is set up behind Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City.

Junior Brennan Riad isn’t being distracted by his concern about the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re not in a closed room, we’re in the outdoors, and there’s a wind going by,” he said. “So I’m not so worried about being around other people, compared to being in a classroom.”

As schools in Utah and nationwide have searched for ways to protect students and educators, some have literally looked outside the box of classrooms. Such indoor spaces, with reduced ventilation and the increased difficulty of 6-foot social distancing, have a higher risk of spreading the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2020/10/11/covid-is-fueling-utah/
(Salt Lake Tribune)