For generations, the traditional PreK-12 learning environment has been near-universal: tidy rows of desks all facing chalkboards and, more recently, whiteboards. At the head of the classroom, a single teacher would give lectures and lessons and assign work.

But the widespread availability of new technology has collided with that traditional approach. As local economies become increasingly interconnected, modern education design and instruction has taken these changes into consideration to better prepare today’s students for a rapidly changing world.

At HMS Elementary School in Hartley, Iowa, Boyd Jones built a brand-new facility that is reflective of the district’s commitment to a modernized approach to education. District stakeholders are confident the new facility will combine with a years-long commitment to professional development that will provide students with critical skills they’ll need to thrive as they grow up in an increasingly dynamic world.

The new 40,000-SF facility designed by CMBA Architects is pioneering the use of 21st Century Learning principles in building design for rural Iowa school districts. At the core of the design is the new facility’s ability to offer students and teachers flexibility and adaptability in their classroom layout. Learning spaces are characterized by a series of adjacent studios surrounding a central commons area. Garage door- and accordion-style walls easily open and shut to adapt classroom spaces to specific instruction or exercises. These features simplify teachers’ ability to conduct collaborative activities or small-group work in breakout sessions without having to locate an open classroom elsewhere in the building.

The ability to offer a cutting-edge education from an early age promises to be a big benefit to communities like Hartley. In Iowa, 70% of districts are rural, and HMS is on track to prove itself as a model district that can provide students with 21st-century skills like collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

In recent years, HMS has worked with its faculty and staff to equip them with the knowledge and professional development needed to maximize the benefits of this approach. District leaders said they saw noticeable improvements in students’ ability to grasp curriculum through a hybrid approach in the old elementary building originally built in the 1930s.

“We saw a big difference in students when we did this last year and the teachers were excited about it,” HMS Elementary Principal Cathy Jochims told The Hartley Sentinel as staff prepared to receive students for the 2020-2021 school year in the new building. “The physical structure allows you to do that very easily, and we did not have the ability to do that before.”