By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati high school students with an interest in the building trades get a guided tour Thursday through Rockdale Academy. They were able to inspect the framework and working parts that will later be covered by walls and ceilings. The new school is to open next year. Construction managers with Turner/DAG/TYS conducted the hard-hat excursion. The Cincinnati Enquirer/CRAIG RUTTLE

AVONDALE - Eighteen Cincinnati Public Schools students who are considering careers in construction got a glimpse Thursday of the first new school being built in their district in more than two decades.

The students from Woodward Traditional and Woodward Career Technical high schools toured partly finished classrooms at Rockdale Academy. It's one of 66 buildings being constructed or renovated as part of the district's 10-year, $1 billion project.

Piping was exposed, walls were unpainted and windows had yet to be installed.

"I think this area right here is neat," Micah Wright, a 15-year-old freshman at Woodward Career Technical High School, said as he stood in an enlarged classroom called an extended learning area.

The schools are being built to encourage collaboration among teachers, and the Woodward students heard examples of how that could happen.

Most of the classrooms will be clustered in pods, where four rooms are built around a larger central classroom, called the extended learning area. The four classrooms will be divided by walls, but their doors open into the central area that can be used for small-group instruction or joint lessons with other classes.

The extended learning area will have restrooms along one wall, and the classrooms will have water fountains and will be wired for the Internet. Officials said such amenities will minimize the time students spend in the halls.

"Everything in this building is meant to facilitate learning," said Russ Alford, project executive for the district's construction management firm.

Marcus Bowden, a 17-year-old senior at Woodward Traditional, liked what he heard.

"Instead of leaving the room and going into the halls, everything is in the room," he said. "I think it'll help students learn more."

The Woodward students also appreciated the on-site lesson in construction trades.

"It's helpful to see what we might be doing," said Wright, who is considering a career as an electrician. "With this, you get to visualize how it might look. When people experience things, it helps them learn better."

Rockdale students are scheduled to move into the new school in the winter.

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com