Hannah Elementary Students Get Visit From 30-Foot Mobile Learning Lab

BEVERLY, MA — Hannah Elementary Schools experienced a day of learning about biodiversity in a science laboratory on wheels earlier this month when the Change is Simple 30-foot mobile classroom visited the school for the day.

The Beverly-based Change is Simple engages students in experiential learning in STEM programs and teaches them how to make simple changes in their everyday lives that can help the environment.

Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) was on hand for the mobile learning day.

"I had a wonderful time connecting with Hannah Elementary School fourth-grade students in the Change is Simple mobile learning lab," Lovely said. "Hands-on activities are critical in getting our children excited to learn because they become part of the lesson."

Change is Simple said since it launched 10 years ago the company has worked with 40,000 students in Beverly and around Greater Boston. Its Sustainability and Climate Innovation Lab launched earlier this month and "opens like a Transformer toy" while featuring several high-tech learning stations.

On June 9, the students collected pond samples and studied them under microscopes, identified animals living in the water, including tadpoles and dragonfly larvae, and learned how studying biodiversity can reveal the health of an ecosystem.

"This is so fun," said third-grader Alice Rye said in a recap of the day provided to Patch by Change is Simple. "We're discovering new animals we never knew were alive"

Rye and her classmates had already found tadpoles and dragonfly larvae in their sample.

"This is so much better than a science book," said Lilly Panda. "You can see it, feel it."

Change is Simple has been coming to the Hannah School four times a year since 2013, coordinating with teachers ahead of time to align their curriculum with what’s being taught in class.

Principal Gabrielle Montevecchi says Change is Simple has had a "profound impact."

"Our students are talking a lot more about being environmental stewards," she said. "We pick up our trash and make sure it's recycled. But I'm hearing them make larger connections to the globe now."

A nonprofit, Change is Simple uses its own fundraising efforts to cover a portion of its program and no child ever has to pay to participate.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)