Lexington, KY - Ronald Chi says there is a lot more to be learned from cooking than just how the ingredients are mixed together.
He points out that food is a big part of an ethnic group's culture, so there is a sociology aspect. And the origin of the ingredients and the recipe can teach about geography, climate and economics.
And the cooking method can raise science questions, such as "how does a microwave work?"
Chi's new job, as the first principal for The Learning Center at Linlee, is to find the right recipe to help his students be more successful than they had been in a traditional school classroom. The idea is to make every experience a learning experience.
The Learning Center at Linlee is opening this year as an alternative for students who have not always been successful in the traditional classroom but have shown potential for success. The school will start with 50 students in grades 7 through 12, with 25 coming from middle schools and 25 from high schools.
It is not a remedial school, but it's also not for students who already are getting good grades in the more traditional school system.
Fayette Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman said the challenge for Chi is that "not a single student falls through the cracks."
Director of high schools Mike McKenzie said it was a challenge to describe the new school to prospective parents who were asking about the new school's curriculum and schedule.
"We wanted to find the kids first, then build the schedule around the kids," he said.
Chi says he has been given a lot of freedom to be creative at The Learning Center.
The centerpiece for the new school is what Chi calls "the museum." It is the former library of Linlee Elementary, which closed in 2008. But Chi sees it as a place to display projects that will be researched, designed and built by the students. He can envision some larger models focusing on some aspect of natural science or natural history surrounded by activity stations.
This builds on something Chi did last year at Winburn Middle School, where he taught science for 13 years. Along with fellow science teacher Katrina Frias, Chi and the Winburn students dug out some old unused motors from storage and created a revolving solar system. There also was an 8-foot volcano that erupted using household chemicals and a running waterfall.
"Instead of taking a field trip to the science museum in Louisville, we created a science museum," Chi said.
Winburn then hosted field trips from elementary schools that feed into the school. Chi said he wants The Learning Center to be the same kind of resource for the entire Fayette County district and show how project-based learning can be adopted by other schools in Fayette County.
The school also wants to make use of its 11 acres at the intersection of Georgetown Road and Spurr Road in northern Fayette County as a place to learn about the environment - and not just learn by observing, but learning by cultivating and nurturing a garden for use by the school, or building a gazebo on the grounds as a way to apply math and engineering skills.
McKenzie said Chi has a knack for seeing potential. "That's the way he sees every youngster," he said.
Chi said the goal of the school is not to teach different content than the other schools, but to teach the same core content in a different way.
And the students will still be required to take the same state assessment tests that all other Fayette students will, but Chi says the school will approach that content through "different avenues of learning through project-based teaching." And Chi wants students to see beyond test scores.
"The test is still very important to us, but it is not the end," Chi said.
And while the school may have big plans for projects, it is really about three things: building relationships and collaboration, empowering the students, and making connections across different subjects.
The school district plans to eventually build up the enrollment at The Learning Center to about 200 students.
For Chi, a product of the Fayette County school system who returned to Lexington with a master's degree from Columbia University, it is a dream job.
"I have always wanted to construct a school from the ground up," he said.