FARMINGTON — Instead of sitting in classrooms every day until the bell rings, a team of Mt. Blue High School students are proposing to learn just as much as their peers by designing their own customized learning plans.

In September, instead moving from math to English, science and social studies classes, 15 young people might decide to spend four hours learning about those subjects in the local hospital or on a farm. Earlier this year, English teacher Dan Ryder showed students a video clip of a “school within a school” pilot program adapted in a Massachusetts school.

“Students thought that concept wouldn’t work here,” Ryder said. “I wanted to know why they thought that.”

He challenged students to try the idea when the next school year began in September. After a long and thoughtful discussion, his class decided to give his idea a chance, Ryder said.

Students Sara Hopkins-Goodwin, Tavia Robshaw, Shelby Elizabeth, Hanna Hopkins-Goodwin and Megan Gaboury are part of the pilot project, along with social studies teacher James Burrell, science teacher Doug Hodum and math teacher Matthew Allen.

“We don’t really think of anything but going into a classroom and learning from a teacher,” Robshaw said. “They teach us all the same, but we don’t all learn the same.”

Sometimes, learning styles don’t mesh well with teaching styles.

“I like to ask a lot of questions, and sometimes teachers don’t want to deal with that,” Elizabeth said.

In the classroom, the group may decide to extend learning sessions, and teachers will reserve blocks of time to meet with each other and students.

Online resources like Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) enable anyone to go online and review important concepts in a less hurried and more entertaining style, Gaboury said.

September will be an exciting challenge for all participants, Ryder said.

Learning goals can come from brainstorming ideas. For example, students might debate the pros and cons of wind power, research environmental impacts of turbines and analyze data to predict the cost of generating versus buying kilowatts.

“They might decide to make a presentation to the Planning Board to support their research,” Ryder said.

When “the bell” rings, opportunities for more meaningful student-teacher interactions are lost, Ryder said.

“High school students are accustomed to sitting in class and doing homework five days a week, and that’s what parents and teachers expect,” he said.

High school routines change when students continue with higher education.

They may have jobs and attend evening or online classes. Adult work days rarely require an employee to spend 50 minutes on one task before moving to a completely different assignment.

“Sometimes teachers get caught up in that concept of getting students ready to take tests, and maybe we can go a different route,” Ryder said. “In this project, they’ll be deciding what they want to do, and we’ll be there to support them.”

The group presented their proposal to guidance director Ben Milster and Principal Monique Poulin, and both gave their support to the project. When they explained their idea to the RSU 9 board, preparing to speak a few minutes to their audience, the board members quizzed students for nearly 30 minutes and enthusiastically endorsed the venture.

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