Specialized Schools Motivate Kids

Melinda Murphy Offers Study Hall Report

(CBS)  While many students thrive in high school, many others simply feel lost. Well, now there's a growing trend of small and highly specialized theme high schools.

In Friday's Study Hall, correspondent Melinda Murphy reports the idea is to give students real-life experiences, like learning at a zoo, to motivate them in high school, which may resemble a zoo.

From what The Early Show found, kids were more than ready to study, and not just monkey around.

Looking at some chimps, a student says she is really interested in zoology. "The way they act, it's a really good experience to learn," she says and notes it is not something she could read in a textbook.

There are textbooks at the Los Angeles Zoo Magnet School, but no book, no slide show, and no video can substitute for this real-life experience.

Teacher Christopher Trammell agrees. When the kids see the animals, he says, their faces light up.

"It's fantastic," he says."You get the oohs; you get the aahs. You get the moments that it just grasps the student and all of a sudden they're more caring about that animal."

For another student, the best part of going to school is being there.

"It's not the same old boring school where you sit there in uncomfortable chairs and listen to someone talk all day," he says. "You get different experiences and learn about animals."

Or learn about rockets, as kids are doing at Aviation High School, near Seattle's Boeing field. It's learning, through imagination.

"This is my randomly put together helicopter, slightly modified," shows a student by the name of Justin.