At the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation, students will leave the building at least once a month to explore parks, zoos, and aquariums. "Learning doesn't just happen in the classroom. Learning happens wherever you go," said Principal Mark Ossenheimer, who has 12 years of education experience, including three years as a principal of Wildwood school in Los Angeles, which also practice the "learning by doing" model.

Opening with a 6th grade class in September 2007, students will learn how to ask questions within a scientific-inquiry method, conduct research, collect data, and determine whether their answers are right or wrong. The school is the newest in a network of schools founded by the Urban Assembly, a non-profit group that helps create college prep schools in under-served neighborhoods. It has a partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society, a nationwide organization which manages conservation, research and education projects, and with the Bronx Zoo.