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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The eighth grade science class at Greensboro Day School usually starts and ends in the classroom but it's not uncommon to see these students getting a hands-on lesson outside of the building.

"I like to mix some of the high-tech stuff with some of the low-tech hands-on work so students get to see all the stuff that we have learned over the years,' said teacher Tim Martin.

Martin teaches earth science at the private school. The instructor is known for his unconventional approach to learning.

"I'm a rock climber so when I introduce geology, I bring in all of my rock climbing equipment and teach one class while I'm hanging from the ceiling in my rock climbing gear," said Martin.

Students look forward to the class.

"It definitely keeps me more engaged and it helps me remember what happened," said student Katie Glaser. "I can go back and say I remember that was when he was climbing a tree or something like that."

This month, the students are studying weather and climate change and they are using resources right in their backyards. Student Kayla Gaskin wants to be a politician but she says her love for science will help her excel with her future plans.

"If I were to become a politician and I wanted to fix things environmentally, a greater understanding of what happens in the environment and in the atmosphere and in climate could affect how I did things" said Gaskin.

It's the reason the teacher says he will continue to challenge students by getting their hands dirty all while showing them new ways to learn about the planet.

"There's an awful lot of the problems that are facing the world right now that are very directly tied to the geosciences," said Martin. "Whether it's stuff like our climate change or our resource use and energy consumption. All of those things are related to what we do in earth science."