When students return this week to the Monarch Global Academy on Brock Bridge Road, they’ll be greeted by stars painted on the walls and planets dangling from the ceiling.

More colorful murals throughout the school depict views around the world, from Europe and South America to Africa and Asia.

The mural projrect, several years in the making, is a product of a philosophy called transformation education — also known as TranZed.

About two weeks before the start of school, muralist and painter Maura Dwyer walked through European- and South American-themed hallways to touch up some of the murals.

The murals “are organized based on how each part of the school functions and how we can highlight that function and make it more special and fun,” Dwyer said. “In these long hallways where all the classrooms are, the overall theme is to feel like you are almost traveling the world in a loop.”

The Baltimore resident owns a mural business, Spectrum Studio, and has been working on the project since it began under muralist and painter Nancy Scheinman and her company, NS Studios, in 2015. After Scheinman retired that year, Dwyer continued the effort alongside fellow painters Hanna Moran, Mary Grace Corpus and Lindy Swan.

The Children’s Guild, an educational management organization, operates Monarch schools.

In addition to the Global Academy in Laurel, Monarch schools are located in Baltimore City, Glen Burnie — and Annapolis, where the newest addition is the Monarch Academy Annapolis Public Contract School. That new school is drawing about 580 students in kindergarten through fifth grade from the Annapolis cluster.

The Laurel and Annapolis schools follow the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme curriculum, which promotes a global perspective in classroom instruction.

Children’s Guild President and CEO Andrew Ross said the TranZed model uses culture to create an environment for students to learn and “think in context” about daily situations.

Ross said art education in public schools has changed dramatically since the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, when walking into a school was more like “walking into a factory.”

Plain walls do little to stimulate young minds and might hinder students’ desire to learn, Ross said. He said murals are one way to replace outdated teaching methods and express culture through art as a building block, as teachers harness children’s individuality.

Cultural elements and the idea of a global society were used to design and create the murals inside the Monarch Global Academy.

Muralists worked with the Children’s Guild, school principal Donna O’Shea and school curriculum developer Beth Matthews during the design process, with a goal of creating a connection between artwork and curriculum.

Science and technology inspired the main entrance’s outer space theme, shifting to environmental features in the lobby, including alternative energy. Around the corner, a large-scale mural is painted on a wall inside the kinesiology lab — which is what the school calls its gymnasium. The muralists painted children performing different physical activities such as hiking, leaping and swinging.

An international market theme, organized by the northern and southern hemispheres, was designed for the cafeteria farther down the hall. People of various ethnicities are depicted selling and eating food in different regions of the world.

“It connects culture to environment,” Dwyer said. “Making cross-cultural connections throughout the school, in addition to talking about the environment and global citizenship and civic duties, is really important to this school. Our job is to keep in mind the student population and make sure that’s reflected and celebrated in the murals.”

The artists hope to complete second-floor murals by the end of fall.

O’Shea said Monarch Global has a diverse student population. According to last year’s enrollment statistics, she said, the student population was 55 percent African-American; 20 percent Hispanic; 15 percent white; 5 percent multiracial; 4 percent Asian; and 1 percent Native American.

The connection between each grade’s curriculum and the murals is fantastic, she said. For example, one unit in kindergarten, “Sharing the Planet,” highlights the effect people have on the ocean’s coral reefs, which are captured in the Oceania mural.

“Your environment is your first teacher,” O’Shea said. “When a child comes in here and they see it, it makes them excited about learning [and] they want to know more about it. It’s visually attractive and it draws them in. It just makes it a great learning environment for all kids and teachers.”

The muralists said they are eager to begin the second-floor work.

“It plants seeds for students when they come into the school every day and spend time with different imagery on the wall,” Dwyer said. “We’re hoping when they see the murals they walk by every day, that will inspire them to pursue learning and spark their curiosity.”

anmichaels@baltsun.com