Selected Projects
Here are some of the more recent projects that we've completed so you can explore and
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For our complete curriculum and downloadable handouts page, please click here.
Lost Indigenous History Project
Our most recent project is a collaboration between National Geographic, The University of Wisconsin, and Madison Public Schools. The project focuses on a study of lost indigenous history and the impact of indigenous cultures on landscape. Students will eventually produce an installation at The University of Madison's Centennial Garden to highlight and lift up the lost indigenous history they discover. It will also culminate in a free, fully downloadable curriculum so that any school or educational organization can conduct similar investigations on their own.
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Staff from the National Park Classroom will be providing planning and design support, provide professional development to teachers, and support project visioning with students from Madison Public Schools. They will also help produce the final curriculum and help disseminate it as well. Check our blog for more updates as the project continues.
Water Quality Project
Designed and facilitated in partnership with Hill-Murray School, the Minnesota DNR, and Voyageurs Nat'l Park, students investigated local bodies of water and created plans for mitigating pollution. Water quality data and expert support from public lands partners was critical in helping students connect classroom learning to the real world.
Virtual Interpretive Tours
This National Geographic funded project used Google tools to create virtual "ranger talks" of national parks aligned to state standards in Science and Social Studies. In addition to several fully downloadable exemplars, resources and training were provided for teachers interested in creating their own virtual tours.
Landmark Learning
This 2019 publication was the result of a collaboration with the teachers and students of the El Dorado County Office of Education in California's gold country. This book details how to create meaningful learning experiences through the study of local landmarks and historic sites. The book includes step-by-step instructions for creating high-quality projects and a robust gallery of project ideas. The full text can be purchased in our shop here.
Park Based Learning
Our inaugural project focused on helping teachers apply principals of high-quality project based learning to the resources available in National Parks to create rigorous and relevant learning experiences for students. The culmination was a collection of exemplar projects used in our first workshop series to help teachers envision what learning through parks might look like in their context. To date, we have conducted over 30 workshops in seven states focused on helping teachers introduce their students to the power of parks.
