Multimedia Projects: Selected Portfolio

For over 20 years, the Center for Global Environmental Education has specialized in creating award-winning educational multimedia resources concerning environmental topics, many focused on North America’s water resources. The following list of selected projects includes descriptions and links when available. 

Waters to the Sea®: Mississippi River Adventure combines the ESRI Story Map template's rich GIS map interactivity with CGEE's hallmark multimedia. The program plays on all modern computers and tablets. Aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Waters to the Sea offers dozens of interactive maps, short place-based videos, immersive 360 panoramas and multimedia activities. 

Media: online learning program

Partner: WYES New Orleans 

The WYES Mighty Mississippi Electronic Field Trip is a free, source-to-sea, web-based learning adventure that streamed live to 35,000 students in all 50 states on November 14, 2018. It is now available online. The hour-long interactive television program, produced by PBS affiliate WYES New Orleans in collaboration with CGEE, includes field segments with content experts (including CGEE's John Shepard) interviewed by student reporters at Lake Itasca, the Twin Cities, and multiple points downstream. The public television Electronic Field Trip also features CGEE’s Waters to the Sea® Mississippi River Adventure as a way to "dive deep" into the topics introduced in the field trip. 

Media: online learning program     

Partner: The Kaua'i Museum 

The Kaua'i Multimedia Gallery  is an immersive exploration of selections from the  the museum's artifact collection and place-based stories about the natural and cultural history of Kaua'i.  The program's large-format (55") multi-touch, ultra high-resolution (4K) table-top computer kiosk brings subject matter vividly to life through highly detailed maps, high-definition video, photo galleries, and 360-degree landscape and object panoramas. 

Media: kiosk and online program

Partners: The Math/Science Partnership grant, Anoka-Hennepin School District 

SEPA is a comprehensive, interactive set of six online professional development modules for use in science methods classes and by K-12 teachers of science throughout Minnesota. These online modules are designed to be "self-facilitating," i.e., they require minimal preparation and are organized to guide a group of science teachers through a series of activities and discussions. The overall goal for the K-12 teachers of science that engage in these modules is to raise awareness of the importance of the practices in science teaching and provide strategies for teaching science and engineering practices more directly and more often.

Media: online teacher professional development program  

A 360-VR panorama provides a virtual exploration of Monique Verdin’s Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange. The experiential project is dedicated to inspiring and actualizing Mississippi River Delta preservation, restoration and adaptations through cultural happenings, strategic installations and as a digital archive. The panorama creates a virtual version of the Houma-inspired palmetto dwelling that Monique uses in her installation. It also includes four video vignettes from My Louisiana Love, a film by Sharon Linezo Hong, Monique Verdin and Mark Krasnoff, cartography by Jakob Rosenzweig.

View the Panorama

Partners: Meraux Foundation, Torres-Burns Trust, Associated Terminals/Turn Services 

The Mississippi Multimedia Gallery public outreach learning program offers national audiences a museum-quality, immersive exploration of the Mississippi River from its Headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. The program’s large-format (55”), multi-touch, ultra high-resolution (4K) table-top computer kiosks bring the riverway vividly to life through highly detailed map explorations and compelling stories told through high-definition video and immersive panorama photography. 

Media: multimedia kiosk

 Partners: St. Bernard Port

A public outreach kiosk program, featuring five short documentary videos that document international shipping activity in the lower Mississippi’s St. Bernard Port area.

Media: multimedia kiosk

Partners: International Crane Foundation, Brown Foundation 

To the Brink and Back is an online multimedia learning resource that chronicles the history of one of North America’s great conservation stories—the near extinction and recovery of the whooping crane. More than 60 milestones tell the story using video, slideshows, and animations.

Description: This three-module multimedia program for grades K-12 introduces mathematical, engineering, and physics principles used in bridge design and construction. It will be distributed by project partners to schools throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Partners: MnDOT, WisDot, Stillwater Area Public Schools, Partnership Plan for Stillwater Schools, Anderson Corporate Foundation

Description: This multimedia iBook for grades K-3 focuses on engineering and math topics related to bridge design and construction. It is targeted to young readers and addresses relevant standards.

Partners: MnDOT, WisDot, Stillwater Area Public Schools, Partnership Plan for Stillwater Schools, Anderson Corporate Foundation

Description: This 15-minute video, filmed and edited by John Shepard, profiles an innovative learning program at St. Paul’s Murray Middle School that provides an “on-ramp” for promising students into the school’s high-level science track. The course involves intensive classroom and field experiences, exposure to scientists and university faculty, and a two-week immersion at an environmental learning center. Performance data show that the program is significantly impacting the achievement gap for students of color and indigenous students.

Link: https://youtu.be/ugyovH4GNEk

Audience: public audiences throughout the Gulf of Mexico U.S. coastal region in FL, AL, MS, LA, and TX

Description: An interactive multimedia kiosk program focused on reducing impacts of nutrients and other non-point source pollutants entering Gulf Coast environments. The program, which is in Spanish and English, uses proprietary content developed by CGEE integrated with two new videos featuring animated redfish characters. User actions are captured in an online database as well as their contact information to build virtual community of citizen stewards. The program also measures learning impacts and solicits users’ participation in a virtual water stewardship community through an online database managed by CGEE staff. An adapted version is being developed for the City of Duluth MN.

Partners: EPA Region 4, Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Alabama Clean Water Partnership

Impacts: The program has been deployed on 11 computer kiosks at public venues throughout the Gulf Coast region, population 19.1 million.

Link: http://cgee.hamline.edu/WDDkiosk/index_gulf.html

Description: This multimedia iBook for young readers introduces estuary ecology through fun interactives about oysters. It is being deployed in iPad kiosks at oyster restaurants in the Texas Coastal Bend region.

Partners: Texas A&M University Corpus Christi’s Harte Research Institute

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences in the Guadalupe watershed and South Central Texas

Description: An interactive web-based multimedia learning program offering an in-depth exploration of the environmental history of the Guadalupe watershed. Regional images, music, historical characters, and events bring to life the story of how human activities past and present have depended upon and impacted water resources. The program includes an in-depth teacher’s guide and is integrated with Texas education standards.

Project Partners: Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, San Antonio Bay Foundation, City of New Braunfels.

Impacts: The program will be implemented through professional development initiatives and promotional efforts to teachers of grades 4-8 throughout all school districts in the Guadalupe and San Antonio watersheds. Regional population: 3 million.

Link: cgee.hamline.edu/WTTS-Guadalupe

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences in Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend region.

Description: An interactive multimedia “mega-module” focused on estuary ecosystems through the lens of four key species: blue crabs, oysters, redfish, and whooping cranes. Elements exploring ecosystem functioning include multiple videos, dynamic visualizations, and games. A concluding video examines ecosystem services, human impacts, and stewardship.

Project Partners: Funding provided by Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi; development partner, the International Crane Foundation.

Impacts: The module will be implemented through professional development initiatives and promotional efforts to teachers of grades 4-8 to school districts in the coastal bend region. Regional population: 6 million. Elements from the mega-module will also be included as one of four modules in a national program on the whooping crane being developed in partnership with the International Crane Foundation.

Project Responsibilities: executive producer, instructional designer, content researcher, writer

Audience: youth audiences, worldwide

Description: CGEE’s first iPad app, StormDrain Goalie (SDG), introduces impacts of surface water pollution through a fun interactive game. Users are challenged during time-limited interactions to keep common pollutants out of a storm drain while allowing untainted water droplets to enter the drain. The app keeps score and provides feedback about the user’s success and provides information about ways to reduce runoff pollution in the real world. SDG premiered at the 2012 State Fair at an Eco Experience Building booth that included a photo set were visitors who had pictures taken while wearing SDG outfits took a pledge to keep pollutants out of neighborhood storm drains. Some 800 visitors posted their photos on Facebook through a companion Facebook app and became eligible to win an iPad by submitting a neighborhood storm drain photo.

Project Partners: Funding was provided by the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.

Impacts: The program is distributed internationally through Apple’s iTunes store.

Audience: adults, nationwide.

Description: A multimedia learning resource that supports individuals in designing and undertaking a creative renewal project focused on an area of personal or professional interest. The program draws inspiration from the Chased by the Light documentary, which tells the story of photographer Jim Brandenburg’s personal and creative renewal project that transformed his career. Courage & Light Personal Edition includes a DVD, printed Reflection-Action Guide, and exclusive access to an online community made up of fellow travelers who are engaged in their own creative renewal projects. Project Partners: Cascade Communications, Aurora Pictures.

Impacts: The program was distributed associated with broadcasts of Chased by the Light through Public Television stations nationwide and through targeted marketing efforts.

Audience: grades 4-8 throughout Minnesota

Description: An interactive web-based multimedia learning program that explores climate change in Minnesota. The program examines impacts of climate change on Minnesota’s unique biomes, and how projected changes may alter agriculture, forests and wildlife, aquatic ecosystems, our economy, as well as tourism and recreation. The program also focuses on how students and families can help reduce these potential impacts and assist in adaptations to a changing climate. The program, which is integrated with state science standards, is complemented by a teachers guide and social media site where students post journal entries, photos, and biome documentary projects.

Project Partners: Developed under contract with the Will Steger Foundation.

Impacts: The program is being used by more than 400 educators and has been implemented throughout the state through extensive educator workshops.

Awards: The program won the 2012 education award from the Environmental Initiative.

Audience: public audiences throughout the St. Croix River watershed

Description: A documentary video introducing the watershed of this major Midwestern river system through a two-week canoe and kayak trip undertaken by the St. Croix River Association on the occasion of the organization’s 100th anniversary.

Project Partners: St. Croix River Association.

Impacts: The program has been shown throughout the watershed through SCRA outreach and education efforts.

Link: vimeo.com/29723270

Audience: general audiences throughout North America

Description: CGEE helped film a series of interviews with international team members of the 1990 Trans-Antarctica Expedition (TAE) in collaboration with the Will Steger Foundation. The film documented impacts of this historic event for team members, for environmental education, and for sustaining international stewardship of Antarctica.

Project Partners: The Will Steger Foundation

Impacts: The film interviews will be used in ongoing educational programs of the Foundation and of CGEE.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences in the Trinity River watershed and North Central Texas

Description: An interactive web-based multimedia learning program offering an in-depth exploration of the environmental history of the Trinity watershed. Regional images, music, historical characters, and events bring to life the story of how human activities past and present have depended upon and impacted water resources. The program includes an in-depth teacher’s guide and is integrated with TX education standards.

Project Partners: Alan Plummer Associates, City of Dallas, City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, The North Central Texas Council of Governments, North Texas Municipal Water District, Region 6 EPA, Trinity River Authority, University of North Texas, Tarrant Regional Water District, Water Education Association of Texas, Water Education Association of Texas.

Impacts: The program is being implemented through professional development initiatives and promotional efforts to teachers of grades 4-8 in school districts throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex and in the Houston area. Two CGEE-led River Institutes have been held in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area. Regional population: 10 million.

Awards: 2012 Watermark Award, Texas Waters conference

Link: https://waterstothesea.org/Trinity/

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences in the Trinity River watershed and North Central Texas

Description: Seven Waters to the Sea: Trinity River interactive modules were used by Dallas PBS affiliate KERA as educational web resources complementing the Living with the Trinity broadcast television and radio documentary series.

Project Partners: PBS Affiliate KERA

Impacts: The modules have provided in-depth supportive content for the one-hour television documentary and a series of radio programs about the Trinity River, which were broadcast extensively Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area. Regional population: 10 million.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences along the Mississippi River corridor

Description: An interactive web-based multimedia learning program exploring the impacts of commercial navigation and land use on Mississippi River and Delta ecosystems. The program combines documentary video with interactive learning elements and is integrated with Minnesota education standards.

Project Partners: funding provided by the McKnight Foundation

Impacts: The program will be incorporated in upcoming editions of CGEE’s Waters to the Sea programs on Minnesota’s Rivers and on the Mississippi River.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences in the Trinity River watershed

Description: A web-based interactive multimedia learning module exploring the ecological importance of wetlands and their use as part of municipal water treatment systems. The program has been translated into Spanish and is correlated with TX educational standards.

Project Partners: The Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD)

Impacts: The module is being used by TRWD on its website and in multimedia kiosks throughout the TRWD service area. It is also incorporated in CGEE’s award-winning Waters to the SeaTM: Trinity River program.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences in the Trinity River watershed

Description: A web-based interactive multimedia learning module exploring the history of transportation in Texas and impacts of transportation systems and technologies on water resources with a special focus on water pollution prevention strategies used by the DFW airport.

Project Partners: Funding provided by DFW Airport.

Impacts: Elements of the module are being used by the DFW Airport on their website and on rental car shuttle busses. It is also incorporated in CGEE’s award-winning Waters to the Sea: Trinity River program.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences throughout Minnesota

Description: A web-based multimedia learning program offering an in-depth exploration of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters region using interactive 360-degree panorama technology and rich video resources. Segments introduce the primary forest types in the region, minimum impact camping strategies, stewardship issues, and a video gallery from the Chased by the Light documentary.

Project Partners: Funding provided by the Quetico-Superior Foundation.

Impacts: The program has been used by K-12 schools throughout the state and will be incorporated in the next edition of Waters to the SeaTM: Minnesota’s Rivers. State population: 5.3 million.

Audience: grades 3-12 and general audiences throughout the Twin Cities

Description: A web-based multimedia learning program about St. Paul’s historic Landmark Center. The program complements elementary history curriculum and high school civics curriculum while celebrating the building’s nationally acclaimed architecture and the evolving social context for its use as a post office, federal courts, and federal office building from 1910 until the present day.

Project Partners: Minnesota Landmarks

Impacts: The program has been used by K-12 schools and public audiences throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Regional population: 3.5 million.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences throughout the Twin Cities

Description: A web-based multimedia learning program about water sources, use, and treatment in urban settings. Elements include content on aquifers, drinking water treatment, water infrastructure, and wastewater treatment.

Project Partners: Minnesota Department of Health

Impacts: The program has been used by K-12 schools and public audiences throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Regional population: 3.5 million.

Audience: organizations of all kinds throughout the United States

Description: A multimedia learning program providing organizations with media-rich resources for exploring renewal, enhancing creativity, and instilling passion. The program includes two DVDs, a full facilitator’s guide, participant journals, and a packet of photos by Jim Brandenburg.

Project Partners: Aurora Pictures, and Cascade Communications

Impacts: The program has been used by universities, schools, nonprofit organizations, and corporations regionally and nationally.

Audience: K-12 educators through the U.S.

Description: A multimedia learning resource for educators presenting professional practices that reflect research-based standards in service-learning. The program features extensive documentary videos of teachers and students in three exemplary service-learning schools.

Project Partners: Produced under contract with the National Youth Leadership Council.

Impacts: The program has been used by teachers throughout the U.S. and supported by professional development training offered by the NYLC.

Audience: Teachers and students in grades 4-8 throughout the U.S.

Description: The assessment module is an integrated resource for the Waters to the SeaTM program that provides online assessments of student learning through a database-driven website.

Project Partners: Developed with support from the LA County Sanitation Districts, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and several MWD member organizations.

Impacts: The module has been prototyped and tested in the Southern California school system for integration into future editions of Waters to the Sea.

Audience: Environmental educators throughout the U.S.

Description: An interactive kiosk that enabled conference attendees to calculate the carbon footprint of the conference and their participation in it. The program also offered information about the conference schedule and related activities.

Project Partners: North American Association of Environmental Education

Impacts: The program was used by the conference’s several thousand attendees.

Audience: municipal employees in the Guadalupe Watershed, TX

Description: An interactive kiosk program that provides interactive training in best management practices for municipal employees for reducing storm water pollution.

Project Partners: Produced under contract with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority.

Impacts: The program has been used by municipalities throughout the watershed through GBRA’s website.

Audience: schools and citizens in the Houston-Galveston area

Description: An initiative focused on reducing nutrient pollution in surface waters that combined web-based learning programs, educational CD ROMS, and public presentations for community leaders and citizens.

Project Partners: Houston-Galveston Area Council

Impacts: The initiative helped raise public awareness of water pollution issues and citizen stewardship opportunities for the region’s 6 million people.

Audience: grades 4-8 and general audiences internationally

Description: CGEE’s water conservation and nonpoint pollution modules were licensed for use as online educational resources with MacGillivray Freeman film’s Grand Canyon Adventure IMAX film.

Project Partners: MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation

Impacts: The film has been distributed internationally and seen by more than 3-million viewers.

Link: www.grandcanyonadventurefilm.com  

Audience: teachers and students in grades 4-8 throughout the Southern California

Description: A web-based interactive multimedia learning program on water resources in the Los Angeles region, focusing on the sources of water, primary water uses, and water conservation best practices.

Project Partners: The LA County Sanitation Districts, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and several MWD member organizations.

Impacts: The module has been used by students and teachers throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Audience: teachers and students in grades 4-8 throughout the Dallas School District

Description: This web-based multimedia learning program focuses on water use and best-practices in water conservation strategies in urban settings for the Dallas region. It was used in conjunction with live classroom presentations.

Project Partners: The City of Dallas, University of North Texas

Impacts: The module has been used by students and teachers throughout the Dallas School District; city population, 1.2 million.

Audience: teachers and students in grades 4-8 throughout the Dallas School District

Description: This web-based multimedia learning program for the Dallas region focuses on reducing solid waste through recycling, smart shopping, and reusing materials. It was used in conjunction with live classroom presentations throughout the district.

Project Partners: The City of Dallas, University of North Texas

Impacts: The module has been used by students and teachers throughout the Dallas School District, city population, 1.2 million.

Audience: teachers and students in grades 4-8 throughout the state of Texas

Description: A web-based multimedia learning program and printed curriculum focused on statewide water use and best practices in water conservation.

Project Partners: Texas Water Development Board

Impacts: The program has been used extensively by students and teachers throughout the state, population 20 million.

Awards: Watermark Education Award, Texas Waters

Audience: Minnesota teachers and students in grades 4-8

Description: A multimedia learning program distributed via disk and on the Web plus a printed curriculum focused on water sources, drinking water treatment, and wastewater treatment.

Project Partners: Minnesota Department of Health

Impacts: The program has been used by students and teachers throughout the state, population 5.3 million.

Audience: teachers and students in grades 3-6 nationwide

Description: a multimedia learning program distributed via disk and on the Web plus a printed curriculum introducing concepts of atmospheric pollution and climate change and the impacts of improving emissions from diesel school buses.

Project Partners: Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

Impacts: The program has been used by students and teachers throughout Minnesota; state population 5.3 million.

Audience: teachers and students in grades 4-8 nationwide

Description: A multimedia learning program distributed via CD ROM and a printed curriculum reducing solid waste through recycling, smart shopping, and reusing materials.

Project Partners: City of Eden Prairie

Impacts: The program has been used by students and teachers throughout the state, population 5.3 million.

Awards: Finalist, Wildscreen Interactive Panda, Bristol, England—the world’s largest and most prestigious environmental media festival.

Audience: teachers and students in grades 6-12 

Description: An AIDS education film based on a play by Rose McGee. 

Project Partners: National Youth Leadership Council

Impacts: The program has been used by students and teachers in NYLC’s nationwide service-learning conferences and professional development programs.