Mississippi River Institute
2025 Mississippi River Institute featuring Waters to the Sea®
Free for Educators and Face-to-Face!
Mississippi River Institute | July 21-23, 2025 | Minneapolis and St Paul, MN
Join us for the Mississippi RiverInstitute (MRI)—a free professional development program located in Minneapolis and St Paul, MN, designed to inspire, educate, and engage educators through experiential, inquiry-based science and engineering investigations around the Mississippi River.
Activities
Explore the Mississippi River by land at Crosby Farm Regional Park and Wabun Picnic Area.
Explore the Mississippi River by water aboard the Magnolia Blossom Paddle Boat to experience unique vantage points of the river and surrounding watershed.
Explore the ‘built’ water cycle by touring the Met Council’s Metro Water Resource Recovery Facility.
Hear from expert presenters about the Mississippi River environments and the ‘natural’ vs ‘built’ water cycle.
Conduct inquiry-based science investigations of river habitats.
Design solutions to engineering challenges based on water issues such as stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water.
Make scientific observations in the field and learn strategies to use science notebooks in the classroom.
Share strategies to help students 'think like a scientist,' 'design like an engineer,' and 'write like an author.'
Engage with rich multimedia learning tools such as Waters to the Sea®
Integrate citizen science and service learning to clean our waterways and help cities adapt to flooding using the Adopt-a-Drain Program.
***Wastewater Treatment Tour and Adopt-a-Drain Materials Included this Year***
We are happy to announce our continued focus on the "built" water cycle vs the natural water cycle! This includes storm water, drinking water, and wastewater! In addition to exploring the Mississippi River from a paddle boat, from Crosby Farm Regional Park, and from Ft Snelling State Park, we will be exploring the Mississippi River from the perspective of a wastewater treatment plant. Our institute will include a full-tour of a Metro Water Resource Recovery Facility as well as new wastewater curriculum and Adopt-a-Drain K-12 supplies for educators, designed to teacher students about the "built" water cycle.
Eligibility
All K-12 formal and informal educators are welcome to apply!
Each Rivers Institute Participant Will Receive
3 full days of instruction
18 Continuing Education Credits
Lunch each day
Exposure to the Waters to the Sea® multimedia tools, Adopt-a-Drain Program, and other online resources for the classroom
The option to purchase two graduate-level credits at the reduced rate of $200/credit from Hamline University
Funding
The 2025 Mississippi River Institute is funded through the generous financial assistance of our donors. With their ongoing support we enable hundreds of teachers to improve the way they understand and teach science, and help thousands of students connect with the natural world.
Contact
Sara Robertson
Program Administrator
srobertson01@hamline.edu