Transform your classroom with Messages from the Mississippi

Through the Messages from the Mississippi Curriculum, students will become familiar with micro plastics pollution through content-rich lessons that connect to community concerns as well as outdoor experiential learning activities in which students participate in environmental cleanups along the banks of the Mississippi River. At the culmination of the project, students will create interactive art pieces that, in conjunction with student-designed educational materials, will harness community interest and promote collaborations that provide an avenue for onboarding schools, families, and community members to manage the health of the river that provides recreation and  economic subsistence for the city. 

This six-lesson curriculum investigating microplastics in local bodies of water culminates in student artwork and advocacy. It utilizes community science principles, DIY toolkits, and collaborative projects.

While this program was designed with the Mississippi River in mind, the curriculum can be used throughout the United States to increase environmental literacy, spark community interest, and provide an avenue for onboarding schools, families, and community members to mitigate marine debris.

Why choose Messages from the Mississippi?

Messages from the Mississippi works to bring ecological concepts and environmental concerns across social contexts—from a student’s peers to their families to the larger community—as well as across social settings with work occurring in schools being shared in the broader community with their gallery openings in spaces that attract a variety of people. In this way, the design of the lessons reflects the way that learning occurs across many spaces over time and provides space for student and community environmental learning in an organic sociocultural context. It supports  relationship building across shared interests with peers and adults to build a lasting interest in conserving the local environment.