Press Release 2007.06.29

Two-year, $150,000 Grant to Create, Pilot and Evaluate A Model Curriculum for Geographic Literacy

(Bainbridge Island, WA) — IslandWood has been awarded a two-year $150,000 grant from the National Geographic Education Foundation to create new curricula for educators around films produced by IslandWood Media. The new project is titled Everyone’s World: Expanding Teacher Capacity in Geography Education through Experiential Applications of Media in the Classroom.

IslandWood will use the funds to create, pilot and evaluate new teaching methods and resource materials for three films focused on cultural geography — the study of the relationships between people and the places where they live and work.

IslandWood’s short films have been widely used in regional K-12 social studies classrooms and featured at national film festivals.

The Everyone’s World project will draw out these stories and help K-12 teachers create teaching materials that can be used in schools across the country. These materials will incorporate new approaches for using video in more compelling, inquiry-based ways to engage students as active learners.

“Films bring students to places they cannot physically be and introduce them to people they cannot personally meet,” said Katie Jennings, Head of IslandWood Media. “Experiential strategies for using film will guarantee that each story is a learning tool and not just entertainment in the classroom.”

The audience for Everyone’s World includes upper elementary, middle and high school teachers in social studies and science, and educators at after school activity centers. During the course of the grant, IslandWood will work in partnership with local schools (Seattle Public Schools), non-traditional schools (Journeys School of the Teton Science Schools) and after-school activity centers (Boys and Girls Clubs) to test and refine the new materials.

“IslandWood proposes an innovative model for expanding geographic literacy through both traditional and non-traditional schools,” said Terry Garcia, executive vice president, National Geographic Society “Their objectives and methods directly address the National Geographic Education Foundation’s goal of producing well-informed students who can understand geography and apply geographic knowledge to their lives.”

About the National Geographic Education Foundation: The mission of National Geographic's Education Foundation is to motivate and enable each new generation to become geographically literate. To help achieve that goal, the Education Foundation is working in several key focus areas: grant-making, federal policy reform, public engagement, and outreach. For further information, visit the foundation online at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foundation/index.html

IslandWood Media Films include: “The Red Pines” (12 minutes) featured at the Smithsonian’s 2004 Asian-American Film Festival; “Teachings of the Tree People: The Work of Bruce Miller” (20 minutes), featured in National Geographic’s 2005 All Roads Film Festival, at the United Nations, and at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; and “Island Roots: Filipino-Americans and the Land” (13 minutes), released earlier this spring. View clips of the films at http://islandwood.org/videos/classroomfilms.

About IslandWood
Located on Bainbridge Island, WA, IslandWood is a unique 255-acre outdoor learning center designed to provide exceptional learning experiences and inspire lifelong environmental and community stewardship. Through its flagship School Overnight Program, IslandWood’s educators combine scientific inquiry, technology and the arts to help Puget Sound-area students understand cultural and biological diversity. IslandWood also offers community programs for adults, children and families; volunteer opportunities; and other community events open to the public. For more information, visit www.islandwood.org.