As part of National Geographic’s Storytelling for Impact Courses, Beaver teacher Kevin Rohn—a National Geographic Certified Educator—talked about the work his 8th graders do to advocate for action to reduce plastic pollution. Offered for both educators and youth ages 16–25, these short, free, self-paced online courses (produced in partnership with Adobe) are designed to guide learners to visualize and communicate powerful stories that inspire action. Kevin’s video is just one example used in the Storytelling for Impact in Your Classroom: Graphics Course.

More about Kevin’s work from the NatGeo website:

Kevin brings a student-driven, project-based approach to his classroom. With an emphasis on inquiry, Kevin’s approach allows students to ask their own questions, investigate through research, come to conclusions together, and communicate their findings in their own voice.

Not only does Kevin want students to understand a topic, but he also wants them to be able to clearly present and communicate the results of their investigation to harness the potential to drive meaningful changes. In an iterative process, Kevin has developed or refined a number of data-driven, science-based storytelling projects, covering topics such as global biomes, location-based climate change adaptation, and single-use plastics.

Click here to watch the video on the NatGeo website.