Through a series of workshops, field trips, and meetings, youth participants of the Youth Leadership Council develop their leadership skills, learn about the river’s relationship to local communities, and explore a wide variety of attractive educational and career pathways in STEM, public humanities, and the skilled trades.
Detroit River Scholars is a free, week-long day camp that explores connections, past and present, between the Detroit River and adjoining communities. Daily field trips to riverside parks, museums, and historical sites provide engaging, hands-on learning opportunities focused on the river’s rich environmental and cultural heritage.
The Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER) within the U-M Marsal Family School of Education has partnered with DRSL
The Detroit River Education Coalition, motivated by the vision of an historic waterway transformed into a living classroom, develops high-impact, experiential learning opportunities for students of all ages from the communities along its shores. Since 2021, Coalition partners have expanded the number and reach of place-based educational programs and laid the groundwork for continued growth and community engagement.
Detroit River Scholars is a free, week-long day camp that explores connections, past and present, between the Detroit River and adjoining communities. Daily field trips to riverside parks, museums, and historical sites provide engaging, hands-on learning opportunities focused on the river’s rich environmental and cultural heritage.
A hands-on learning program that connects local youth with the cultural and environmental heritage of the river through tall-ship sailing and boat-building experiences.
A hands-on exploration of water-linked education and career pathways, for Metro-Detroit youth (15-25) along with their teachers and families. Lunch provided! April 12, 2025 from 10am-3pm.
A library of three interactive, STEM-focused curricular modules, designed for high school and college students, take the Detroit River as an accessible and engaging case study for learning about carbon emissions, data visualization, and scientific communication.
Designed in consultation with history and environmental studies teachers at regional high schools, this multi-layered, interactive ArcGIS map draws on dozens of public data sources to create a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the Detroit River.
An extensive collection of learning materials and lesson plans that engages middle school students with the history of anti-slavery and anti-racist organizing along the Detroit River corridor.
In this case, students learn about how carbon emissions and climate change are impacting the city of Detroit, and also begin to learn about some possible solutions.
A sequence of scaffolded exercises uses DRSL’s carbon emissions visualization tool to teach high school students about environmental justice issues and local decarbonization policy options facing Detroit River communities.
The goal of this case is to help students communicate about their observations, solutions, and the impacts of CO2 emissions on one neighborhood in Detroit. As a final project, they use sources of data and local stories to write an open letter or produce a digital project addressed to members of one of these neighborhoods. Teachers may also use this case to communicate the impacts of CO2 emissions in students’ own neighborhoods and communities beyond the scope of this Gala case.
A lesson plan based on the life and community building work of Sarah E Ray, an activist known as the Rosa Parks of the Boblo Boat. Consisting of a comprehensive, multi-media discussion guide and a curated collection of archival materials for classroom use, this adaptable curricular module will support social science classes at the middle and high school level throughout the Detroit River region.
A display poster created by UM graduate student Crystal Cole describing her development of an experiential learning module focused on water quality and ecological connections with the river for use aboard the schooner Inland Seas.
Paired conference papers describing the partnership of the Detroit Historical Society and the Detroit River Story Lab on a variety of river-themed programming activities designed to foster place-based environmental and cultural awareness.
A working prototype for a robust visual and interactive resource for exploring the environments, institutions, and actors that have shaped the Detroit River corridor over the past millennium.
Panel focused on the design and creation of the Resistance on the River curriculum featuring four members of the development team.
Panel at an annual event sponsored by the Michigan History Center describing the initial pilot of the Resistance on the River curriculum.
