Great Lakes Now Education
From Broadcast to the Classroom
Beyond the Broadcast
The Great Lakes Now monthly broadcast from Detroit PBS brought important environmental stories to the public—but what about the classroom? Teachers wanted high-quality, free learning resources that could help students meaningfully engage with the Great Lakes.
Detroit PBS and the Michigan Learning Channel needed a partner to transform media-rich storytelling into standards-aligned, classroom-ready lessons for middle grades.
The Big Idea
Detroit PBS partnered with Cogrounded to build a scalable education initiative that connects Great Lakes Now programming with real-world learning.
The vision: to create a library of evidence-based lesson plans, each tied to an individual episode, that would empower educators to bring Great Lakes science, policy, and stewardship into the classroom—without cost barriers.
Activate – Build – Grow
Activate
Designed an instructional framework tailored to grades 6–8, aligned to NGSS, ELA, and social studies standards.
Build
Developed lesson plans with hands-on STEM labs, critical thinking protocols, interactive media, and differentiated materials.
Grow
Rolled out curriculum via hundreds of trainings, classroom pilots, STEM camps, and distribution on the Michigan Learning Channel.
The Impact
- Created dozens of free, standards-aligned lesson plans, with new units released annually.
- Engaged hundreds of teachers and thousands of students across Michigan and the Great Lakes region.
- Built deep student understanding of issues like invasive species, water quality, and climate resilience.
- Extended Detroit PBS’s mission into classrooms—fostering media literacy and civic engagement among youth.
Growing the Initiative
The Great Lakes Now Education project continues to grow. Future goals include new digital extensions, deeper district partnerships, and expanded outreach into out-of-school-time learning environments.
Want to bring public storytelling into your classroom?
Let’s make Great Lakes learning local—and lasting.
Download Case Study