Public understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental change is lacking. At the same time, scientists often lack sufficient training, pedagogical expertise, and/or media support to effectively communicate with public audiences about such complex and multi-scale ecological phenomena. The California Environmental Legacy Project (CELP) is a statewide collaborative effort among scientists, educators, and media professionals to create high quality educational media resources that enhance public understanding about environmental change. Using California as a national case study of environmental change, CELP integrates a four-hour documentary film series (Reinventing California), designed and produced for national public television broadcast, with an integrated set of place-based programs and media resources that link the broad themes of environmental change presented in the broadcast series to local places throughout California. Created to reach school, park, museum, and science center audiences at regional sites across California, each place-based program consists of short films, video podcasts, and print media that are delivered on-site or through the project’s online educational portal. Programs are conceptually linked to the broadcast series, and scaled – both in content and media format – to environmental change phenomena throughout California. Each place-based program is developed through an innovative process that brings together scientists, educators, and media professionals in collaborative working partnerships with local stakeholders who have site-specific expertise and knowledge. A customizable set of online educational resources is fully integrated with the broadcast series and place-based programs for use in informal as well as formal learning settings. These online resources serve K-12 and university students and teachers, as well as visitors and interpretive staff at parks, museums, and science centers. Once created, users will have access to high quality educational resources that include searchable databases, multi-media content, lesson plans, interactive geographical information system (GIS) maps, games, and online learning communities.

Results/Conclusions

Through strategically aligned partnerships with public television, universities, government agencies, science museums and centers, and teacher professional associations, together with an innovative place-based approach to learning, CELP will create a collaborative educational media production model that builds capacity, bridges formal and informal education, and creates effective educational media that will impact audiences in ways that could not otherwise be achieved.