Connecting Students to their World

Would you like to take part in the world's first virtual tour of the planet for educators and students?
http://beautifulnationproject.org
The Beautiful Nation Project (BNP) is an experiential learning project designed to connect students with Earth and each other. Its mission is to teach and promote global citizenship.

BNP presents life from the vantage point of the sea to help bring its mission to life. We are a crew of women, educators, scientists, artists and explorers - citizens of the sea - a limitless, beautiful nation without borders and the hindering politics of mankind. Traveling around the globe by sailboats, ships, and marine research vessels - the Voyage of Makulu is our collective journey on the sea.

The Voyage of Makulu begins in the United State's coastal cities and makes its way towards the Equator to the coastal communities and delicate islands of the Caribbean, South Pacific and Asia. Our focus is on water, its ubiquity, and our interconnection as a result of water on planet Earth.

BNP expands the missions of two leading education nonprofits, Reach the World and Agastya. Our platform for engagement is a geosocial network. It is a free resource for educators, students and anyone interested in exploring planet Earth from the vantage point of the sea.

Through the network, educators and their students gain access to:

+ real-time interactions with global explorers (webcast, podcast, videocalls)
+ digital media stories for Grades 2-8
+ citizen science data collection, tools and resources for measuring water quality
+ classroom-to-classroom connections for project-based learning and collaborative data analysis
+ badges for students and educators in global competence (educators can earn accreditation through the NMC Academy)

Research on literacy (Pearson Foundation) in the digital age indicates that there is a growing need for projects like BNP that teach critical thinking and problem-solving on a global scale. The Beautiful Nation Project has the power to make core science learning a lifelong passion for students across borders!