The Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Superior, Wisc., became a classroom for teachers this summer. For three days in June, educators from the Great Lakes region learned how to connect classroom teaching with real-world environmental challenges and solutions across the Great Lakes region.
The Great Lakes as a Classroom: From Environmental Literacy to Action, which took place June 16-18, 2026, brought together 20 teachers and non-classroom educators from Huron, Ohio (Old Woman Creek NERR); Superior/Duluth (Lake Superior NERR) and the Green Bay region (Oneida Nation, Forest County Potawatomi, and Green Bay Public Schools).
The workshop was part of a series of educator workshops hosted by National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) sites. These workshops provide immersive, hands-on professional development opportunities for educators across the country focused on coastal and estuarine learning. This was the first collaborative Great Lakes-focused workshop.
Teachers learned alongside scientists, education specialists, and fellow educators to explore current conditions in the Great Lakes, human and natural impacts, and practical strategies for community science and stewardship. They participated in a paddle on Pokegama Bay and pulling invasive plants at Wisconsin Point, a field trip to the Great Lakes Aquarium, and lessons on estuary mapping, learning with native plans, and microplastics. Educators received ready-to-use resources, such as classroom rain gauges and estuary field guides, to help them bring Great Lakes learning into their classrooms.
“Teachers loved the opportunity to connect with educators from other parts of the region,” said Emily Tyner, director of freshwater strategy at UW-Green Bay and lead on the Green Bay NERR designation. “We were pleased to use funding from the Freshwater Collaborative to provide this opportunity to educators in the Green Bay area.”
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Comments from evaluation surveys included:
- “I/we can and should expand our stewardship projects to the community. My perspective has changed because now I know others have done this, and I have a network of support.”
- “These workshops and connecting with other humans that care about land and people in the ways I do, fills my heart and soul.”
- “LOTS of amazing resources that I am very excited about using right away!”
- “I love the idea of infusing culture and sense of place into teaching. I could see how it would be easy to infuse what we learned into writing and art.”
- “I have learned so much about estuaries, and I’m excited to share ALL of this with my colleagues and students.”
The workshop was hosted collaboratively by the Lake Superior and Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserves, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Superior Rivers Watershed Association, Planet Stewards Program through the National Earth Science Teachers Association in partnership with NOAA, and the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve. Additional funding support came from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Coastal Management Program.
Learn more about educator workshops offered by UW-Green Bay with support from the Freshwater Collaborative.