Projects

• Connors Emerson School

• Deer Isle-Stonington High School

• Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School

• Fort O'Brien Elementary School

• Georges Valley High School

• Greely High School

• Isle Au Haut Rural School

• Islesboro Central School

• Lubec Consolidated School

• Mount Desert Island School

• North Haven Community School

• St. George School

• Searsport District High School

• Swan's Island Elementary School

• Vinalhaven School

• Washington Academy

Conners Emerson School

• Greening the school – exploring alternative energy possibilities for the Conners Emerson school. They will perform a site analysis for the production of both wind and solar energy, and conduct a cost analysis, incorporating the three CREST technologies.  Projects involved include carrying out and creating a film about energy patrols, to gather and share data on where in the school they could be using less energy; surveying the schools grounds with GPS units and GIS, in preparation for potential activities such as a ground clean-up and planting gardens; and creating a website that would serve both to educate the community on sustainable practices, and as a vehicle to distribute a survey the students are creating to gather information from the community on sustainable practices.
  

 

Deer Isle-Stonington High School

Visit Deer Isle-Stonington High School CREST website!

• Deer Isle Boys - Conducting research on two America's Cup crews from 1895 and 1899 that were comprised entirely of sailors from Deer Isle, to determine their lineage and to tell their stories. To date has included using GPS to map out the sailors' gravesites; conducting interviews; transcribing and indexing historical interviews with crew members; boat model construction; researching historical records; traveling to the New York Yacht Club, Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, and the Herreshoff Museum in Rhode Island to conduct research.
• Lobster Hatchery - Created GIS layers describing lobster-habitat characteristics, in conjunction with the local lobster hatchery; conducted spatial analysis of the survival rates of lobster larvae located in various 'rooms' of the 'lobster condos', which serve to incubate the larvae prior to release into the ocean.
• Granite Industry – mapping locations of granite quarries on the island, and the locations across the country that Deer Isle granite has been used.
• Classes involved: HS CREST class

 

Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School

Visit Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School CREST website!

• "ABC book" - using GPS, GIS and digital photography to create a book of important places on the island, one for each letter of the alphabet.  Products will include the book itself, a website, and Google Earth maps.
• Apple Trees – Researching different types of apple varieties, and mapping out the location of apple trees and their type across the island.
• “Islanders Read” – interviewing residents and using iMovie to create a film about what islanders from across all parts of the community are reading.
• Classes involved:  4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades; CREST Class.

 

Fort O’Brien Elementary School

• Campus trails - Creating and mapping trails on the property adjacent to the school, to practice for creating a Town Park.

• Town Park - Working in conjunction with the local selectmen towards the creation of a Town Park for Machiasport, on land provided for this purpose by the town, which will provide a safe recreational area and gathering place for local families and residents. This will include GIS mapping and a website to help gather community support for the project.

• Classes involved: Science, Math, Language Arts.

 

Georges Valley High School

• “Facebuc” - Focusing their efforts on the creation of a Facebook-like closed-system social networking website for their school, which will link students with similar interests to each other. The website will include videos and interact maps that will help the students find each other and share their interests.
• Classes involved: a full-credit independent study class.

 

Greely High School

• Integrating GIS into Geography classes, using international data to compare various countries; and collecting local data to study their own community.
• Classes involved: Geography

 

Isle Au Haut Rural School

• Island Jobs – researching job opportunities on the island, looking at past and present jobs, and what opportunities might be available in the future.  Products will include maps a film.
• Classes involved – middle school class

 

Islesboro Central School

Visit their CREST web presentation!

• Apple Trees - Mapping heirloom apple trees and orchards on Islesboro, and documenting what varieties of heirloom apples exist on the Island. In addition to the maps, products include interviews about seed saving, composting, and interviews with fruit tree experts.
• "ABC Book" – created book of maps and places on the Island that represent each letter of the alphabet. In addition to the book, movies of the kindergarten students explaining the significance of the locations and a website about the project were created.
• Economics – created maps and videos about different economic sectors of Maine.
• Maine Heritage Grant – conducted extensive historical research of their island, including videos and a map, and posted to a website.

Lubec Consolidated School

• Mapping trails on protected Mowry Beach property adjacent to the school. Maps and trail information will be posted to a website.
• Created a history and documentary of West Quoddy Head Light House to honor its 200th anniversary.
• Interviewed and created movies about a variety of community members. Much of this work was completed through class, and some students chose to use this technology for their senior projects.
• Classes involved: Integrated Science, senior projects.

 

Mount Desert Island High School

• Trail mapping – working with Acadia National Park to help route and map out potential trails connecting to the school campus, and connecting to the new Gateway Center in the neighboring town of Trenton.

• Scenic Vistas – mapping out important scenic views and vistas for the Southwest Harbor Conservation Commission, and creating a website for them.

• Biomaps – mapping out important places from pieces of literature using Google Earth.

• Film Class – creating films on a variety of subjects.

• Geohunt – Geohunts held for all incoming freshmen both to increase their familiarity with the campus, and to introduce them to the technology.

• Classes involved: Freshmen World Literacy, Film Class

 

North Haven Community School

• “Pride in Place” – 5th and 6th grade students studying various buildings and locations on the island, including photographing, GPSing, and researching the history of each location, all of which they will put on a website.
• “North Haven Then & Now” – created a website showing historic postcards of particular locations on the island, pairing them with photographs of the same locations today.
• Clamming Industry - mapped historic clam locations and populations, including field studies on site, plotting locations with GPS, gathering data, and map creation to display the data and findings, with a goal of working with the state to reopen some of the currently closed flats. Other products include films on interviews with clammers and a website to publicize the information.
• Ethnography - regularly use ethnography and it’s associated technologies across the curriculum throughout the different grade levels, on a wide variety of topics and projects, such as local Native American issues; jobs on North Haven; and interviews with Franco-Americans, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam Veterans.
  Movie Projects
  • Native American Fishing Rights
  • Maine Indians and Casinos
  • The Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act
  • Penobscot River Health

• Classes involved: Computer class, CREST class, Science, History, English, French, 1st/2nd grade class.

 

St. George School

• Historic Photos – working with the Penobscot Marine Museum to scan old glass slide of the community, take photographs of the same locations today to compare how they have changed, and interview elderly residents about these places.
• Ethnography Class – using their ethnography skills to create videos and audio broadcasts – which will air on a community radio station – on a wide variety of topics.
• Science - GIS used regularly in classes, on work such as water quality, shellfish habitat, and currents.
• Radio Station - created new website for the school radio station.
• Classes involved: Ethnography, Environmental Science.

 

Searsport District High School

• Conducting interviews with local residents and creating films about the community. Many of these videos were created through a Videography class, and were presented to the rest of the school and the larger community at a film festival.
• GIS used regularly in classes, on work such as water quality, shellfish habitat, and currents.
• Created new website for the school radio station. View their website!
• Classes involved: Videography, Environmental Science.

 

Swan's Island Elementary School

• Island Comparisons – creating maps with QGIS to compare Swans Island to other islands elsewhere in the world.

  ABC Maps – using Google Earth to map out locations in Canada and Mexico representing each letter of the alphabet, as a way of enhancing their study of these countries.

  • Historic Sites –identifying important historic sites on the island, mapping the location of each site, and interviewing community members about them. The goal is to eventually post this all on a website, with a map and links to all the information gathered about each special place.
  • Classes involved – 6th-8th grade class

 

Vinalhaven School

Visit their CREST website!

• Fishing, Farming, & Sustainability – using GIS and ethnography to study fishing and farming on Vinalhaven, and how these industries contribute to the sustainability of their  island community.  They are using GPS units to mark important places on the island relevant to these industries, writing essays about and taken photographs of each location, and conducting interviews with fishermen and farmers.  They will create a website with a map displaying all the identified locations, and each point on the map will link to the essays, photographs, and films created about that place.
• Classes involved: Science, Math, English, CREST Class

 

Washington Academy

• ATV Trails - working with the local ATV club to map out the trail system in Washington County, including publishing a map to help the ATV club with stewardship of their trails, and teaching GPS to club members.
• Science – using GIS technologies in science classes for a variety of applications, such as habitat and river restoration, land use, plate tectonics, and statistics.
• “Jumping the Rubicon” – using the ethnography skills they learned to create film for a local rails-to-trails initiative, and a historical film  entitled “Jumping the Rubicon” about the decision by local residents to become involved in the American Revolution.
• Classes involved: Film, Science, Ecology, Integrated Technology, Statistics.