MeshEd highlights • Summer 2021 intern project by Anna Graziano (Wesleyan University)

 
I loved the course! It was fun, and the vibe and energy in the course was amazing.
— Iqra, Grade 11, Democracy Action Lab Participant
 

MeshEd builds and licenses scalable project-based learning courses for students in grades preK-12 . We call our courses Action Labs because they guide students through an active project-based learning cycle to build projects with real-world application. Our middle and high school courses guide students to develop robust digital portfolios of projects that are the right form and size to upload to the leading online high school and college applications.

Course Offerings: Grade 5-12

Most courses are 12-session modules designed for 45-90 min sessions.

Student Voice & Projects

Read about student experience in our Action Lab courses and explore their final projects here.

2025 Course Highlights

Art of the Podcast
Grades 7 - 11

This new media storytelling lab will prepare students to conduct interviews with insight and care. A journalistic sense of what shapes an authentic narrative will inform our approach to audio, video, and print journalism. Our instructional team and guest media speakers will guide students as we explore new media storytelling technologies. Design-thinking and collaboration with peers will be essential to mastering the process of crafting, recording, and editing final projects. Instructors will guide students to plan and create podcasts for the NPR Student Podcast Challenge!

Click here for the Course Overview

Climate change requires global action and local solutions. Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals and current events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on carbon emissions, this course will investigate environmental policy history and new trends. We will explore sustainable initiatives and case studies, and will interview visiting climate action experts. For the culminating project, students will design and plan local climate action projects that create measurable change in their communities.

Click here for the Course Overview

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Explore the global impact of the current fashion industry while learning from young fashion designers who are building new sustainable fashion brands. The fashion industry is responsible for 10 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. This eco-friendly fashion Lab encourages young designers to use up-cycled materials; students designers will also draft early-stage marketing and social impact plans for getting their fashion designs out in the world. 

Click here for the Course Overview

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The Documentary Filmmaking Lab is the first part in a three-series course for young filmmakers. This new media lab will equip students with the tools and experience necessary to plan a short documentary film: crafting a narrative, developing a log line, polishing a pitch, writing a film treatment, and captivating an audience with their storytelling abilities. Students will learn skills and hear stories from documentary screenwriters, producers, and filmmakers, as they work with their instructors to develop a pitch and proposal for their own short documentary film.

Click here for the Course Overview

Green Urban Design & Architectural Drawing

Coming Soon

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Democracy Action Lab

Youth voice and political action matter! This Lab is for students who want to rebuild trust and accountability in our democratic processes. Project development will be informed by weekly discussions of current events, and students will gain and apply working knowledge of relevant issues such as racial justice, police reform, youth reform movements, political organizing, and effective use of social media to influence politics. Political and advocacy experts and college student activists will join the Lab weekly to advise students on their work. Democracy Action Labs final projects have ranged from video PSAs to visual art projects and performances designed to raise awareness about social justice issues.

Click here for the syllabus.

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Other Brooklyn Action Labs

We alternate our labs across Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. In addition to the courses above, we also offer the Labs below at different points during the year.

 

Editing Workshop

Grades 6-11

Location: Zoom


This one-session, individualized editing workshop is a follow-up to our Art of the Podcast Lab. Instructors will work with students to polish their podcasts for submission in the 2022 NPR Student Podcast Challenge by the March 21st deadline.

MeshEd staff will reach out to schedule individualized sessions.

Cost: Pay As You Wish (Suggested: 25-100 per student)

 

Student Project Gallery