Project-Based Learning

Bringing Back the Bluebird Lady tells the true story of company bookkeeper who partnered with a national movement to bring back numbers of bluebirds devastated by DDT, invasive species, and loss of habitat. Though her impact was international, her efforts were lost after her death in 2016, but some citizens wanted her back.

Our Bringing Back the Bluebird Lady programming amplifies the CITIZEN SCIENCE NEST WATCH PROJECT at the Cornell Ornithology Lab. But this story does something magical. It explains the effect that one civic celebrity can have on the world. Through a special digital local history collection, students can see footsteps to civic engagement close up, and follow in them just as closely. Nothing is more inspiring than a bird’s first flight!

Civics EDU offers local support to help communities committed to the Community Preservation Act involve youth within plans, projects, and promotions about their own local history.

-Maureen Mann, MLIS is a ‘GBH public historian, oral history journalist, and MA licensed multi-media educator.