My Ocean Backyard

Future Ocean Leaders Academy (FOLA) is dedicated to empowering the next generation of Ghanian ocean leaders through memorable and applied experiences, and Carissa Cabrera is a Hawaiʻi based educator passionate about using multimedia to create pathways to ocean through her group, Futureswell. Supported by the National Geographic Society's Explorer-Educator Exchange Program, the team collaborated to create ocean literacy materials for the 2024 FOLA adventure camp, including two video animations focused on the place-based conservation of Ghanaian mangroves and sea turtles.

Future Ocean Leaders Academy gathers local students monthly for STEM field trips that connect them with the ocean. These students range from 6-12 years in age, but are all participating based on shared interest in nature and the ocean they know along the Ghana coastline. The monthly gatherings culminate for an annual Adventure Camp near the end of the year. For the  November 2024 adventure camp,  about ~50 students participated in a week of programming, including the animations, and were impacted by the materials developed under this project.

As part of the National Geographic Explorer-Educator Exchange Program, the goal was to build evergreen learning resources for the growing Future Ocean Leaders Academy in Ghana. This local program, led by Edem Mahu, teaches students of all ages about STEM topics through field trips, collaborative projects, and applied learning experiences. As it grows, there is a need for supplemental learning materials that complement in the field work. As part of the 2024-2025 project timeline, our objectives were to:

• Create video lessons focused on important issues to this ecosystem
• Teach ocean literacy topics in a fun and engaging way
• Ensure content was easy to understand for young students and families of FOLA participants
• Depict localized threats and solutions accurately
• Share video animations to students at the 2024 adventure camp

As part of the National Geographic Explorer-Educator Exchange Program, Carissa Cabrera, Dr. Edem Mahu, and Emmanuel Ofori collaborated from Summer 2024 to Spring 2025 to build video animations to educate students in Ghana on the ocean issues in their backyard.

Led by Dr. Mahu, Future Ocean Leaders Academy focuses on STEM field trips for students of all ages, and culminates each year with a week long adventure camp. The programming of the camp centered the biodiversity of Ghana's coastline, with a focus on mangrove forests, sea turtles, water quality, and plastic pollution. For the video lessons, our team centered the stories around mangroves and sea turtles, and scripted them for a younger audience.

FOLA educator Emmanuel Ofori supported the project as the local educator, helping advise animations to be as effective as possible for learners. My Ocean Backyard features two video lessons and for students in Ghana to deepen their knowledge of threats to their backyard coastlines and the global and localized threats. Emmanuel supported the project by ensuring the scripts and characters accurately represented the ecosystem students were experiencing, and advising on languages to include, and leading translation, to ensure the final videos are accessible as possible to the local Ghanaian community.

Carissa Cabrera and Futureswell led the animation project, including creative direction, scripting, editing, production, and the review process. As the lead educator, she facilitated check-ins, the review process, distribution, and the project timeline in addition to gathering input from partners to craft a story that would both resonate and inspire viewers from FOLA.

The story series, My Ocean Backyard, features an initial two animations sharing the localized threats and solutions to protect mangroves and sea turtles of Ghana.

This project helped shape me as an educator, by enabling me to dive into a region of our ocean that I have not experience first-hand yet. It drew connections as an ocean conservationist to see the same threats facing us across the world. It helped me broaden my educational skillset by learning Adobe animate, and the longevity and sustainability of the project's ability to be shared for future learners is an enormous advantage to our project format.

FOLA bridges a crucial ocean literacy gap for young learners in Ghana. Throughout the year, students get to build confidence, curiosity, and the skills needed to care for the ocean. As the academy grows, so will the need for learning materials. My Ocean Backyard contributes two lessons to these growing resources, ensuring that FOLA has many ways to reach learners and their backyard community with ocean education that resonates. These lessons can serve as a learning resource for years to come, extending the life and impact of this project to other learners yet to join the FOLA network.

Additionally, My Ocean Backyard was created in the hopes to be built upon. We can spotlight other ecosystems, threats, and solutions known to Ghana and extend the series with additional animations. Over time, this can contribute to a full virtual learning curricula that deepens connection and understanding to Ghana's ocean and the threats it experiences.

This project represents one steps of capacity-building impact in a growing wave of impact being led by Edem Mahu. Together, we can help empower tomorrow's ocean leaders, today.