Voice+Vision is a class and curriculum that is intended to foster a more intentional, inquiry-based strategy for research and media making, one that is purposeful, well-supported, and designed to advocate change. The course is intended to inform, to provoke, and especially to encourage students to think seriously about pressing local and global concerns such as environmental sustainability, educational equity, and civil rights, while focusing on their many interconnections with the world’s shrinking water resources.

As they investigate the origins and impacts of these issues, students use a diverse range of digital media and other creative tools to develop project-based initiatives addressing them on both a local and a global scale, and educating others about their relevance. Working in collaboration with schools in other nations such as India, Haiti and Brazil, and partnering with local organizations such as Carnegie Mellon University’s CreateLab and the Carnegie Museum’s Powdermill Nature Center, students will explore and investigate current issues as they develop skills and tools of research, self-expression, design, collaboration, and persistence.