Partnership pedagogies, cross disciplinary learning, and research. How are these working in practice at WSU? Lively Labs was one example, where science researchers were invited to take part in communication exercises and creative practice with students. Valuable learning occurs for both groups. Students gain access to researchers working on real world problems. Researchers interact with students working on media, communication, and design projects. This increases literacy on both sides. Students in Screen Media subjects needed to gain experience in active research and in how to speak with researchers. They needed experience in documentary practice and storytelling based on real world research and problem solving, areas such as sustainability and climate change. Projects like Lively Labs give WSU students the opportunity to meet researchers, acquiring confidence in asking questions about their areas of expertise. Interviewing researchers, scientists, people with lived experience, is a key documentary skill and these projects give students exposure and opportunities to explore this and other essential storytelling skills. Resulting work gives researchers outputs to communicate their projects and key findings to general audiences. The flow-on effects from this and other projects continue in teaching and research approaches.

The following are examples of student work from subjects where students use Living Lab approaches in their storytelling for the screen. Ideas exploring storytelling for sustainability and the environment are expressed through a range of genres, including documentary; factual and narrative; fictional forms.