You For Youth // NOAA - 2017 Pilot Program Archive

2017 Pilot Program Archive

The NOAA-21^st CCLC Watershed STEM Education Partnership program builds off of a successful pilot program implemented in 2017, which awarded $500,000 to 17 projects that reached over 1,600 youth and 184 educators and staff at 37 21^st CCLCs across the country. Pilot projects funded by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation included a variety of field experiences and environmental education lessons for youth in watersheds across the nation

Evaluation results indicated that these projects excelled at making STEM activities relevant to students’ lives and improved students’ understanding and awareness of their local watersheds. Pilot grantees also forged strong collaborations with local 21^st CCLC sites, establishing relationships that have the potential to be sustained beyond the pilot program funding.

Select a region on the clickable map below to learn more about each of the 2017 funded pilot projects! Where available, materials and resources developed by these grantees are shared. Regions shown below here are based on areas eligible for pilot project activities, based on where the NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program exists. Starred areas represent locations of 2017 pilot project participants

Project Locations

Chesapeake Bay Region

Organization: Boxerwood Education Association

Location: Lexington, Virginia

"SPLASH! (Students Pursuing Learning & Adventure with STEM Happenings)" engaged elementary and middle school students in the Chesapeake Bay headwaters with STEM watershed programming. Activities included streamside investigations with guest scientists and a public Save-the-Bay event.

Resources:

Boxerwood Lesson Sampler

Boxerwood created four modules to strengthen science interest and skills in a small group of middle school students. The focus was creating and implementing placed-based investigations related to the watershed, as assisted by local STEM experts (guest scientists in the field). This resource includes a summary of the pilot project activities with outcomes.

Organization: Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit–Center for Schools and Communities

Location: Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

The "Green STEMs Project" built environmental education knowledge, skills and confidence in 16 afterschool educators and 226 students through four programs located within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This project used GLOBE resources.

Resources:

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE)

The GLOBE Program is an international science and education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment.

Organization: Friends of Deckers Creek

Location: Dellslow, West Virginia

"21^st Century Watershed Education on Deckers Creek" served the Mountaineer Boys and Girls Club with a watershed health and pollutants curriculum; technical and literacy education; experiential learning through field trips; and student-driven, solution-based research projects.

Resources:

Schoolyard Conservation Lessons and Activities (MS Word Document)

This educational guide is designed to be used for middle school teachers. All activities in the guide adhere to the Science Content Standards and Objectives (CSO's) for West Virginia schools. Each activity relates to some aspect of conservation and/or watershed management.

Organization: Living Classrooms Foundation

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

"Future STEM Leaders" provided inquiry-based learning experiences for 42 students. Activities focused on the issue of marine debris, and included integrated professional development for 21^st CCLC partner staff.

Resources:

Sample Professional Development Plan

Outline of professional development component of project.

Example Service Project Outline

Example service learning activity developed by participants.

New England Region

Organization: EdAdvance

Location: Litchfield, Connecticut

"WoW! The Wonders of Watersheds" provided high-interest experiential watershed education for 75 Waterbury students and 10 teachers. They were engaged in a series of multimodal, on-site indoor and outdoor learning opportunities that demonstrated how diverse bodies of water and landscapes are part of a watershed.

Resources:

Discovery Cruise Candlewood Lake

Activity guide for Candlewood Lake field experience

Watershed Map Exploration

Watershed map study questions.

Organization: Salem Sound CoastWatch

Location: Salem, Massachusetts

"STEAMing Ahead in Our Watershed" immersed underserved students in place-based environmental education incorporating STEM and the arts (STEAM) while increasing ocean literacy and inspiring ocean stewardship.

Resources:

Storm Drain Survey

Outside lesson to visit storm drain and learn about stormwater and pollution.

Storm Drain Mural Worksheet

Worksheet to plan storm drain art project.

Watershed Scavenger Hunt handout

Lead students on a scavenger hunt to identify features of their watershed.

Organization: Save the Bay

Location: Providence, Rhode Island

"Navigating and Discovering Your Watershed" developed 21^st CCLC staff and student skills and interests in the STEM fields and increased environmental literacy through participation in hands-on exploration of the local Narragansett Bay Watershed as well as a watershed protection project.

Gulf of Mexico Region

Organization: Artist Boat

Location: Galveston, Texas

"How Do You Back the Bay?" provided 18 middle school students with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) project-based and experiential learning. They learned how watersheds are physically connected to the Galveston Bay and how actions taken at a local level will improve water quality regionally.

Resources:

Feeling Blue - Intro to Blue Carbon

Coastal ecosystems, including tidal wetlands, mangroves, and seagrass beds sequester a significant amount of the carbon, which is referred to as "Blue Carbon." In this activity, students will act out the carbon cycle in coastal wetland ecosystems by each playing a role in the carbon cycle. Students will learn how coastal wetland ecosystems sequester, utilize, and store carbon.

Feeling Blue - Follow-up Lesson

In this activity, students will use data on global temperature, sea level rise, sea ice, and carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to create a watercolor painting that interprets that data.

Build a Watershed Extension

Learn how to use the Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) Land Cover Atlas to explore coastal land cover and land cover change information.

Coastal County Snapshot Extension

The Coastal County Snapshots is an online tool that provides managers and citizens with easy-to understand charts and graphs that describe complex coastal data. This tool can provide information on your county's exposure and resilience to flooding; you can learn how your county benefits economically from the ocean; and you can examine the benefits your county receives from its wetlands.

Organization: Mississippi State University–Gulf Coast Community Design Studio

Location: Biloxi, Mississippi

"Getting to Know the Magnolia Bayou through Science, Arts and Culture" provided 51 students and two teachers with STEAM watershed education. They learned about watershed dynamics, the impacts of stormwater runoff on water quality and quantity, and the important role of watershed planning and action.

Resources:

NOAA-21^st CCLC Watershed STEM Education Partnership Grants Handout

Project description and calendar handout

Great Lakes Region

Organization: Inland Seas Education Association

Location: Suttons Bay, Michigan

"21^st CCLC Great Lakes Watershed Field Course and STEM Showcase" inspired students to consider STEM fields as a means of protecting the Great Lakes through a series of seven unique meaningful watershed environmental education experiences.

Resources:

Building Your Own Watershed Activity

Students construct a model watershed made out of clay and, predict how water will move off “the land” and where it will end up.

The Great Plankton Race Activity

Students explore why it is important for plankton (especially phytoplankton) to float.

Why Do Boats Float Activity

Students will design and build a clay boat, assess which shape best supports cargo without sinking and explain the relationship between surface area and buoyancy.

Organization: Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

"Journeys into the Watershed-Making Connections" engaged two 21^st CCLCs in a seven-week experience that reinforced STEM skills and provided watershed-focused, place-based learning with extensive field experiences.

Resources:

Field Activity Journal

Blank Field Activity Journal

Journeys into the Watershed Activity Sheets

Blank Activity Sheets for four different activities

Hawaii Region

Organization: Malama Kai Foundation

Location: Kamuela, Hawaii

"Ocean Warriors: Watershed–STEM Learning and Action for 21^st Century Kohala" brought meaningful, place-based watershed environmental education experiences to Kohala Middle School through stewardship/action projects that emphasized STEM skills and exposed students to marine careers.

Resources:

Malama Kai web resources

California Region

Organization: Marine Science Institute

Location: Redwood City, California

"Watershed Investigators" exposed 30 students from Siena Youth Center to STEM topics, career fields, and perspectives on their local watershed’s connection to the ocean and climate change.

Resources:

Mind Map Activity Sheet

Blank Mind Map Activity Sheet

What is a Watershed? Activity Journal

Blank What is a Watershed? Activity Journal

Organization: Turtle Island Restoration Network

Location: Forest Knolls, California

"Headwaters to the Sea Summer Environmental Education and Educator Development Program" provided professional development for 71 day camp educators and implemented meaningful watershed education experiences for at least 217 children and youth served by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County.

Resources:

I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of... Student Activity Guide

Activity guide for students from the Beetles project. Through these activities students will increase curiosity for and directly engage with aspects of the natural world; make observations, ask questions, and relate findings to past experiences; and learn that descriptive observations are distinct from statements of opinion or identification.

Sea Turtle identification cards

California ecosystem connection cards

Pacific Northwest Region

Organization: Environmental Science Center

Location: Burien, Washington

"Salmon Heroes: STEM Training for 21^st CCLC Staff and Students" improved environmental and science literacy for 60 underserved students and 17 staff. Students engaged in salmon recovery through hands-on learning and outdoor field studies.

Resources:

Salmon Heros Lesson 2: What is a Watershed?

Students review what a watershed is by building a watershed model. Written for Puget Sound.

Salmon Heros Lesson 5: Student Stormwater Filtering Project

Students design and build their own preferred stormwater filtration system.

Organization: Oregon State University SMILE Program

Location: Corvallis, Oregon

"Increasing Environmental Literacy Through Meaningful STEM-based Watershed Studies" worked with SMILE clubs to directly engage 8 teachers and 74 students in afterschool clubs to educate them about watersheds and watershed issues. The project provided professional development and curriculum resources developed to support the StreamWebs Network.

Resources:

StreamWebs Network

The StreamWebs Student Stewardship Network is an educational platform that provides teachers and students with resources to conduct hands-on watershed stewardship projects. The StreamWebs program works to promote the teaching and learning of field based science, enhance environmental literacy, and provide resources that support Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences (MWEEs).

StreamWebs Field and Classroom Watershed Investigation Curriculum Materials

The StreamWebs Field and Classroom Watershed Investigation curriculum is designed to help formal and non-formal educators use SteamWebs as a platform to conduct meaningful field-based, student-driven investigations that continue in the classroom. Blank data sheets are available on the StreamWebs resources website.

Organization: RE Sources for Sustainable Communities

Location: Bellingham, Washington

The summer "Young Water Stewards" program engaged middle school students from rural Skagit County in STEM investigations of how human land-use practices impact the health of their local watershed. Activities included in-class lessons, water quality testing and field visits.

Resources:

Young Water Stewards - Extensions & Handbook to Environmental Education

Developed to support teachers at 21CCLC sites to continue young water stewards program beyond the time RE Sources has with their class. Includes 11 add-on lessons and examples of long-term service learning projects.

Young Water Stewards Middle School Curriculum

Contains 6 lesson plans with worksheets for middle school.