Watershed Investigations: Place-Based Deep Dives for Title I Schools
Implementing Organization
Pontchartrain Conservancy
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$90,600
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – Gulf Research Program (NASEM - GRP)
Funding Program
NASEM Gulf Research Program Grants
Details
Project Category
Human and Social
Project Actions
Education and Outreach
Targeted Resources
Project Description
Watershed Investigations is a deep dive program for educators and students in grades 6-8th grade at Title I schools in the Pontchartrain Basin that seeks to “advance science and understanding.” It is place-based, inquiry-driven, and hands-on. In line with the GRP’s guidance, the community is the classroom. With the goal to “build partnerships and engage networks,” four teachers and 400+ students at four Title I schools will be engaged over the two year period. Each semester, a new cohort, including the teacher and their students, will carry out a watershed investigation in their communities. PC staff provide an orientation at the beginning of the semester. In it, students learn what a watershed is and identify possible real-world issues to investigate through fieldwork in their communities. Once a month for a semester, students conduct relevant tests at their chosen field site. These field visits provide the perfect opportunity for students to be exposed to useful skills, such as data collection, collaborating, utilizing science equipment, and analyzing and interpreting data as they seek to answer their driving questions. PC staff facilitate each field visit and provide guidance in-between visits on how to integrate the investigations into the teachers’ scope and sequences. At the end of the semester, students present the data they collected, their analysis of the results, and their possible solutions in the format of their choice to the audience of their choice within their own communities which can “bridge knowledge to action.”
Contact
Kimberly CookeNone
kimberly@scienceforcoast.org
Project Website
None
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