Title
The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program: Connecting students and citizens to their watershed through education
Abstract
The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (Cfwep.Org) is a non-profit organization that fosters environmental stewardship and scientific literacy through place-based education. Through a variety of programs, Cfwep.Org creates authentic research experiences for students and teachers, provides service learning opportunities for local youth, and connects community members to their watershed. In the last ten years, we have served over 33,000 students.
In fall and spring, middle school students learn about mining damage and restoration in our Restoration Education Program (REP). REP culminates with a field day on Silver Bow Creek in which students measure water chemistry, identify benthic macroinvertebrates, conduct a riparian assessment, and learn how stormwater connects upland areas to the creek. Throughout the year, G6-12 science students and teachers engage in bacteriophage discovery in our Bringing Research Into the Classroom (BRIC) program, which also has a rigorous teacher professional development component. Through the Montana Partnership with Regions for Excellence in STEM (MPRES), Cfwep.Org has become a leader in Montana for educating teachers about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). To engage community members in watershed stewardship, we host an annual creek cleanup day. These and other programs exemplify the organization’s mission to create scientifically literate citizens and stewards through using watershed science as a framework.
In future, we plan to reach younger children with recreation education, and high school students with in-depth research experiences. Cfwep.Org also hopes to implement a mentorship program for pre-college science students.
Start Date
24-4-2015 12:00 PM
End Date
24-4-2015 2:00 PM
Document Type
Poster
The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program: Connecting students and citizens to their watershed through education
The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (Cfwep.Org) is a non-profit organization that fosters environmental stewardship and scientific literacy through place-based education. Through a variety of programs, Cfwep.Org creates authentic research experiences for students and teachers, provides service learning opportunities for local youth, and connects community members to their watershed. In the last ten years, we have served over 33,000 students.
In fall and spring, middle school students learn about mining damage and restoration in our Restoration Education Program (REP). REP culminates with a field day on Silver Bow Creek in which students measure water chemistry, identify benthic macroinvertebrates, conduct a riparian assessment, and learn how stormwater connects upland areas to the creek. Throughout the year, G6-12 science students and teachers engage in bacteriophage discovery in our Bringing Research Into the Classroom (BRIC) program, which also has a rigorous teacher professional development component. Through the Montana Partnership with Regions for Excellence in STEM (MPRES), Cfwep.Org has become a leader in Montana for educating teachers about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). To engage community members in watershed stewardship, we host an annual creek cleanup day. These and other programs exemplify the organization’s mission to create scientifically literate citizens and stewards through using watershed science as a framework.
In future, we plan to reach younger children with recreation education, and high school students with in-depth research experiences. Cfwep.Org also hopes to implement a mentorship program for pre-college science students.