We’re ready for the investigation component of our Watershed Experience. Will someone from GMRI or Maine Sea Grant come with us?
VitalVenture is not staffed to support field work. Connecting students with their own community is an essential component of every Watershed Experience. Look within your school and to your local community for resources to tap.
Parent volunteers
Education technicians
School administrators (they tend to like excuses to go outside with students)
Join a listserve like the Maine Math and Science Alliance science listserve to receive frequent grant notifications direct to your inbox.
Grant writing can be time consuming, and requires research as well as writing time. If time is what you don’t have, be creative with your Watershed Experience. For example, if you don’t have the resources available to bus students to a nearby lake to measure water quality, you can bring the lake to them, one 5-gallon bucket at a time.
I want to create my own Watershed Experience. Where do I start?
Here’s a really quick glimpse at our Backwards Design approach to curriculum creation. For a more detailed approach, use A Guide to Creating Meaningful Watershed Experiences by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Start with a locally relevant and engaging issue statement
List your learning goals for each of the Watershed Experience components: Introduction, Investigation, Action, Sharing, Reflection & Evaluation.
Tackle your overall approach first, and then delve into the individual activities that support and extend the Experience. What prior knowledge and skills will your students need to be successful?
Decide on your instructional approach – how much choice and control will students have over their inquiry learning experience?
FAQs
We’re ready for the investigation component of our Watershed Experience. Will someone from GMRI or Maine Sea Grant come with us?
VitalVenture is not staffed to support field work. Connecting students with their own community is an essential component of every Watershed Experience. Look within your school and to your local community for resources to tap.
See our tips for Taking Students Outside for more ideas.
I don’t have the tools and resources I need to do the Watershed Experience of my dreams. Where should I look to find funding opportunities?
There are a lot of grant opportunities for teachers.
Grant writing can be time consuming, and requires research as well as writing time. If time is what you don’t have, be creative with your Watershed Experience. For example, if you don’t have the resources available to bus students to a nearby lake to measure water quality, you can bring the lake to them, one 5-gallon bucket at a time.
I want to create my own Watershed Experience. Where do I start?
Here’s a really quick glimpse at our Backwards Design approach to curriculum creation. For a more detailed approach, use A Guide to Creating Meaningful Watershed Experiences by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Please share your curriculum with the VitalVenture community.
Contact us with your questions!