Past and Current Chesapeake B-WET Projects

The Chesapeake B-WET program has funded the following projects since 2017. Projects in all watershed states have been funded since the program’s start in 2002 to enable both student learning and teacher professional development to support Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences. Grants currently focus on helping school districts and divisions deliver MWEEs that reach an entire grade level of students (system-wide) as well as on building their capacity to embed MWEEs into curriculum and to advance environmental literacy planning. 

Delaware

2021

Building District Capacity for Environmental Literacy and MWEEs in Delaware

This University of Delaware project will strengthen school district capacity to integrate environmental literacy and Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences into learning for Delaware students. An environmental literacy plan framework will be developed which will set the groundwork for the creation of plans at Caesar Rodney Public Schools, Appoquinimink Public Schools, and Sussex Montessori. Teachers and administrators in each of these schools and school districts will engage in professional development following the Delaware version of the Facilitator’s Guide to the MWEE. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $70,693.

Maryland

2021

Chesapeake Linked: People, Skies, Water & Place (LINKED)

The Chesapeake Audubon Society’s LINKED will engage teachers and students systemically in Dorchester County, Maryland through investigative outdoor experiences, student-driven stewardship action projects, and synthesis and conclusions to find solutions at the community level to address issues facing the Bay and Atlantic Flyway. Through 30 hours of professional development each year, LINKED will improve teachers’ ability and comfort level with outdoor investigative learning and increase their knowledge base about Chesapeake Bay Watershed systems and wildlife, the issues they face, and the work being done by conservation professionals and community leaders to restore and protect the habitats that are critical to wildlife and water quality. LINKED will work with Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park to provide additional context of the historical and cultural significance of Dorchester County’s natural resources and how it relates to climate change issues facing the county. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $79.980.

Climate kNOWledge: Student Research and Action to Reduce the Impacts of the Climate Emergency

The Howard County Conservancy (HCC) will develop and implement a district-wide climate change curriculum with a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience, to engage every sixth grade HCPSS student and teacher in robust hands-on climate science. To meet this goal, HCC will: host in-depth professional development opportunities for sixth grade teachers on climate science and environmental justice; develop climate curriculum including three unique field investigations with real life data collection opportunities; and will pilot and test the program with small cohorts of students and teachers. Each teacher will be provided with 30 hours of professional development and the program will reach more students and teachers each year. By the third year, HCC will work with all 20 middle schools, all 45 HCPSS sixth grade teachers, and all 4,500 sixth graders. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $128,155.

2020

Regional Outdoor Learning Network

The Chesapeake Bay Trust will help educators learn from and support one another via “Environmental Education Capacity Building in the Chesapeake Region: A Regional Outdoor Learning Network Initiative and Mini-Grants Program Effort in Partnership with NOAA.” The Chesapeake Bay Trust will provide mini-grant funding and training to build capacity and support regional school districts and nonformal educators as they design and sustain systemic MWEEs and will also help formal and nonformal educators facilitate student-centered MWEEs. The Trust expects to engage at least 900 formal educators, 135 nonformal educators, 110 school administrators, and school districts in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $241,858.

2019

Sturgeon Discovery Program

ShoreRivers is working with Talbot and Dorchester County Public Schools to provide third-grade students with a meaningful watershed educational experience (MWEE) through which they will investigate endangered Atlantic sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay. Students research the importance of sturgeon and explore how human actions on land affect sturgeon habitat in their local rivers. Throughout this year-long program, participating teachers receive professional development focused on MWEEs and strengthening local partnerships. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $209,930 for this program, and there is a $31,260 nonfederal match.

Harbor Scholars

Harbor Scholars is a professional development program run by Towson University designed to increase the capacity of all fifth-grade science teachers in the Baltimore City Public School system to effectively facilitate and support student engagement. A major focus of the Harbor Scholars program is building teacher capacity to facilitate student-led inquiry. All students of Harbor Scholars participants will visit the Inner Harbor on a field trip to explore how actions in their schoolyards and communities are connected with and affect the Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $448,345.

2018

Audubon Chesapeake Experience

The Pickering Creek Audubon Center is working with Wicomico County Public Schools to explore “how does human activity impact aquatic and avian wildlife populations in Chesapeake Bay ecosystems?” with sixth-grade teachers and students It includes teacher trainings, investigative outdoor experiences, student-driven stewardship action projects, and synthesis and conclusion components to find solutions at the community level to address issues facing the Bay and Atlantic Flyway. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $112,652, and there is a $5,348 nonfederal match.

What Lives in the Harbor 

The National Aquarium Inc. is working with Baltimore City Public Schools to share this program with 3,600 sixth-grade students and 71 teachers in Baltimore City Public Schools by 2021. The program connects Baltimore City students with the aquatic world of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and helps them grasp how their decisions and actions can achieve a healthy harbor. A culminating family night at the Aquarium allows students to showcase their completed action projects. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $144,632, and there is a $41,303 nonfederal match.

Wave of Plastic 

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is partnering with Calvert County and St. Mary’s County Public Schools to support student inquiry of plastic waste and its effects on marine ecosystems. The project will increase the environmental literacy, knowledge, and research skills of teachers and students through their MWEE experiences, establish collaborative partnerships amongst school districts, and foster environmental stewardship. Ultimately, students will make informed environmental choices related to plastic reduction and disposal into their local waterways, the Chesapeake Bay, and the ocean. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $139,579.

2017

Bridging the Watershed Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience 

Charles County Board of Education is working with the Alice Ferguson Foundation to design and implement a systematic integrated MWEE that will be embedded in seventh-grade life science and at the high school level in the content areas of biology and Earth systems in Charles County, Maryland. The program will include student stream monitoring in public parks and streams on school campuses and small-scale action projects that will include riparian buffer and stormwater plantings, nonnative plant removal, and planting native vegetation on school grounds. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $226,536, and there is a $21,584 nonfederal match.

Making the Link through a Professional Learning Community 

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science will initiate and facilitate a Maryland MWEE professional learning community that is focused on developing, revising with peer feedback, and implementing Next Generation Science Standards/Environmental Literacy-based MWEEs and can ultimately become self-sufficient and self-sustaining. Principal investigators will disseminate the project’s process and products with other education professionals through partners’ websites, conferences, and statewide and regional partnership groups. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $198,759.

New York

2020

Chesapeake Bay Headwaters Educational Ecosystem

The Otsego County Conservation Association’s three-year project is designed to engage and educate teachers on how to integrate and perform Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences in their classrooms throughout the New York State portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. OCCA will create and manage professional development sessions, including summer institutes and one-day training sessions that will reach 200 teachers, 75 MWEE outreach “envoys,” and two curriculum specialists. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $70,080.

Pennsylvania

2021

Expanding Capacity for Environmental Literacy at IU13 (ExCEL@IU13)

Through ExCEL@IU13, Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 will develop a K-12 Environmental Literacy Plan for IU13’s center-based emotional support classrooms. In addition to developing the plan, teachers will receive professional development to build the environment science content knowledge and pedagogy required to develop a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience at each grade level K-12. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $191,066.

Let’s Go 1-2-3 and Community Partnerships to Expand MWEE Education for Sixth Graders and the City of Lancaster 

Let’s Go 1-2-3 will build on the School District of Lancaster’s current MWEE programming for sixth grade middle school students and teachers by enhancing the local relevance and ability for the full experience to occur within the schoolyard or surrounding community. An afterschool program that builds on the in-class component will be developed and instituted at each of the schools, leveraging the expertise of community-based partners. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $30,000.

2020

Expanding Environmental Literacy

The Stroud Water Research Center will focus on “Expanding Environmental Literacy and MWEE Implementation Capacity across Pennsylvania.” Through this project, Stroud and the Pennsylvania Department of Education will work together to build capacity for environmental literacy and Chesapeake Bay watershed stewardship in the Commonwealth by expanding the inclusion of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences in Pennsylvania schools and in partner organizations. The project intends to reach 1,000 school administrators; staff and classroom teachers; pre-service teachers and nonformal educators from environmental education provider nonprofit organizations; parks; and related organizations. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $85,000.

2019

Headwater Investigations for Kids and Educators 

The Pennsylvania State University Center for Science and the Schools and Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center are partnering with Bald Eagle Area School District to develop and pilot curriculum for second-grade, fifth-grade, and high school students through Headwater Investigations for Kids and Educators to Promote Watershed Research and Stewardship (HIKERS). Teachers and students will build their understanding of watershed dynamics by connecting activities and action projects in the headwaters (Bald Eagle Creek watershed) to conditions located downstream. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $296,236.

2018

Headwaters to Estuaries with Immersive Technology 

St. Francis University is partnering with Bedford Area, Chestnut Ridge, Harmony Area, and Hollidaysburg Public Schools to the stormwater best management practices (BMP) as an organizing principle to engage middle-school students in a visual and critically important environmental issue. The MWEEs will culminate in the design and implementation of a watershed BMP on the grounds of the school or in the participants’ local community. Student teams will present findings at an annual watershed festival hosted by St. Francis University. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $110,000.

What’s in the Water? 

Gettysburg College is working with Camp Hill, Shippensburg Area, Conewago Valley, and Littlestown Area Public Schools to investigate and control runoff in the Chesapeake Bay watershed of Pennsylvania. Participants will learn how three types of environmental pollutants—sediment, road salt, and nutrient load—in stormwater runoff negatively impact local their watershed and Bay. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $146,789, and there is a $8,539 nonfederal match.

Systemic MWEE Program for Lancaster County 

Northbay and the School District of Lancaster will serve more than 2,500 sixth- through eighth-grade students in the School District of Lancaster. A partnership with the Lancaster County Conservancy will help to expose teachers and students to beautiful and accessible local preserves managed for the health of the watershed. The project will create environmentally literate teachers and students who have a strong connection to the Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $111,605, and there is a $93,901 nonfederal match.

Advancing Environmental Literacy and Supporting Clean Water Initiatives 

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is working with Capital Area and Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit (IU) school districts across Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Perry counties to systemically integrate and align MWEEs into the curricular sequences for all south central Pennsylvania participating schools and produce 8-12 MWEEs within various class subjects. Students will learn about water quality issues and conduct inquiry-based investigations on the schoolyard and at local sites. The intended outcome for students is to engage as environmental stewards with local community entities to support clean water initiatives. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $110,907, and there is a $24,138 nonfederal match.

2017

Environmental Literacy and MWEE Programming Capacity Building 

The Stroud Water Research Center is leading a collaborative statewide Pennsylvania capacity-building project with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators, Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, and a university science education professor. The group will hold monthly leadership team meetings, daylong Pennsylvania Watershed Education Task Force meetings, regional stakeholder sessions to determine current best practices in K-12 watershed education, review K-12 environmental education standards, and identify career pathways in environmental sciences and STEM. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $199,137, and there is a $16,212 nonfederal match.

Virginia

2021

A Community-Connected and Curriculum-Embedded Environmental Literacy Program

This project will support Prince William County Public Schools in creating a comprehensive environmental literacy plan that will integrate in-person and virtual environment, climate, and energy education, as well as civic engagement and stewardship of natural resources. Beginning with a needs assessment and a community engagement process, the plan will be developed in collaboration with partners in the community. By the end of the project, a strategy for supporting MWEEs to all 96 schools will be created as well as a plan for inclusive and sustained teacher professional development. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $122,784.

It’s All Connected: Together Three School Districts Investigate the James River

James River Association staff will connect middle schools in Amherst County, Hopewell City, and Surry County Public Schools through systemic MWEEs designed to engage every seventh grade life science teacher and student within each of the school districts. The overarching question that students will investigate throughout the MWEE will be, “How can we protect aquatic ecosystems in the James River and Chesapeake Bay Watershed?” Students and teachers will not only investigate local environmental issues but also learn how local issues connect to the issues that their cohort schools are experiencing in other parts of the watershed. The result will be a series of community engagement projects in each of the three locations students will share with their cohort schools through a virtual watershed symposium at the end of each school year. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $150,000.

The Mariners’ Environmental Co-op

The Mariners’ Museum’s project, The Mariners’ Environmental Co-op, will bring together expertise from Christopher Newport University, the James River Association, NOAA Monitor Sanctuary and The Center for Educational Partnerships, to implement an initiative combining critical classroom skills, alongside engaging outdoor experiences, with the goal of creating sustainable, and curricularly integrated MWEEs, for ninth-grade students in Newport News Public Schools. Students will develop an understanding of why clean water matters to their community and how they can create innovative, nature-based solutions for cleaner and healthier waterways in the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, these skills, combined with the ability to problem-solve around issues affecting this coastal community, will increase the opportunity to build young environmental stewards. Over the course of the project 4,500 students will be engaged in MWEEs and 25 teachers will receive 30 hours of professional development. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $139,749.

The Richmond Environment: Students as Teachers in their Watershed

The City of Richmond and key partners will create a district-wide Environmental Literacy Plan rooted in environmental justice. To ensure investment and true local relevance, students and teachers will help to shape goals for the plan through a series of listening sessions, focus groups, and teacher and student advisory groups. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $149,437.

Upper Rappahannock MWEE Program

This Friends of the Rappahannock project will implement sustainable MWEE programs in two school districts in the Rappahannock River Watershed - Fauquier County Public Schools and Culpeper County Public Schools. To achieve this goal, Friends of the Rappahannock will provide professional development to teachers and administrators on content knowledge and MWEE design; will work with teachers to implement MWEEs at their schools; will create a mentor program with teachers and administrators from Spotsylvania and Caroline County Public Schools to support integration of MWEE into curriculum frameworks; and will create a website to support MWEE sustainability within the region. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $140,802.

2020

Virginia Teachers Innovating and Designing Experiential Science

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science will spearhead this project. This two-year effort will be led by educators from the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Virginia Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program. VIMS and partners will provide MWEE professional development opportunities including workshops, summer institutes, and webinars for approximately 120 Virginia pre-service teachers and 6 faculty at several schools of education in Virginia. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $83,437.

2019

Project Blue Crab

The Elizabeth River Project and Chesapeake Public Schools will engage all fourth graders in Chesapeake Public Schools in intensive study of the Atlantic blue crab. The goal will be for them to understand and find ways to address the impacts of sea level rise on river life, themselves, and their community. Watermen, folk musicians, and the Elizabeth River Project’s Dominion Energy Learning Barge and Paradise Creek Nature Park all will play roles in the project. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $314,993.

Bivalves as Ecosystem Sustaining Treasures

Virginia Commonwealth University is partnering with Charles City County Public Schools, Colonial Heights Public Schools, New Kent County Public Schools, and Newport News Public Schools to use bivalves as theme connecting inland riverine and coastal marine ecosystems. Students will engage in hands-on investigations using NOAA education modules informed by aligned research from scientists and graduate students from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Life Sciences and the VCU School of Education. Students will collect data on water quality to support bivalves in their watersheds and exchange data among schools. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $447,599, and there is a $32,638 nonfederal match.

2018

Creating a Model for a Sustainable

The Friends of the Rappahannock, together with Spotsylvania County Public Schools and Caroline County Public Schools, and in partnership with Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Virginia Cooperative Extension and Lake Anna State Park, will serve all fourth, sixth, and ninth graders in Spotsylvania County Public Schools and all the ninth-grade students in Caroline County Public Schools. They will create a model for embedding MWWEs into the Rappahannock River schoolshed districts’ curriculum and to create sustainability teams to mentor and support collaboration between new and existing teachers. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $108,391, and there is a $22,920 nonfederal match.

Bay Watershed in Science Education

The Maymont Foundation’s goal is to build Henrico County Public Schools’ teacher capacity to facilitate immersive and authentic watershed experiences and fully implement complete MWEEs as required by the sixth-grade science curriculum, reaching all sixth-grade science teachers and students. Teachers and students will be supported in planning student action projects that demonstrate knowledge of the watershed and conservation efforts. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $149,568, and there is a $37,000 nonfederal match.

Student and Teacher Experiential Environmental Learning 

The Nature Conservancy and partners Accomack County and Northampton County Public Schools will explore key questions: The fifth grade focuses on “How do people affect the environmental health of the terrestrial ecosystems on the Eastern Shore of Virginia?” Seventh graders investigate “How do people affect the environmental health of the aquatic ecosystems on the Eastern Shore of Virginia?” Tenth graders explore “How do people affect the environmental health of global ecosystems, and what are the local impacts here on the Eastern Shore?” Chesapeake B-WET is providing $100,000, and there is a $56,408 nonfederal match.

Developing MWEE Capacity 

The University of Virginia, Blandy Experimental Farm, working with Clarke County Public Schools, will implement comprehensive, systemic MWEE curricula that spans grades K-12. Students will engage in activities designed to develop environmental literacy knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Students will learn about environmental and watershed systems in an interdisciplinary format using knowledge and skills from the four main content areas to investigate, assess, and synthesize environmental and watershed system components, processes, and human impacts. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $103,686, and there is a $22,027 nonfederal match.

Alexandria Youth Action for the Bay 

Earth Force is partnering with Alexandria City Public Schools as they implement MWEEs into every middle-school science classroom across ACPS, train and support educators as they develop the skills to effectively teach MWEEs, and develop connections to expert support for educators to implement an investigative student-led project focused on watershed issues related to the Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $109,535, and there is a $43,372 nonfederal match.

Environmental Literacy in the Piedmont 

The Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District and partners Culpeper County, Greene County, Madison County, Orange County, and Rappahannock County Public Schools will develop and deliver weeklong meaningful watershed educational experiences (MWEEs) to all sixth-grade students in five counties and deliver 45 hours of professional development to each participating teacher. Throughout the MWEEs, students and teachers will be trained and continually reminded of the scientific investigative process. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $38,730.

2017

Students Investigating Urban Parks 

The James River Association will immerse students and educators from Richmond Public Schools in field-based experiences that will use real-world data, mapping, and hands-on experiences to challenge students to critically examine the complex ecological, economic, and human systems that depend on and collectively impact the health of the James River and Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $449,849, and there is a $53,220 nonfederal match.

Developing, Implementing, and Assessing Environmental Literacy Plans 

The Virginia Department of Education will partner with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Department of Environmental Quality, and Department of Forestry to plan and implement professional development opportunities to cohorts of teachers and administrators across Virginia in order to build capacity for environmental literacy. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $130,131, and there is a $52,760 nonfederal match.

Washington, D.C.

2021

Anacostia Watershed High School MWEE

Living Classrooms National Capital Region will develop a high school MWEE for ninth-grade students in ten DC public high schools located within the Anacostia watershed for a total reach of 1,900 students and 20 teachers. The MWEE will focus on the question “What is the impact of polluted stormwater runoff on the environment and biodiversity in our community, and what can we do about it?” The MWEE will use schoolyards as well as the Kingman and Heritage Islands Conservation Area in the Anacostia River as outdoor field experience sites. Teachers will receive 30 hours of professional development to support them in implementing the MWEE. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $149,686.

Multistate

2021

Shared Waters: An Upstream-Downstream Collaborative

Millersville University and Virginia Wesleyan University will partner with Penn Manor School District and Norfolk Collegiate School, respectively, to develop and implement systemic Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences in elementary schools. This project highlights a shared responsibility by bringing together schools in an upstream-downstream collaborative to learn about local watershed issues and how students’ local actions impact the overall health of the watershed. The project will systemically impact students through classroom MWEE implementation and professional development for teachers, as well as simultaneously training the next generation of teachers by embedding MWEE instruction into undergraduate teacher education programs at MU and VWU. The Shared Waters project embeds MWEE professional development training and classroom implementation into existing university/school partnerships where teacher candidates work alongside classroom teachers in the implementation of the MWEE in the elementary classroom. This approach ensures the long-term sustainability of the project and its ability to institutionalize MWEEs at both the K-12 and university levels. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $125,178.

2017

Alliance to Advance Student Action Projects 

Earth Force will develop materials that provide school divisions and interested organizations with best practices and the planning tools needed to implement youth action projects. It will also assist school divisions and environmental education organizations to develop the capacity to incorporate student action projects into their MWEE programming. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $199,097, and there is a $28,975 nonfederal match.

Chesapeake Bay Mini-Grants 

The Chesapeake Bay Trust is administering an existing grant program called the “Mini Pre-K-12 Environmental Education Grant Program (Mini Grant Program).” This partnership between NOAA and the Trust provides small environmental education grants of up to $5,000. These mini-grant projects take place in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Mini-grant projects typically include field excursions to water-based educational activities and small-scale hands-on restoration projects such as schoolyard habitat improvements. In addition, funds will be used to address known challenges to MWEE framework adoption through a variety of methods including conferences, workshops, and the development of products and resources. Chesapeake B-WET is providing $502,715, and there is a $200,000 nonfederal match.