Making STEM REAL: Real, Experiential, Active Learning: An Authentic Interdisciplinary Connection Between the “Schoolshed” and the Watershed

Abstract

AbstractK-12 educators from Maryland's Eastern Shore traveled from the Chester River headwaters to the Chesapeake Bay aboard a research vessel analyzing sediment samples and using sonar to image its bottom and, incidentally, an 18th century shipwreck. Educators engaged in 10 Professional Development Modules where they participated in activities such as building observation buoys that collect water quality data and designing, building, and operating underwater robots. Additional program components included issues investigation, agro-ecology, bird identification, weather, and hands-on instruction to integrate the material into impact classroom content. The program strength lies in the cumulative knowledge gained by completing all of the components to get a holistic view of watershed exploration from the headwaters to the Bay. Consequently, the thread for this program is that all educators are from schools within the Chester River Watershed, herein termed a schoolshed. Data were plotted on a school-available website and are further supported by <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.crwo.org">http://www.crwo.org</ext-link>. Shared resources were available for all of the teachers and delivered on demand so that the lessons could be implemented with classes on their school grounds. Independently contracted program evaluations were positive. All of the program's components are easily adapted to other watersheds and are presently being repackaged as the Canyons to the Oceans program for the Oxnard California School District as the Coastal California Watershed Observatory. Since 2013, the program has been supported by the Maryland State Department of Education and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.