Dakota Adventures - Teacher Work Shops

Discover A Watershed Syllabus 1

Rationale:

Everyone lives in a watershed. Understanding watersheds is an important part of understanding

environmental and human communities. This professional development opportunity will equip

teachers with the knowledge and skills to integrate investigation and instruction about watersheds

into their classrooms, utilizing 21st Century Skills to build environmental literacy.

Discover a Watershed will utilize the methodology of place based education to study the three

components of the watershed: the physical setting (climate, geology and hydrology), the ecological

setting (soil, plants and animals), and the cultural/human setting (history, geography and civics).

Educators will spend one day in the classroom learning hands-on and inquiry based activities to

instruct about the components of the watershed. Time will also be spent practicing field skills to use

in the outdoors. Educators will also prepare an activity as part of a small group to present in the

field.

Educators will spend two days/one night in the outdoors, practicing the field skills along a river in

South Dakota (selection depends on flows). While in the field, educators will map a site; draw,

describe and identify plants; do a soil characterization profile; and sample water quality as well as

reflect on the human/cultural interaction. They will also present the activity prepared in the

classroom, using the outdoors as the setting.

The classroom resources have been selected to supplement each other. Discover a Watershed:

Missouri River Educator’s Guide published by Project WET is an award winning curricula that

features activities specific to the Missouri River watershed. The GLOBE project is an interagency

program of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), National Science

Foundation, the US Department of State and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

GLOBE is an international environmental science and education project to collect useable, real world

data. Places We Live is published by Project Learning Tree as a curriculum to introduce students to

the concepts of community planning. And A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and two

classroom resources Lessons in a Land Ethic and Exploring the Outdoors with Aldo provide

activities of place and personal connection to a setting.

Objectives:

By the end of the training, participants will:

1. Understand the physical, ecological, and cultural components of the watershed.

2. Be able to integrate relevant instruction about watersheds into their classroom.

3. Be able to execute field skills.

Requirements:

1. Read the pre-class essays Tips and Techniques for Exploring Place and Notes on Keeping a

Field Journal.

2. Participate in all classroom and field activities.

3. Maintain a nature journal with the following:

a. Two entries dedicated to plants including a drawing and description.

b. Two entries dedicated to water quality, including:

1. Water clarity

2. Water temperature

3. Water speed using Log Line

c. A map

d. One Soil Characterization profile

Discover A Watershed Syllabus 2

e. Two entries reflecting on being in place on the river.

4. Facilitates a peer led activity in the field.

5. Develop a lesson plan.

6. Score 10 out of 15 on the rubric below.

Resources:

- A Sand County Almanac. Leopold, Aldo. Oxford University Press. 1968*

- Exploring the Outdoors with Aldo. Pheasants Forever. 2009

- Lessons in a Land Ethic. Pheasants Forever.

- Discover A Watershed: Missouri River Educator’s Guide. Project WET. 2004.

- GLOBE Teachers Guide, Soil Chapter. 2005. www.globe.gov.

- Tips and Techniques for Exploring Place. University of Vermont and Place-based Landscape

Analysis and Community Education (PLACE). 2009 http://www.uvm.edu/place/

- Notes on Keeping a Field Journal. From the University of Western Ontario’s Program for

Field Biology online guidance for students. 2006 version.