2001 CO Water Education Final Report

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Support Pilot of Learning to be 'VaterWise and \Vater's '.Vays Two water education pilot programs were supported with financial resources by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Water's Ways Water Cycle kits were placed at 53 sites, mainly third grade classrooms primarily in the Arkansas, San JuanlDelores and Rio Grande watershed areas. A few kits were placed in the South Platte and YampalWhite River watershed areas. Twenty-two teachers participated in at least one full day of professional development. If pilot teachers could not engage in this professional development opportunity, the program developer provided at least a two hour introduction to the materials and activities. The Learning to be WaterWise program was placed with 142 teachers from 100 schools in 13 regions which include Boulder, Delta, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins, Granby, Grand Junction, Greeley, Holy Cross, Pagosa, Platte Canyon, Southwest, and Southwest Metro. The program was used mainly with fifth grade students. The WaterWise program did not include a professional development component. The program evaluation conducted by an outside evaluator, Alisabeth Hohn, includes a detailed description of each program, participants, teacher survey results, alignment of program with Colorado Model Content Standards, and a summary of findings with strengths and areas for improvement. Throughout the year, the Coordinator had ongoing communication with the two project coordinators, Judith Daley and Dave Munk, via face to face interaction, email and telephone. The Coordinator also provided input including editing, potential activities and assessments for the Watershed revision of Water's Ways (not part of the CWCB classroom pilot).The revised Watershed curriculum, generally used at grades 4 or 5, is formatted like the pilot Water Cycle curriculum due to teacher input from the grade 3 Water Cycle pilot. Assist with Design and Implementation of a Professional Development Model for Grade Three Water's Ways Pilot Teachers Professional development for teachers implementing a new program is often critical to the success and ongoing use ofa program. One of the pilot programs, Water's Ways, includes a professional development component. The Coordinator assisted Judith Daley, the Water's Ways developer, with the design and implementation of the professional development opportunity for pilot teachers in the Alamosa and Durango areas. One semester credit through Adams State College was provided as an option for teachers wanting the credit. To meet college requirements participants must meet for a minimum offifteen contact hours and complete assignments set by the instructor to receive credit. Twenty-two teachers participated in the professional development opportunity with fifteen selecting the credit option. The professional development design included a two day experience, one day in the spring and one day in the fall. During day one, participants were provided with overall information and goals about the grade three water cycle kit. They were introduced to the teacher's manual and kit materials, shown how activities are aligned to Colorado model content standards, conducted some of the activities, and learned how to assess student learning on a continuous basis. They were given some assessments to use with their students before the fall professional development meeting. A second important componen1 for the professional development model was to bring in local water education resources such as speakers and materials specific to the region. This gave the teachers additional content background and contacts for the classroom. During the second (fall) professional development session, participants brought samples of student assessment work which was rated using scoring ~