15a ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: OWCDP Section - Water Efficiency Grant Request - Colorado Watershed Network - Project Wet
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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UNIVERSITY ~f
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NORTHERN COLORADO
January 25, 2008
Tammie Petrone
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Water Efficiency Grant Program
1313 Sherman St. Room 721
Denver, CO 80203
Dear Ms. Petrone:
It is a great pleasure to support the initiative of the Colorado Project WE"1' and the
Colorado Watershed Networks efforts in seeking a Water Efficiency Urant through the
Colorado Water Conservation Board. The University of Northern Colorado has been
actively involved in environmental education including water education for many years
and we have been most pleased with the positive growth this project has experienced in
the past year. At tJNC we are actively committed to supporting the dissemination of
Project WF,T through pre-service teacher education, facilitator recruitment and training,
and networking with other colleges and universities in Colorado to bring WET to as
many new teachers as possible.
Project WF,T is an important source of water-based education for K-12 educators.
Through this supplemental curriculum teachers are provided with foundational and
comprehensive activities to provide for learning about water as a renewable resource,
issues related to water, and the physical properties of water. For our students at UNC,
those who participate in a WE"1~ workshop will often use this resource to develop water-
based units of study for their own classroom. Project WET is useful not only as an
instructional resource but motivationally to engage students in learning about their
environment; how we impact the environment, and the positive actions individuals can
take to sustain a healthy environment. Teachers who use the Project WET resources in
the classroom find student conceptual understanding of water related concepts are well
developed and often reflect a positive attitude toward learning overall. And, most
significantly, Project WET connects students to the environment that sits right outside
their classroom windows. The more the K-12 students in Colorado know about their
environment the better they will be in making environmental-based decisions and choices
throughout their lifetime.
A key element to the success of maximizing the impact of Project WE'T in K-12
education is connecting with teachers, especially new teachers. Hence, getting Project
WET into teacher education programs is a high priority for UNC. As a result, tJNC has
involved almost all elementary and secondary majors in at least one environmentally
fr~cused supplemental curriculum. Similar efforts exist at Metro State University and it is