MSELA Conference

This year’s MSELA conference will focus on leadership for science education, integrating science and engineering practices into K-12 instruction, meeting the new science standards, and more. It will be held at the Courtyard Marriott in Marlborough, MA.

Friday, October 20

Teaching Environmental Sustainability: Model My Watershed

Carolyn Staudt

8:00 – 9:15 AM, Marlborough Salon E

Model My Watershed is a visually engaging, free, web-based application designed for the continental United States. The free online curriculum invites students to explore and evaluate the condition of their local watershed using real-data and a scientifically valid watershed model. Meaningful learning about our changing Earth requires a pedagogy that provides opportunities for learners to explore their role as planetary engineers in an authentic way. Improving watershed instruction is not as simple as merely implementing compelling scenarios into the learning process. Designing effective instruction must enhance students’ current understanding of water. Model My Watershed is based on the premise that this barrier between students’ conceptual understanding of watershed content and their real world actions can be bridged by the enactment of a curriculum that teaches watershed content using real data, scientific models, and focuses on local places like their own neighborhood. Students address many NGSS Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Disciplinary Core Ideas and Practices and Crosscutting Concepts of Patterns and Systems when they interact with computational models and engage in discourse around their findings using scientific language and argumentation while studying the Life Sciences.