the altamaha initiative: spring 2001
watershed-based curriculum development

Watershed Connections: A Guide to Watershed Activities for Georgia Teachers

Laura Hill, Joel Ball, Erin Dreelin, Hari Gurung.

Watershed-based Curriculum: Project Conceptualization

The Macon-Bibb County school system and Upper Oconee Watershed Network (UOWN) have expressed a need for a watershed-based curriculum. The ultimate goal for our group is to develop a curriculum that integrates watershed concepts into Georgia's Quality Core Curriculum Requirements. We will take the following steps to accomplish our goal:

1. Create an introduction to watersheds and freshwater ecosystems for students and teachers
2. Compile information resources for teachers and students
3. Identify issues for service learning projects

After accomplishing these tasks, we will develop a watershed-based curriculum for middle school students. The curriculum will be designed so that teachers can choose to adopt the entire curriculum or to incorporate parts of it into their existing curricula. We will focus on the Altamaha river basin, but will include information on all the major river basins in Georgia. Our final product will be the curriculum and an information database composed of all the resources we find over the course of the semester. Once the curriculum is completed, we will present it to the Macon-Bibb county teachers and UOWN. We will also create a web site so that the curriculum is available to educators across the state.

Midterm Action Plan and Timeline - March 16, 2001

Our action plan and time line remains unchanged since the start of the semester. Though our actions have become more focused, the time frame and the ultimate goals are the same. Thus far, we have completed a list of links and are ready for it to be published on the web. Additionally, we have focused on certain issues and divided those among us. We will now work to create introductory materials and activities for each of the issues. Then, we will match the activities with specific points in the Georgia Quality Core Curriculum. Finally, we will publish all of our information on the web, speak directly to UOWN and Macon/Bibb County Schools, and have an informational booth at the River Rendezvous.

February 6	Group organizational meeting
February 9	Group presents need statement and project conceptualization
February 9-16	Individuals compile resource list and watershed introduction materials
February 16	Group meeting to share individual resource lists and watershed introduction materials
Feb. 16-Mar. 2	Individuals compile issues list
March 2	Group meeting to share individual issues lists
March 5-9	Spring Break
March 12	Group meeting to review issues lists and divide issues
Mar. 12-Apr. 1	Individuals research issues and work with group to plug into existing Georgia curriculum
April 1	Individuals and group work to put project into final form (web site, presentation, hard copy)
Late April	Presentations

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