NOAA will bring thousands of K-12 teachers and students around the country outside for hands-on environmental education opportunities through funding awarded in fiscal year 2015. Eighty-four new and continuing projects benefit from a total of over $7 million in funding for the NOAA Office of Education’s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program.

B-WET is an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, authentic experiential learning focused on K–12 audiences. B-WET funding is provided through competitive grants that promote Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). MWEEs are multi-stage activities that include learning both outdoors and in the classroom, and aim to increase the understanding and stewardship of watersheds and related ocean, coastal, riverine, estuarine, and Great Lakes ecosystems of all participants. NOAA funding is provided for teachers to support student investigation of environmental topics both locally and globally that are of interest to them. Students identify actions to address these issues and understand the value of those actions.

In 2015, funded activities include a cultural and natural history exchange program with the Suquamish Tribe in Washington State, bringing together high school students from different regions in the Pacific Rim to share common ideas, values, and traditional ways of knowing. In the Gulf of Mexico, funds support a project that teaches teachers and students how marine debris affects our marine environment. With an interactive website entitled Watershed Experience Tracker, and through waterway cleanup initiatives, teachers and students will learn how the choices we all make can have a substantial impact on neighboring communities and habitats, including marine environments. In California, student mentoring teams including STEM professionals will engage in the STEM disciplines and actively participate in Santa Barbara Channel research by assembling and collecting data with marine remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in order to implement long-term monitoring protocols, analyze historical data-sets, and construct scientific reports and outreach projects.

“B-WET-funded professional development enhances teachers’ skill and confidence in using environmental education to address multiple subjects’ curriculum standards and local education agency initiatives,” said Louisa Koch, Director of Education at NOAA. "Teachers and education professionals involved with the B-WET program are equipped with information they can share with their students and communities for years."

The MWEE approach is based on research literature, evaluation results and lessons learned over a decade of program implementation. The B-WET national evaluation system, which began data collection in 2014, enables the program to monitor and adjust program activities as a result of new information about best practices, and to support grantees in implementing those practices.

B-WET currently serves seven areas of the country: California, Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. Awards in the Great Lakes region are made possible by funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

New 2015 B-WET projects, by region, are:

Please Note: Award amounts listed are amount provided in fiscal year 2015 only and may not reflect the full amount of the award over all years.

FY15 continuing awards:

In addition to the awards listed above, B-WET provided fiscal year 2015 funding to support the following continuing projects:

California

• California State University Channel Islands, CA
• Friends of the Petaluma River, CA
• Cycles of Change, CA
• Turtle Island Restoration Network, CA
• Sonoma County Water Agency, CA
• Elkhorn Slough Foundation, CA
• One Cool Earth, CA
• Watsonville Wetlands Watch, CA
• Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, CA
• Earth Team, CA

Chesapeake Bay

• Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, VA
• Virginia Resource Use Education Council, VA
• Ocean Discovery Institute, VA
• Chesapeake Bay Foundation , Regional
• Morgan State University, MD
• Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, PA
• Worcester County Public Schools, MD
• Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education, MD
• National Audubon Society - Pickering Creek, MD
• University of MD Center for Environmental Science - Appalachian Lab, MD
• Washington College, MD
• National Audubon Society, Inc., PA
• Old Dominion University Research Foundation, VA
• Mary Baldwin College, VA
• James River Association, VA
• Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., VA

New England

• Save the Bay Inc., RI
• Gloucester Maritime Heritage, MA
• University of Rhode Island, RI
• Education Connection, CT
• University of Maine System, ME
• Sturgis Charter Public School, MA

No new fiscal year 2015 awards were made in the Great Lakes due to availability of funds, though a 2016 competition is anticipated.

For more details about B-WET awards, please visit the regional program websites.

These B-WET grants will reach an estimated 66,000 students and 2,000 teachers this year. New awards are from one to three years in duration and range in value from $20,000 to $150,000. Grantees were selected through a rigorous peer review process administered by a NOAA program office in their region. All B-WET applicants are encouraged to partner with local NOAA offices, and/or utilize local NOAA field sites and data where appropriate.