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The NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program is a competitive grant program that began in 2002 to support a partnership for watershed restoration in the Chesapeake Bay. In the two decades since the B-WET program began, NOAA has awarded more than $117 million to support 929 B-WET projects and expanded to serve seven regions around the country. In 2022, the program celebrated this milestone with the theme "20 years and growing."
As part of its 20th Anniversary, we’re highlighting participant profiles to illustrate just some of the ways the NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program and its Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) framework has impacted organizations and the educators and students they serve. (Image credit: NOAA Education)
The framework for environmental education promoted by the program, the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE), has evolved over this time into a robust learner-centered framework that focuses on investigations into local environmental issues and leads to informed action.
"B-WET began with a splash in 2002,” said Louisa Koch, Director of Education for NOAA. “Since then, we have seen ripples spread and grow in all directions. B-WET and the MWEE have helped shape the field of environmental education. Most importantly, B-WET has enriched the lives of the students, educators, and partners who have been a part of this program."
In the 20 years B-WET has been working around the country, it has been a powerful catalyst for environmental literacy. The B-WET program and the MWEE framework support environmental education, foster student success and interest in learning, and empower students to implement environmental solutions in their own communities. This in turn supports NOAA’s mission of science, service, and stewardship.
B-WET has had a lasting impact on participants.
Explore participant perspectives to learn about the program and how it benefits organizations and the educators and students they serve.
B-WET funding creates opportunities for environmental education, now and in the future.
B-WET reaches thousands of educators and tens of thousands of students every year. The impact of this funding can last long after the grant ends. The MWEE framework and B-WET funding are powerful tools to support states, districts, and their partners to develop high-quality environmental education opportunities for every student, as well as rigorous teacher training opportunities. By building capacity for implementing environmental education throughout entire school systems, B-WET helps schools meet the need for high-quality education through MWEEs. Learn more about B-WET's impacts.
B-WET projects support student success.
The B-WET program embraces the idea that, wherever a student is on their journey, hands-on, inquiry-based environmental education is important to help them succeed. MWEEs provide the opportunity for students to engage in problem-solving situations that place learning in the context of their daily lives. When this sort of relevant, student-centered learning is integrated into the curriculum, students are better equipped to meet academic standards. MWEEs ask students to think critically, solve problems, employ analytical skills and higher-order thinking, and communicate effectively. These skills are also essential to prepare a workforce ready for the innovation and challenges of the 21st century. Find resources B-WET has developed to support MWEE practitioners on the MWEE resources webpage.
B-WET projects are place-based and locally relevant.
By allowing students to lead their own research about local issues they are interested in that impact their schools, neighborhoods, and communities, MWEEs reach beyond textbooks and connect science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects more authentically to the lives of students. This, in turn, increases student interest in learning. Conducting hands-on field investigations and meaningful action related to locally relevant, real-world issues fully engages students as active learners. MWEEs also make space for teachers to foster discussions about environmental justice and the ways local environmental issues may have greater impacts on marginalized community members. Place-based environmental education has the power to help students develop meaningful personal connections to their environment and a sense of personal agency and empowerment. Learn more about how B-WET projects impact local communities with B-WET’s news and stories.
B-WET helps achieve NOAA’s mission of science, service, and stewardship.
Through the process of identifying and exploring environmental issues facing their communities and taking action to address them, students build stewardship skills, a sense of civic responsibility, and help NOAA achieve our mission of science, service and stewardship. NOAA educates and inspires the nation to use science toward improving ocean and coastal stewardship, increasing safety and resilience to environmental hazards, and preparing a future workforce. Understanding and predicting change in our environment is not enough; individuals need to be able to apply this information to support robust economies, resilient communities, and healthy ecosystems. Every B-WET MWEE gives students opportunities to put this into practice in their communities through hands-on environmental action projects around the country.
