MWEEs Foster Young Bay Stewards
January 2006 -- As the population grows throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, it is increasingly important that local residents understand how their everyday activities are connected to the Bay. Adults typically learn about the Bay and its tributaries through stories in the newspapers and on the local news, but children have an opportunity to learn about the Bay in a much more detailed and comprehensive manner through their classes.
The Bay Program's Executive Council adopted the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) (182 kb) initiative, which promotes Bay stewardship in the classroom. This initiative commits the Bay states and the District of Columbia to incorporating Bay-related lessons and educational experiences into their curriculums to ensure that each student in the watershed participates in a meaningful watershed experience prior to graduation from high school.
What is a MWEE?
A MWEE is an investigative or experimental project that engages a student in thinking critically about the Chesapeake Bay watershed. MWEEs are not intended to be quick, one-day activities; rather, they are extensive projects that allow students to gain a deep understanding of the issue or topic being presented. Students participate in background research, hands-on activities and reflection periods that are appropriate for their ages and grade levels.
How are MWEEs related to Bay restoration?
As is true with anything in life, people take better care of things that are familiar to them; providing students with a strong understanding of the Chesapeake Bay watershed will help to foster within them an appreciation of it. Children are especially important to reach because during the many years ahead, they will be able to make everyday decisions that will help to sustain the environment around them. The small steps that children take, such as recycling their notebook paper, can carry through the rest of their lives, potentially saving many trees, water and electricity costs throughout their lifetimes.
Teaching children the importance of taking care of the environment also impacts their parents because children are able to bring the values they learn in school home with them, where they can teach their parents what they have learned in school. For example, if a child helps to build a schoolyard habitat at school, that child may encourage his or her parents to do something similar in a garden at home.
What are examples of MWEEs?
A successful MWEE includes activities both within and outside of classrooms, oftentimes including full-day field experiences outside of the school. In the classroom, students have learned about the anatomy and physiology of blue crabs by researching the species and examining live blue crabs. Then, they experience the crab habitat firsthand by accomopanying researchers out on boats and trawling for crabs.
Many teachers have worked with their students to build wildlife habitats on the school grounds, strengthening the connection between the students and their environment. These habitats can be used regularly to study environmental topics both in and out of the classroom.
What resources are available for MWEEs?
Teachers can engage students in a variety of activities, which are listed in Chesapeake Academic Resource for Teachers (ChART). ChART is a comprehensive resource that teachers can use to find Bay-related educational activities, lesson plans and field study opportunities for students, as well as professional training opportunities for themselves.
Have Bay Program partners launched any recent initiatives for MWEEs?
In November 2005 at the summit on Bay education, the Executive Council and partners in environmental education signed Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship: A Rich History and a Promising Future, which committed signiatories to continue supporting and expanding MWEEs. At this meeting, National Geographic also presented its new web site, Exploring the Chesapeake: Then and Now. This site provides visitors with the history of the Chesapeake Bay area since Captain John Smith first arrived, including activities for children to discover the Bay, travel guides for families to explore the region and educational resources for K-12 teachers to use with their students.