Water Ways

Outdoor Education for Urban and Rural Youth
Recently it has become apparent that fewer children have a connection with the natural world including the nation’s water resources. Many are growing up in cities where they are disconnected from green space and primarily experience an indoor environment due to such factors such as the prevalence of crime, and a general lack of interest in the world they have not yet come to know.

As future decision makers, it is vital to re-establish a connection between youth, the environment, and our water supply. The Water Ways program will provide this opportunity and develop in youth an understanding of the role of water in their lives. As they experience and learn, youth will become more aware of the importance of groundwater and how groundwater and related natural resources need their appreciation and protection.

Objectives
Water Ways will communicate the important role that water plays in nourishing our lives by:

• Providing youth the opportunity to experience a day on a farm, ranch, park, or other location that will incorporate inquiry-based, student-driven, hands-on water education activities
• Educating both urban and rural youth on wise land-use practices, water conservation, and appreciation for the environment
• Connecting youth to water through humanities like storytelling, language, history, culture, and the arts

Water Ways Archive
Learn from the students by exploring this compilation of artwork, stories, poems, and songs generated by and/or experienced by the students who participate in the Water Ways program.

• I Am The Essential Piece: Earth Day 2008 at Fontenelle Forest Nature Center, Bellevue, NE. Children of all ages decorated over-sized puzzle pieces with images and words of things they can do to protect the environment.
• Water Quote Interpretations: Quotes from famous people in history are illustrated and interpreted by middle school students who attended Outdoor Adventures in H2O day camp in Lincoln, NE.
• "I Am Water" version 1 and "I Am Water" version 2: A story illustrated by children between the ages of 2 and 4 years old who attended the Earth Works Summer Camp at Prairie Hill Learning Center in Roca, NE.
• Water Quote Interpretation 2: Quotes from famous people in history are illustrated and interpreted by upper elementary students the Earth Works summer camp at Prairie Hill Learning Center in Roca, NE.
• Posters and Brain Webs: Posters made by middle school students who participated in the Outdoor Adventures in H2O summer day camp in Lincoln, NE, and brain webs illustrating what they learned about water during the week.

Child-Nature Connection
This project is inspired by Richard Louv and the growing movement to fight against "nature deficit disorder." Learn more.

For more information about the Water Ways project contact The Groundwater Foundation by calling 1-800-858-4844 or email info@groundwater.org. 

 

This project is funded by Valmont Industries, Inc., The Nebraska Humanities Council, Rogers Foundation, and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. Additional support is provided by Duncan Family Trust and Woollam Foundation.

Water Ways Project Partners
Arbor Day Farm
Bright Lights Summer Enrichment
Bureau of Reclamation - Nebraska/Kansas Office
Doane College
Duncan Family Trust
Fontenelle Forest Nature Center
Gifford Farm Education Service Unit #3
Healthy Families Play Outside
Kids Are For Keeps
Lincoln Public Schools
National Arbor Day Foundation
Nebraska Farm Bureau
Nebraska Humanities Council
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Nebraska Public Power District
Nebraska Resource Conservation and Development
Prairie Hill Learning Center
Rogers Foundation
Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center
University of Nebraska - Environmental Studies
University of Nebraska - Extension
Valmont Industries, Inc
Woollam Foundation