D20 – Promoting STEM Education on Watersheds and Stormwater in Massachusetts (MADEP & CMRSWC)

Project Description Project Report Executive Summary Video Report

Project Description

A previous IQP group created a watershed curriculum about the effects of stormwater pollution and how to reduce it. For this IQP, our team was tasked with figuring out the next step our sponsors should take in getting the curriculum implemented into school systems, as well as with providing suggestions on how to help teachers get familiar and comfortable with the curriculum.

Project goal and objectives

The goal of this project was to encourage teachers to adopt the watershed education curriculum so that it can be more widely incorporated into educational programs by the teachers. More specifically, we gave recommendations for a professional development programs to support teachers in their efforts to incorporate this curriculum. In order to achieve our goals, we created the following objectives:

  1. Gain an understanding of the requirements for teachers to integrate a new curriculum program 
  2. Find out what teachers want from a watershed curriculum
  3. Create guidelines for a development program that helps teachers learn how to incorporate the new curriculum into the classroom

Team and Advisor

Team:

Will DiCroce, Kahleb Downing, Jake Needleman, Jonathan Shiery

 

Advisor:

Paul Mathisen

Project Sponsor

Central Massachusetts Regional Stormwater Coalition (CMRSWC), Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)

Project Deliverables

  • Report with recommendations for the curriculum
  • An example presentation of the curriculum’s first lesson
  • A tested survey to be conducted at the Mass STEM Hub by our sponsors