Project Detail

Great Lakes Earth Partnership

Purpose

In the Lake Superior, Green Bay and Milwaukee River basins, teams of teachers, students, resource personnel and citizens will engage in research, restoration and outreach, and adapt Earth Partnership curricula to extend the schoolyard to the shores of the Great Lakes and their watersheds. This pilot will combine with other Great Lakes education programs to create a comprehensive, inquiry and restoration-based approach, integrated with sustainability, biodiversity, pollution prevention, environmental literacy and service learning. The Second Phase will include basins in IL, IN, MI, OH and NY.

Objective

Great Lakes Earth Partnership will employ ecological restoration of native plant communities on schoolyards, in rain gardens and nearby shoreline, wetland, riparian and estuarine habitats as a basis for a) interdisciplinary K-16 curriculum activities, b) professional development of teachers and c) citizen science resulting in greater applied environmental literacy, outreach and action in Great Lakes schools and communities.

Outcome

The Great Lakes Earth Partnership will: 1.Provide professional development for teams of teachers, community educators, natural resource professionals and citizens that, in turn, provide training for school teams to establish Great lakes Restoration-based curricula in at least 72 school districts by 2013. 2.Adapt EPS activities to riparian and shoreline habitats to extend the schoolyard to the shores of the Great Lakes; align EPS with existing curricula from other programs to create a more comprehensive, restoration-based approach, integrated with state standards across subject areas. Consult with other Great Lakes education providers to coordinate efforts. 3.Develop new models and tools for students to collect and organize data about rain garden effectiveness in capturing and infiltrating water in demonstration gardens and on a landscape scale, and use data in models to predict and track change over time. 4.Develop community outreach and Service Learning projects using existing EPS Stormwater and Rain Garden Curricula, in which students take action to restore native habitat. These projects will relate behaviors to lake water quality impacts and promote understanding of the risks to Great Lakes ecosystem health -- one schoolyard, neighborhood or watershed at a time.

Project Type

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Project Sub Type

Accountability, Monitoring, Collaboration, Education, Partnership

Project ID

GLRI_00E00440-0

Year Started

2010

Status

Active

Reports and Documents

Great Lakes Earth Partnership GLRI proposal, Bauer-Armstrong