This three-year project, entitled Watershed Worlds:Global Views/Regional Perspectives, uses the study of a watershed as a way to look at the global environment. Using science and mathematics as information gathering tools, teachers and students in several watersheds throughout the country will be investigating the human impact on their regional environment. The program uses hands-on experiments utilizing state of-the-art computer, scientific instrumentation and multimedia technologies. This project is sponsored by the Thames Science Center in New London, Connecticut where staff scientists, engineers and computer specialists will work with elementary, middle and high school teachers from throughout the country in a five week summer workshop each year involving 15 teachers. The project will be developed and disseminated over the three year period and will involve 495 teachers and their students in grade 6-10 at 65 pilot sites throughout the nation. By the third year of the project more that 1500 teachers will have been involved. The first section of the Watershed Worlds' curriculum, Earth, Air and Water, examines chemical and physical phenomena including empirical studies on the relationships between air movements, precipitation volume and water chemistry. The three subsequent sections, In the Current, Still Waters and Changing Tides, focus on the applications of this knowledge through the study of specific habitats within a watershed. These sections cover identification, distribution and physiology of flora and fauna in these regions and show how they are influenced by the physical and chemical environment. The curriculum is enhanced by investigatory kits which include sampling equipment supported by a data base and a multimedia program which help to analyze the water quality and biodiversity of the watershed. The National Science Foundation is supporting the project in the amount of $615,736 which is being matched by $39,824 or about a 6% match.
