Using Watersheds as a Framework for Learning

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Originally appears in the Fall 2021 issue.

By Ashley Eaton

A group of students huddles around a model of their watershed. They are discussing what they know about their community, the challenges related to water quality that need to be addressed, and the valuable components that need to be safeguarded. Students share — “I went to the beach once and it was closed because of toxic [cyanobacteria] blooms” — and compare notes — “I really love fishing on the lake and often eat fish from Lake Champlain; do blooms affect the fish?” Among the topics woven through their conversations are key concepts in ecology, geology, public health, economics, and community planning.[1]

Later, they wade into the stream near their school to assess the health of the waterway. They catalog the presence of benthic macroinvertebrates and shout excitedly to one another as they capture new specimens — “This one has pinchers… another one with three tails” — and glean from this collection of tiny organisms an indication of the health of the ecosystem they are exploring. One young person examines a net-spinning caddisfly larva on the underside of a rock; in class they learn about the net this creature spins from silk to collect sustenance carried by the flowing waters. This student is simultaneously spinning their own web of connection to this caddisfly, the stream, the falling leaves, the fish, a mink, their classmates, and their place.^[2]

Since 2002, Lake Champlain Sea Grant has partnered with University of Vermont (UVM) Extension to bring the Watershed Alliance education program to elementary, middle, and high school students in the Lake Champlain basin. Students receive hands-on watershed education in their classrooms, in the classroom at UVM’s Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory, on Lake Champlain aboard the UVM research vessel, as well as in basin tributaries. More than 15,000 students, teachers, and family members have participated in this program since its inception. As a bridge between research and the community, this program aims to connect K–12 teachers and their students with real-world challenges and engage students in hands-on field science and stewardship to improve water quality in the Lake Champlain basin, which is located in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, spanning Vermont, New York, and Québec.