Burlington, the largest urban area in Vermont, has no water quality or watershed education programs in public schools. At the same time, all surface waters in Burlington (and in most of surrounding Chittenden County) are impaired by stormwater- or runoff-associated bacteria. Overall, teachers prefer to use modules rather than adopt completely new curricula. The Watershed Alliance and LCSG are in the second year of a USEPA-supported Urban Watershed Education project at Edmunds Middle School. We have developed and tested a module based urban watershed and water quality education program. The core program has three components: a) modules of classroom activities that use watershed and water quality concepts to teach a 7-8 science curriculum, b) stream water monitoring of physical condition and water quality, and c) student education activity. The program is currently working with about 80 urban grade 7-8 students and their teacher from one of the most diverse student bodies in the state. For the 2006-07 school year, we are expanding the program to Hunt Middle School and to another 7-8 science class at Edmunds.

For more information on this project, watch the video.