Renew America Success Stories

Rivers Curriculum Project

Description

The Rivers Curriculum Project introduces into high school curricula an engaging program of studying local rivers as a way to improve environmental stewardship while teaching chemistry, biology, geology, geography, mathematics and language arts.

Founded in 1990 by Robert Williams, a science education professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, the Project brings teachers together for two-day workshops or week-long summer sessions to learn the six-unit curricula. At the workshops new teachers interact with participants from the existing network of 500 Rivers Project schools.

A central component of the Project's curricula is to train students to monitor the quality of their local rivers. The data collected by students is then sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion in a growing water quality database. The goal of the project is to put together a comprehensive picture of the health of the country's rivers while demonstrating to students that their environmental concerns count.

The multi-dimensional nature of the curricula means that students do far more than just test the quality of their local rivers. Social studies teachers and their classes evaluate the cultural and historical impact of the river, geology and geography teachers explain the physical features and organization of the river system, math teachers provide the quantitative skills necessary to gather and evaluate data, and English teachers ask their students to write about their involvement in the project.

Most schools adopt a certain location on the river and return there regularly, where they progress through the curriculum and clean up their part of the river. "If you get enough kids together, you can get a lot done if there is a common goal.  It makes the future look kind of nice," said Chris Schmidgall, student at East Peoria High School.

Each year the project convenes a Rivers Project Congress, where students gather to share data, stories and experiences. The Third Illinois Rivers Project Congress attracted none other than Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, who voiced his support for the project.

"Together we are going to preserve the environment for future generations...so that Illinois will always be a place we can call home," said Edgar.

Williams, the project's founder, brings the message of the project home: "My kids will never cross another river the rest of their lives and not look down and wonder if this river is all right," he said.

Program Highlights

Project Goals

• To increase students' knowledge and understanding of rivers as a natural resource.
• To prepare students with the necessary skills to properly investigate and report relevant information regarding the river.
• To cause students to take action in order to resolve problems that contribute to the overall deterioration of the beauty and natural function of the river.

• Student Congress. Students gather to share their experiences participating in the project. Topics of discussion and presentations range from the scientific (water quality data) to historic (slide presentation of local history) to the creative (music and puppet shows).
• Water Quality Monitoring
• Water sampling. Students are taught to perform nine tests, including concentration of dissolved oxygen, presence of fecal coliform, degree of pH, temperature and presence of phosphates and nitrates. Uniformity in testing procedures is stressed.
• Zebra mussel monitoring. The introduction to the zebra mussel into the midwest's waterways has raised concerns about the potential effects on water quality. To help evaluate the mussel's impact, each participating school will receive two monitoring devices to measure local water quality. The data will be transmitted to the Environmental Management Technical Center (a division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
• Publications
• River Watchers Log (newsletter)
• Meanderings (collection of student and teacher writings)

• Kate Borgelt, a high school student from Hasting Senior High School, designed a billboard that was displayed to promote support for the Mississippi River Project.
• Derrick Jones and Brian Clark, students at Ursuline Academy in Springfield, Illinois, designed, illustrated and wrote a travel brochure highlighting the ecological, scenic and economic value of the Sangamon River.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Rivers Curriculum Project exists through the support and partnership of numerous individuals, agencies, foundations and corporations including the Alliance for Environmental Education, American Rivers, the Clean Water Foundation, Friends of the Chicago River, Illinois Department of Conservation, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Science Foundation, Caterpillar Inc., IBM and Illinois Bell. A complete list of partners and supporters is available from the project.

Budget: In review.

Community Served: Students at more than 500 participating schools, including inner-city Chicago schools, private schools, rural and city schools and small and large schools.

Measures of Success:

The project began in 1990 with eight schools. More than 500 schools are now members of the project.

Nearly 600 teachers have attended the summer training sessions and more than 700 teachers from 40 states have attended the two-day workshops.

A collection of writings by students and teachers who participate in the project, called Meanderings, is published regularly.

Since 1991, the project has won 19 awards, including awards from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project is also the recipient of the President's Environmental Youth Award.

Numerous newspaper articles detailing the project's efforts in various states have been written.

 Published: May 1997

Success stories designed by Mark W. Nowak

Back to Top