Watershed Explorers Program

Watershed Explorers in Benicia recall learning moments from the day.
K.I. Jones Elementary students record their phenological observations about the manzanita at Rockville Hills Regional Park. Photo used with permission by Ron Berkson, K.I. Jones Elementary
Vacaville students hike through grasses at Lagoon Valley Park. Photo used with permission by Joel Rosenbaum, Vacaville Reporter
A Fairfield student tries to identify the macroinvertebrate she just inspected through a microscope. Photo used with permission by Ron Berkson, K.I. Jones Elementary
Students make predictions about the movement of pollution through a storm drain model at Glen Cove Waterfront Park.
Benicia students hike alongside their watershed’s namesake: the Carquinez Strait.

The Watershed Explorers Program runs annually from January through May and includes a pre-trip presentation through our School Water Education Program and a field trip to a local park or outdoor space.

Program Goals

Watershed Explorers uses science and place-based learning to build awareness and understanding of local creeks and watersheds and their unique ecosystems, as well as good stewardship practices to help care for these special places. Using a curriculum based on concepts directly linked to California’s state education standards, the program offers local children - many of whom have little or no experience being in open space settings - a concrete, experiential introduction to their watershed and the life that depends on it.

Watershed Explorers is an introductory program and covers basic ecology concepts and stewardship responsibilities. The primary program goal is to help students develop an awareness of the outdoor, natural world. Program objectives include improving student’s ability to:

Describe the path water takes from source to sink;
Understand the role drought plays in nature and society, and practice ways to conserve water;
Recognize how stormwater influences our watersheds and the impacts of motor oil and trash;
Understand how to mitigate the impacts of their own and their family's behaviors on the local watershed by becoming stewards of our county waterways, including how to implement the "Triple R" reduce, reuse, and recycle messaging.

As part of the program, students also collect data about how plants and animals change across each season (phenology) as part of a global climate change study. Click here to learn more about the phenology data collected by Watershed Explorers.

Standards Connections

Guiding Question

What environmental solutions might help living things affected by drought and/or stormwater pollution?

What Students Do

Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how drought and runoff pollution impacts living things in a watershed.

Next Generation Science Standards

Disciplinary Core Ideas: (3-LS4.D) Populations live in a variety of habitats, and changes in those habitats affect the organisms living there.
Cross Cutting Concepts: Cause and effect, patterns, systems and system models, stability and change.
Scientific and Engineering Practices: Nearly all eight SEP’s are utilized in this program.