Why this work?

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System has a proven track record of successfully transferring and translating reserve science to a broad suite of educators through teacher workshops. In recent years, teachers expressed a need for curriculum, data sets, and professional development related to climate change. This grant enabled the New England reserves to develop and offer a series of high-quality teacher workshops focused on the story of climate change impacts on coastal habitats, using a variety of data collected at the reserves. The delivery of new and existing curricula armed over 75 teachers with the tools and confidence they needed to effectively bring the discussion of climate change into the classroom.

About this project

The four national estuarine research reserves in New England worked together to share existing and develop new educational resources for the classroom teachers they worked with.

• New Curriculum: The Waquoit Bay Reserve recently developed a curriculum about blue carbon, “Bringing Wetlands to Market,” which was shared with the three other New England reserves (Wells, Great Bay, and Narragansett Bay). The reserves used a similar process to develop localized teaching modules about climate change impacts.

• Teacher Workshops: A three- or four-day intensive teacher workshop was held at each participating reserve in the summer of 2016. Teachers tested out a suite of new educational resources about climate change and received guidance on how to develop stewardship projects for their students. 

• Application by Other Reserves: Post-workshop evaluations and meetings served as opportunities to discern the successes and challenges associated with the trainings and new curriculum. Revised training and teaching materials were presented and made available to the entire reserve system. 

Project lead and contact

Suzanne Kahn, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Email: [email protected]

To learn more, view the project fact sheet (PDF).