One of the most important parts of Chesapeake Bay restoration is teaching the public about the Bay and its local waterways. Bay Program partners work to educate and engage residents through formal curriculum-based learned and informal programs at parks and other sites.
Chesapeake Bay educational opportunities provide people of all ages with rich natural, cultural, historical and recreational experiences across the Bay watershed.
Formal Chesapeake Bay education takes place through schools. Bay Program partners are coordinating the effort to support, provide and improve curriculum-based environmental education programming (both class and field experiences) in elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Bay watershed.
Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) are a critical part of formal Bay education. Each student in the Bay watershed is expected to complete a meaningful Bay or stream outdoor experience before he or she graduates from high school. MWEEs are in-depth investigations and analyses of ecological concepts, environmental interrelationships and human implications. These studies help heighten understanding of Bay-related issues.
Informal education opportunities provide Bay watershed citizens with life-long environmental learning opportunities. Place-based interpretation at Bay Program partner sites— such as Bay Gateways, CBIBS and the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail—provide visitors with first-hand experiences that reveal the meaning of the Bay watershed's many resources by connecting with peoples' personal interests and values.
To promote informal Bay education opportunities, Bay Program partners are:
Manmade wetland replenishes wildlife habitat and mitigates pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
The annual programming initiative will explore issues facing the watershed.
Winter weather won’t stop these after-school educators from getting students outside.
Thirty young people spent the summer building rain gardens. This is their story.
Climb aboard the Fishmobile to learn about the Chesapeake Bay.
Publication date: June 06, 2012 | Type of document: Management Plan | Download: Electronic Version
Managers are making tremendous progress identifying and tackling environmental issues facing the Chesapeake Bay. However, many of the remaining challenges to a healthier ecosystem are complex, diffuse, and directly in the hands of citizens,…
Publication date: November 29, 2005 | Type of document: Agreement | Download: Electronic Version
By this agreement, the Executive Committee members commit themselves to continually work to ensure that students have been exposed to concepts in environmental literacy and have examined strategies to foster their restoration and…
Publication date: January 10, 2005 | Type of document: Policy Memorandum | Download: Electronic Version
The Chesapeake Bay is dependent upon the actions of every citizen in the watershed, both today and in the future. The Bay's future will soon rest in the hands of its youngest citizens. Our students, future Bay leaders, should be armed with…
Publication date: October 22, 2004 | Type of document: Backgrounder | Download: Electronic Version
A Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience, or MWEE, enables students to participate in hands-on environmental learning about the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This experience will serve as the foundation for a rich, lifelong relationship…
Publication date: October 22, 2004 | Type of document: Brochure | Download: Electronic Version
Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) serve as the foundation for a rich, lifelong relationship between students and their Bay.
Publication date: March 08, 2001 | Type of document: Report | Download: Electronic Version
The Chesapeake Bay Program Education Workgroup seeks to define a common set of criteria to help the Bay watershed jurisdictions meet the intent of this Commitment of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. From these criteria, each jurisdiction will…
Publication date: December 08, 1998 | Type of document: Directive | Download: Electronic Version
This directive outlines environmental education commitments by the Bay Program, departments of education and interagency education groups in each jurisdiction. These groups will report annually to the Department of Education, and private…
