Ten Day Water Environment Curriculum

How the Program Works

There are three important aspects of the IWEA education program: targeting the specific schools; supplying the guest speakers and the reference materials; and coordinating the financial requirements of the program. Our educational undertaking is designed to be completely self-sufficient; not only do we support the technical aspects of classroom teaching with training aids and guest lecturers, we also assist in raising the necessary funds for each program.

The Ten Day Water Environment Curriculum is suitable for grades 6 through 9. With certain enhancements, this program can be used at the Grade 5 and Grade 10 levels. The two lesson plan guides, Booklet A and Booklet B, provide the teachers detailed technical information, diagrams, definitions, reference materials, and suggested assignments. The IWEA's primary target group is the junior high schools in the State of Illinois. Our ultimate goal is to integrate our curriculum into all of the more than six hundred junior high schools in the State. Other levels and schools will be addressed as the need arises and the program develops.

The basic support philosophy we are utilizing is a "grass roots" approach. We have divided the state into eighteen regions, each of which is coordinated by a local IWEA representative. This approach facilitates the distribution of materials plus provides guest speakers who are locally well known. We are developing regional libraries of classroom materials and a Speaker's Bureau; thus we will be able to fulfill any school's request on a timely basis.

Concurrently, the IWEA has established a fund-raising program, designed to obtain support for targeted schools from local companies, firms, and interested groups. The financial needs have also been subdivided into several categories, so that in many situations, it is envisioned that three or four organizations would support each school.

Our final goal is to ultimately "teach the teachers" who would carry on this program by themselves, especially as the water environment curriculum is repeated year to year. At that stage, the IWEA would provide fewer guest speakers, but would continue to coordinate the plant tours, the distribution of classroom materials, and the financial aspects of the program.

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