Yakima Watershed Activities To Enhance Research in Schools

The Yakima WATERS Project is a National Science Foundation program funded at Central Washington University (CWU) to infuse authentic interdisciplinary watershed research into elementary through high school curriculum in public schools. Under the guidance of a CWU faculty mentor, participating graduate fellows conduct watershed-related research for his/her Masters in Science degree and are teamed with a local K-12 teacher to incorporate a facet of the thesis project into K-12 curriculum. All participating public schools are part of the Yakima River watershed, a tributary of the Columbia River that drains eastward from the crest of the Cascades.

Four participating Central Washington University graduate programs, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geological Sciences, and Resource Management participate in Yakima WATERS. CWU WATERS graduate fellows work closely with partner K-12 teachers to integrate watershed research into local K-12 schools along the Yakima River continuum. The details of each Fellow's research is developed through close work with his/her faculty mentor based on their research expertise and content compatibility with partner K-12 teachers.

Details of each WATERS partnership can be accessed by clicking the map or the links on the left. A brochure of the Yakima WATERS project is available here.

			Funding generously provided by the National Science Foundation GK-12 Program