Stormwater Management as a Novel Tool for Earth Science Education within a Standards Based Curriculum

Stormwater management has become an issue of increasing concern, as communities nationwide are required to develop stormwater management plans under the Clean Water Act of 1987. Within the six minimum measures required by law is the requirement for public education. At present, this is often completed by a local expert talking to small groups of concerned citizens, or the occasional teacher using one of several demonstration type projects available from a variety of government agencies. While these projects may be technically correct, the pedagogical approach and lack of linkage to a standards-based curriculum limit their use. In this project, we use the New York State Education Department curriculum standards for high school Earth Science and middle school science to develop stormwater related curriculum. The five completed curriculum modules and associated lesson plans provided teachers with the context and technical background to take hydrology and water cycle related topics and make them more relevant to an urban and suburban student population. Additionally, these curriculum modules satisfy Federal and State requirements for public education under the Clean Water Act, and will likely expose more people, directly or indirectly, on an annual basis than current efforts.