SAN DIEGO–Today, San Diego Coastkeeper launched a free curriculum that helps teachers meet state education mandates by teaching kids about the environments unique to San Diego. The curriculum aims to build a new generation of leaders who understand how keeping San Diego’s water healthy leads to clean beaches to play on and a better overall environment and economy.
To ensure that the curriculum reaches students across San Diego County, Water Education For All is available in both English and Spanish and is adaptable for grades K-12, building on the mandatory Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
“Soon, our water’s fate will be out of our hands — our kids will be in charge,” said San Diego Coastkeeper Education Manager Sandra Lebrón at a press conference today in Barrio Logan. Following the press conference, students gathered at The Gilliam Family Community Space and Garden for the first community use of the curriculum. “Water Education for All inspires students to love and respect our water, then gives them the tools to take action,” said Lebrón.
With the help of other local nonprofits, the curriculum has already reached students across the county during a pilot program sponsored by Port of San Diego. After its test run with 326 students yielded impressive results last year, The League of Extraordinary Scientists, a nonprofit that brings hands-on science lessons to San Diego County schools, decided to implement Water Education For All lessons in its programming countywide.
“We saw the Water Education for All lessons lighting up kids’ faces, exciting them about becoming protectors of San Diego’s rivers and ocean,” said League of Extraordinary Scientists CEO Jeane Wong, who participated in the pilot program. “When we saw the teachers inspired, too, we knew we had to make Water Education For All and other conservation lessons, part of our program for classrooms countywide.”
The nonprofit Trash to Paradise also found success with the pilot program when it brought Water Education for All lessons on water pollution and the importance of wetlands to 250 students at Sweetwater High School in National City and 150 more at the community event Chula Vista Harbor Fest in August.
“The best way to teach kids to care is to build difference-making right into the process of learning,” says Lebrón. “Water Education For All empowers kids to start creating real solutions to real problems in their own neighborhood.”
Educators and the public may access San Diego’s Water Education for All curriculum free of charge by visiting www.sdcoastkeeper.org. For more information, contact slebron@sdcoastkeeper.org.
