Topic outline

  • Welcome

    • MWEE 201

      Image of students from Howard County, MD sharing the watershed report card results from their MWEE.

      Welcome to the online course series for the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE). We're glad to have you here! This course is the second in a series. If you haven't already taken the MWEE 101 course. We recommend completing it, because it provides a foundational understanding of the Essential Elements, Supporting Practices, and tools associated with planning a MWEE. We will also refer to the work you completed in the MWEE 101 course.

      The purpose of this course is to support school-based education providers (classroom teachers, support staff, and administrators) and field or site-based program providers (for example, non-formal education providers) as they develop a deep understanding of the goals, design, and implementation of the MWEE model for environmental education, student achievement, and stewardship.

      This course is presented through a series of five parts that come together to answer the following Driving Questions:

      • How can the MWEE support environmental literacy, student achievement, and stewardship?
      • What resources and opportunities are available to support MWEE design and implementation?

      Course Objectives:

      • Participants will explore ways to develop interdisciplinary approaches to using the environment as a context for learning in the field and in the classroom.
      • Participants will investigate issues and explore actions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the community, school, and individual levels.
      • Participants will design a new MWEE or update/edit an existing MWEE using resources and opportunities explored.

      To get the most out of this course we recommend you download the Educator's Guide to the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience and the MWEE Planning Tools and Student Worksheets. These resources, along with other resources to help you plan and implement your MWEE, can be found on Bay Backpack. We will reference these resources and fill them out throughout the course. 

      Please send any comments, feedback or questions about this course to Bart Merrick at bart.merrick@noaa.gov.

      Estimated Time to Complete the Course (including the creation of an ELM): 10-15 hours

      After completing this course, you will see instructions on how to receive your certificate of completion and credits for Maryland (1 CPD), Delaware, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania (12 ACT 48). Depending on your state and local guidelines, you may be able to use the certificate of completion (15 clock hours) to apply for credits in other states. It may take up to 2 weeks for your coursework to be reviewed and for you to receive your certificate.

  • Are you assigning MWEE 201 with your workshop, training or college course?

    Workshop, Training, or Course Instructors: We require instructors to review their participant's work in this course. Please contact Bart Merrick at bart.merrick@noaa.gov to learn how.

    • Prepare for Instructions!

      Cartoon of a student pushing hard on a door when it says to "pull"

      You are about to dive into some instructions. We are always working on improving these instructions and making them as easy to follow as possible. Yes, there are a couple steps to follow and they are all necessary! 

      All these steps allow us to keep this course self-paced with a rolling enrollment. These instructions are to ensure your progress in this course and your submitted reflections are saved and, we are notified if and when you want your Environmental Literacy Model (ELM) and your work in this course reviewed to receive a Certificate of Completion.

      To make sure you don't become this student (pictured) - send any questions about taking this course to Bart Merrick at bart.merrick@noaa.gov.

      • Start Here!

        To receive a Certificate of Completion for credits and save your progress and lesson reflections, (1) create an account in Chesapeake Exploration and (2) enroll in MWEE 201.

        Learn how by watching the videos. Click the expansion button within each video to watch it full screen; there is no sound. You can review the video transcripts and slides from the videos at your own pace by clicking into each video's page.

      • Pre-Assessment

        To access the MWEE 201 Lessons, you must first complete this Pre-Assessment.

        The pre-assessment only appears if you are currently logged into your Chesapeake Exploration account and enrolled in this course.

        MWEE 201 should be taken after MWEE 101. MWEE 101 introduces the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience framework. In MWEE 101 you learned the MWEE approach to environmental literacy programming and how this approach supports education standards, student learning and stewardship outcomes and the different roles students and educators play to make a MWEE successful.

        Success in MWEE 201 requires this background knowledge. Whether you just completed MWEE 101 or did so a while back please complete this pre-assessment to ensure your readiness for the MWEE 201 course. If you struggle to get the correct answers in the pre-assessment, consider taking MWEE 101 before starting MWEE 201. During MWEE 201 you will be designing or updating a MWEE program using the Environmental Literacy Model (ELM).

        The 5 Parts to MWEE 201 will appear after you complete this pre-assessment.