Curb2Creek is a storm water education program sponsored by two partner organizations, the Fairfield Suisun Sewer District and the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, in collaboration with high school environmental science teachers in FSSD’s service area.
High school students progress through four phases of the Curb2Creek curriculum, bringing them closer to realizing change in their community related to the topic of storm water pollution (polluted street runoff that goes to creeks and the ocean untreated).
Teachers devote about one class period a week to Curb2Creek in winter and spring, and link to their environmental science curricula by using C2C concepts and activities to teach or apply related science standards, particularly in Ecology.
Youth voice drives two phases of the curriculum. In both phases, students perform progress checks and peer evaluation to foster a productive and respectful work environment. Students work in groups to design, carry out, evaluate, and present the findings of their own campus research in the School Investigation phase.
Students also work in self-selected groups to design their service learning projects in the Designing Solutions Phase. If time allows for project enactment, students also evaluate and present their work to their peers and teachers. Many student projects aim to raise more community awareness, such as Trash Art Shows, applying storm drain decals, elementary school class visits, and school promotions urging other students to recycle instead of litter.
Students have many ongoing opportunities to consider how their individual actions impact the world and what legacy they want to leave future generations. These changing thoughts are captured by various authentic assessments staggered throughout the curriculum and by a final reflective evaluation.
Curb2Creek serves the needs of its sponsors and the community by targeting the reduction of storm water pollution. Curb2Creek serves the needs of partner teachers by providing a real-world context and material support for conducting inquiry-based ecological studies. Participating students are served by developing the skills necessary to conduct research and to design solutions-oriented projects. These are skills that will transfer to their work in higher education or the workforce. Additionally, students learn how to change their behavior (and that of others) for the greater good.
Curb2Creek acknowledges environmental science teachers Jill Rithmire of Fairfield High School, Jessica Conover of Armijo High School, and Rick McKinney of Armijo High School for their partnership during the 2009-2010 implementation of Curb2Creek.
Additionally, the following UC Davis student staff & interns contributed to the development and classroom facilitation of the 2009-2010 Curb2Creek activities: Natasha Dupre, Rachelle Irby, Melinda Coursen, Jennifer Urrutia, Rachael Klopfenstein, Kristine Der, Sam Jin Choi, Delaney Chapman, and Rafael Rodriguez. |
