Interagency partnership brings STEM experiences to 21st Century Community Learning Centers

NOAA supports science education for students through a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Education and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

NOAA is excited to be working with the the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation to support a new grant opportunity bringing together two great programs: the NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program and the U.S. Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program. Seventeen projects funded by the Foundation, totaling $500,000, will provide NOAA related STEM environmental education programming to students at 37 U.S. Department of Education 21st CCLC sites in spring and summer 2017.

NOAA staff members joins 2 students in the water to try to grab a sample. NOAA staff holds a net in the water, one student holds a smaller handheld net for scooping, and another student holds a bucket.

Middle school students participating in Project Children as Watersheds Stewards (CAWS) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) of the Science and Discovery Center of Northwest Florida, a project funded by B-WET Gulf of Mexico. (Image credit: Science and Discovery Center of Northwest Florida)

The 21st CCLC program is the largest out-of-school program in the nation, providing academic enrichment opportunities during out-of-school time for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. NOAA B-WET funds locally relevant, authentic experiential STEM learning for K-12 audiences through multi‐stage meaningful watershed educational experiences, or MWEEs, that include learning both outdoors and in the classroom. These new awards allow experienced NOAA B-WET MWEE providers to work with 21st CCLC sites to provide academic enrichment experiences to students and related capacity building to educators, leveraging NOAA resources to increase participants’ understanding and stewardship of watersheds and related ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems.

To learn more about this grants program and the funded projects, please visit NOAA-21stCCLC Watershed STEM Education Partnership Grants Pilot Program.