Live plants and animals have long been valuable teaching tools, but now they're teaching environmental stewardship, too, as teachers and students learn that cute classroom pets can become a invasive marauders if set loose in the wild.

(STONE SOUP © 2013 Jan Eliot. Used courtesy of the creator and Universal Uclick. All rights reserved.)

WISE offers teacher trainings, a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)-based curriculum and ongoing teacher engagement in a community for learning and teaching about emerging watershed issues. Since starting in 2007, the program has trained more than 70 teachers, reaching more than 4,500 students who have completed more than 50 stewardship projects.

Join the WISE Community

We welcome teachers, scientists, citizens, practitioners and anyone interested to join the WISE Community! Please join our e-mail listserv, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our blog to learn about interesting and important topics, and share your expertise.

Designed to engage students in science learning and community action, the WISE program has developed tools to encourage teachers and their classes to develop and share their own lessons and projects with each other. Materials include:

Lessons and Curricula

  • Aquatic Invasive Species: Menace to the West - a set of fun, challenging and inspiring lessons and activities that build STEAM knowledge and skills.
  • Tsunami STEM Curriculum - This curriculum uses Ocean Science Systems as pathways to stimulate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning to guide students in decision making.

Stewardship Projects

Students and teachers have created a great variety of projects ranging from watershed restoration to awareness campaigns. Check out our blog to view many cool projects as well as interesting articles about emerging water issues and invasive species.

Identification Guides

Additional Resources