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STRAW Model
Background
The Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW) Project is the cornerstone of The Bay Institute’s (TBI’s) Watershed Education Program. STRAW grew out of the work of the Shrimp Project, begun in 1992 by a fourth-grade class at Brookside School in Marin County, California. The class wanted to do something about the problem of endangered species and chose to focus on California freshwater shrimp. The class pioneered methods for students to conduct professional restoration of riparian corridors that provide habitat for the shrimp and other threatened and endangered species, and word spread about the Shrimp Project’s accomplishments. Today STRAW sustains a network of teachers, students, and restoration specialists that plans and implements watershed studies and restoration projects in Marin, Sonoma, Napa, and Solano counties. Its project-based learning approach supports its goals of empowering students, supporting teachers, restoring the environment, and reconnecting communities.
STRAW has engaged more than 25,000 students in over 280 hands-on habitat restorations on rural and urban creeks, restoring creek banks and planting 25,000 native trees, shrubs, and grasses. Each year STRAW trains 75 teachers in watershed studies, and supports classes throughout the school year in the study of birds, aquatic insects, water quality and mapping. An ongoing professional development program for teachers provides training in restoration methodology, investigative watershed studies, and project-oriented pedagogy, building teacher proficiency to deliver meaningful watershed experiences to their students. STRAW provides teachers with resources, materials, and technical support that they can use to integrate watershed content to their instructional programs. Environmental science education is delivered in coordination with other school science curriculum over multiple sessions throughout the school year.
STRAW has been recognized with prestigious awards for its work that include: WildCare’s Terwilliger Environmental Award (2007); the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for outstanding contribution in Children’s Environmental Education (2001); and the Grand Prize in Anheuseur Busch’s “A Pledge and a Promise” national environmental awards program (1993).
The STRAW Model
The STRAW Project uses innovative strategies, sound scientific information, and wide-ranging partnerships to sustain a community-based education network focused on protecting and restoring critical ecosystem functions in North Bay creeks and wetlands. STRAW brings rigorous scientific content into the classroom and provides hands-on restoration activities for students that provide critical thinking and problem solving skills.One of the greatest strengths of STRAW is that the project is about “real work.” Students and teachers, along with STRAW partners are restoring a watershed. This singular focus brings a sense of importance to the project and the work being accomplished. People generally tend to shift into a high level of engagement when they know that their work matters. This imbues participants with a greater sense of commitment to their work and to each other.
STRAW is also a highly regarded community catalyst that brings together students, teachers, ranchers and restoration professionals around shared goals. Students not only participate in restoring a watershed but they see how the work that they do benefits the ranch owners land and recognize that they are helping central members of the community. In addition, ranchers are directly experiencing the benefits of an environmental education program by having the STRAW team come to their land and work with to improve it. Along with long-term improvements to the environment by restoring habitat, the STRAW Project also has had significant long-term positive impacts on the participants and “beneficiaries” of the program. Some of the measurable benefits to program participants include:
· Improvements to ranch owners’ land;
· Career enhancing catalyst for teachers; and
· Empowering and informative experience for young people.
The STRAW Project’s success is based on relationships. STRAW has been able to maintain long-term relationships with teachers many of whom return year after year. Teacher professional development is a very important aspect of what makes the STRAW Project successful. Teachers who participate in the project are invited to existing STRAW teacher professional development events including a three-day teacher training institute, called Watershed Week, held annually in August. Watershed Week attracts between 80 and 100 participants in the STRAW network to study local ecology, learn hands-on methods of scientific inquiry, share ideas about integrating environmental fieldwork and prepare for creek restoration activities in the coming year. The intent of Watershed Week is to provide teachers with core information about environmental challenges and opportunities facing decision makers, resource managers, and the general public in the San Francisco Bay watershed. Teachers are given a broad context of knowledge to inspire their confidence and enthusiasm in environmental science with their students.
Replicable Model
STRAW has been highly successful in providing an experience that is supportive and inspiring to teachers and the needs of their students. The STRAW Project is a management model for other organizations to follow. The leadership of The Bay Institute and the STRAW staff has worked to engender a working environment of respect, trust and mutually shared ownership among staff, partners and participants. The STRAW model can be applied in other locations through mentoring educational communities in our network building methods; through demonstrating the benefits of a hands-on field education program exploring the ecological history and current needs of the damaged ecosystems; and through showing how respectful relationships across stakeholder sectors are the foundation of successful environmental stewardship. STRAW’s unique partnership with the ranching community makes the project a model for innovative work between agriculturalists, educators, government, community partners, and environmental organizations.
A recently completed assessment of STRAW found that: The program has shown itself capable of providing a valuable, life-long educational experience to diverse student and communities, reflecting the increasing diversity of local communities. Further, 100% of the students interviewed in the study reports that they are motivated to continue participating in STRAW or other environmental activities. STRAW has a 16-year history of engaging schools to conduct environmental education and habitat restoration. STRAW thrives in part because we develop relationships with teachers that are sustained over several years through a teacher professional development network. Other programs can use this proven model with teachers, students, and restoration professionals to conduct habitat restoration.
The kids originally involved in the Shrimp Project who are now young adults who state that they feel more involved and able to make a change because of their experiences with the project. By seeing themselves as part of something, people feel more empowered. When they feel this way, everyone around them is in turn empowered and their capabilities keep improving. It changes the way they live their lives. A fourth grade student from STRAW returned as a 20-year-old to engage in the project a second time as an adult. Another example is a college intern from Iowa State who worked with STRAW to learn the model so that she can lead her own stream restoration project in Iowa next year.
STRAW is a proven model, with 18 years of experience and success. It has already inspired others to begin or continue similar projects. For over a decade, STRAW has been linked with the Prairie Project in Blue Mound, Texas. Both STRAW and the Prairie Project provide opportunities for students to restore degraded habitats back to health. Nevertheless, many people, including restorationists, have not considered the possibility of restoration done by students, teachers and other community members together. STRAW offers an important piece of the solution to global climate change and environmental degradation, while inspiring both students and teachers in project-based learning.
What People Say About STRAW
The following quotes appear in the “Valuation of STRAW,”A Project of the Bay Institute,
May 2007, an Independent Evaluation by Pathfinder International Consulting conducted by Catriona MacGregor Glazebrook, J.D., M.S., R.M.A.
The absolute best thing about STRAW is the sense of stewardship that we are fostering. My involvement with STRAW has changed me as a person and as a teacher- Sue Holland, Miller Creek Middle School Science Teacher (participating with STRAW for over 9 years)
I observed the closing circle, and it was clear the students had learned the knowledge in the classroom and were reiterating it in the field. Through their actions of being out there and believing we can make this a better place, the students are modeling this behavior of improving the environment. - Cheri Garamendi, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department
I feel that the restoration was a good way to help the environment in a small way, which makes a difference in a big way. It is something kids like me can do to help the environment. I’ve become more conscious of what is around me, environmentally, and that we need to save the environment. - Will, White Hill School, 7th grade
In our closing circle, we have the kids close their eyes and imagine what it will be like in 15 to 20 years. This helps create a sense of wonder by getting them to visualize what can be there in the future, what animals will be here and how we can continue to enhance the creek. The core factor that gives the program its life is that we have faith in our kids. They can do the work and they can make a difference. We just facilitate the work; they take ownership and feel attached to the creek and plants. – Emily Allen, STRAW Project Staff
