Project Summary

CREI, coordinated by WGBY/PBS, taps the Connecticut River watershed, a regional natural resource, for the benefit of teachers and students across the four-state region of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.

With many lessons to be gleaned from studying the river valley, CREI gives teachers the skills and resources to bring these lessons to their classrooms, incorporating subjects ranging from geography, math, and environmental science to history, visual arts and poetry.

Goals:

• Provide students with a “sense of place” in their natural and built community.
• Encourage K-12 educators and their students to utilize the Connecticut River watershed for project-based interdisciplinary learning as part of their classroom curriculum.
• Encourage teachers to harness the power of educational technologies as learning tools.
• Foster civic responsibility.
• Become a model for other watershed education initiatives.

Objectives:

• Build teachers and students knowledge of the geography of the River.
• Produce and disseminate interdisciplinary curriculum units on the Connecticut River Valley.
• Train teachers to incorporate telecommunication technology into their classroom.
• Integrate classroom activities into community service projects.     
• Bring communities together through networking partnerships among students and among teachers.

CREI / www.wgby.org