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As a teacher, outreach educator or project funder, do you know if students or participants actually internalize your program’s core concepts? Do you require all participants to develop critical thinking skills from day one? Are you utilizing local resources to make issues personal and relevant? Do you know how water can be used as a theme to teach state standards and benchmarks not only in science, but also in mathematics, language arts and social studies?
At Experiential EE, LLC we bring high quality water resources outreach directly to teachers, students and the general public. We present hands-on activities that require participants to make connections, learn to reason, and critically reflect. Students learn because they are engaged. Teachers participate because our projects are innovative and closely align with their teaching and professional development goals.
Funders and in-kind sponsors invest in our projects because our unique business model enables us to implement high quality outreach at a reasonable cost. We are one of the few organizations nationwide that is able to demonstrate impact of our programs on student learning.
Classroom Presentations, Puppet Shows, Booth Events
Where does my drinking water come from? How does pollution become part of the water cycle? How do climate change, groundwater pollution and invasive species affect our water resources? What can I do to protect our water? These are the kinds of questions asked by our Education Team during hands-on class presentations, puppet shows and booth events for students in grades 1-12. We carry out approximately 600 in-class presentations each year on behalf of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA). Puppet shows are available to students in grades K-3.
Our educator, Connie Crandall, is featured in and produced all puppet show songs which are available for free download at http://www.abcwua.org/education/educators_puppet.html.
To view a pdf of the current ABCWUA education program, click on this link: http://www.abcwua.org/education/pdfs/2009_2010%20Secondary%20Schools.pdf
To schedule a classroom presentation, puppet show or booth event, visit http://www.abcwua.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=479&Itemid=768
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Children’s Water Festivals
Water comes to life for fourth grade students and teachers who participate in this exciting field trip! Students might “engineer” a process to clean river water for drinking, produce a cloud, become household products that contaminate our wastewater stream, or play a game to learn about the perils and challenges in the life of our native Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout. Our goal is for students to understand what they can do to conserve water and keep source water clean.
Since 2005, we have produced children’s water festivals in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe. Our Festival Team currently produces a two-day event that serves over 1000 Albuquerque area fourth grade students. The event is funded by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, and dozens of organizations also contribute by providing in-kind support in the form of presenters and other volunteers.
For more information about the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Children’s Water Festival, visit http://www.abcwua.org/education/WaterFest.html.
 RiverXchange®
This innovative project is truly one-of-a-kind! We combine a year-long curriculum with class partnerships and social networking technology to engage New Mexico fifth grade students and teachers in the long-term study of water resources issues. In other words, students from New Mexico and another U.S. state or country become “high tech pen pals” to write what they are learning about their own local river ecosystem.All teachers are trained how to use a private wiki website and are provided with the curriculum, lesson plans and a set of water education posters. For New Mexico teachers, we also coordinate guest speakers into the classroom and cover the cost of field trip bus transportation to the local river. All this is provided free of charge to participants. How cool is that?!
The project improves students’ confidence and skills in many areas including:
- Writing
- Communication
- Mathematics
- Science
- Geography
- History
- Computer Technology
Major water resources topics include watershed, nonpoint source pollution, drinking water, wastewater, commercial uses of the river, water rights, and river ecosystem. Students learn about our Big Water Questions such as “Who owns our water” or “How do all living things depend on water”? There are no simple answers to some of these questions! Above all, students learn what they can do to protect local water resources.
RiverXchange® is growing by leaps and bounds! Developed in 2007 by Experiential EE, the project has grown to 45 classes. By 2011, we anticipate participation by at least 60 New Mexico classes.
The RiverXchange® Team coordinates all aspects of the project thanks to generous funding from New Mexico-based agencies, and in-kind contributions from dozens of organizations. Click here to learn more about RiverXchange®.
Teacher Professional Development
Looking for high impact, low/no cost ways to incorporate more hands-on learning into your curriculum while easily meeting standards and benchmarks in science, social studies, language arts, health and math? Learn how to engage and challenge your students with hands-on activities that require critical thinking skills about a major world issue — water!
Experiential EE will work with your agency or organization to produce, coordinate and/or facilitate a workshop for formal and informal educators. We will bring you up to speed about drinking water, wastewater, nonpoint source pollution and river ecosystem issues, and provide you with classroom resources and local contacts.
Water Resources Exhibit
 One way to communicate the importance of major water issues is through a public exhibit. In 2008, the New Mexico Environment Department contracted with Experiential EE to produce a traveling exhibit as part of the Green Expo sustainability project covering the topics of water, waste management/recycling, energy and green building. The result was Water Wonders, a five-panel, interactive exhibit covering worldwide and local water use, water conservation, water pollution, energy and water, and water conservation success stories from New Mexico.
The traveling exhibit has been on display at the New Mexico Expo State Fair Grounds, Las Cruces Fair Grounds, the University of New Mexico, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Albuquerque Main Library. Click on the image (right) to view the exhibit content. To return to this page use your browser back button.
Other Consulting Projects
 Power Couple: The Shocking True Story of Water and Electricity
The biggest water utility and the largest electricity provider in New Mexico -- Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) and Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) – have teamed up to create an educational video about the relationship between water and electricity. Targeting students in grades 6 and higher, the video provides a humorous introduction to an emerging national issue: The Energy-Water Nexus. Viewers learn how the two major resources are linked at every step of the way, and that saving one also saves the other. This is the first educational video on the Energy-Water Nexus topic that targets youth! Experiential EE, LLC provided consultation on initial concept development and marketing.
ABCWUA also created Student Guide/Answers and a curriculum called Water-Energy Connections. To view the Power Couple DVD and supporting materials, click here.
Everything is Connected in a Watershed Poster
The New Mexico State Forestry Division has produced a classroom poster about the interconnectedness of life in a watershed -- and what each of us can do to take better care of small components that affect the larger whole. Experiential EE, LLC provided in-kind consultation on poster text. The poster -- plus lots of watershed-related resources and information -- can be found on the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Health Information Clearinghouse website: All About Watersheds.
Clicking on the poster thumbnails below will take you to larger version of the poster at the allaboutwatersheds.org website.
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