Watershed Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) is an international network that seeks to bring students, teachers, and communities in the world closer together through the bond of studying and improving our river systems. The network is an expanding global communication system that invites participants to analyze watershed usage, monitor the quality and quantity of river water, reflect on ways that land and water usage and cultural perceptions influence river systems, and present their findings and recommendations to appropriate governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The pedagogical model that GREEN has been working under is “Action Research and Community Problem Solving (ARCPS).” It is a process that enables students and teachers to participate more fully in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of educational activities aimed at resolving an issue that the learners have identified. Some of the cornerstones of the instructional approaches are watershed analysis, experiential learning, interdisciplinary orientation, integrated problem solving, action-taking, and the support of networks. GREEN encourages classrooms to consider a cross-cultural component to their watershed education program in an effort to further global citizenship by linking students, teachers, and community members from different regions of the world.