Discovering the Aquatic Environment: From Streams to the Chesapeake Bay and Its Watershed


Scott A. Sinex
Prince George's Community College

The Environmental Science Institute (ESI) for elementary teachers is a partnership between the Prince George's County Public Schools, Prince George's Community College, and the Alice Ferguson Foundation's Hard Bargain Farm.

This is an introduction to the aquatic environment and surrounding watershed specific to Prince George's County in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Start your journey by doing a Chesapeake Bay glyph, an activity developed by the 1997 ESI participants.  Click here to get the instructions as a pdf file.

PowerPoint Topics (XP required for animations) below:

Watersheds Water Quality Sediments Wastewater Sea Level Rise

Activites in pdf format and a data file in Excel:

The Watershed Approach Stream in your Backyard Urban Watersheds Jack Bay Temperature Data (Excel file)

Links to great sources of information and data:

Prince George's County Dept. Environmental Resources Chesapeake Bay Program Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) Hard Bargain Farm Chesapeake Bay Observing System
(real-time data)
Bridge - Ocean Sciences Teacher Resource Center RiverWeb Simulator
(advanced)		 Bridging the Watershed Maryland Sea Grant Education Water Quality Data from MD DNR

Free downloads of software and resource guides:

PowerPoint XP and Excel Viewers Excel Guide PowerPoint XP Guide

Professional groups for teachers:

Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Educators (MAEOE) Mid-Atlantic Marine Educators Association (MAMEA) Maryland Association of Science Teachers (MAST)

Interested in teaching - contact Pat Basili at PGCC Department of Education.

6/2003