Environmental Education Goes Local
Students who live in Great Lakes states or near an ocean coast may know about the importance of those natural resources from school, but many have never had the chance to experience that particular ecosystem up close. To help them connect the theory of what they learn in class with hands-on experiences that bring them closer to their local natural areas, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created the Bay Watershed Education & Training (B-WET) program in 2002.
B-WET is an environmental education program, funded by NOAA’s Office of Education, that promotes locally relevant learning through hands-on experiences for K-12 students. B-WET programs currently exist in seven regions: California, the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, New England, and the Pacific Northwest.