Mission & Philosphy
Mission
Using the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed as the foundation for an immersive, rigorous, and interdisciplinary curriculum, the Chesapeake Watershed Semester is a single-semester, place-based academic program for high school juniors and seniors. The program aims to cultivate reflective and confident students and leaders who can promote regional and global environmental sustainability through their understanding of scientific, social, cultural, and political systems.
Statements of Philosophy
Immersive, Place-Based Learning Experiences
We believe that authentic, first-person experiences are vital to developing understanding and knowledge. The Chesapeake Bay watershed provides the canvas for the curriculum, and the academic disciplines create the lenses through which the human impact on the natural environment is understood. The comprehensive field study program offers students opportunities to engage fully with diverse ecosystems and communities.
Rigorous, Problem-Based Learning
Real-world scenarios offer students opportunities to engage with complex issues. By developing the core skills of primary source evaluation and data analysis, students reflect upon the practical and ethical implications of the issues confronting the Chesapeake Bay region and beyond. Every student completes a capstone action project that reflects their ability to address issues through multiple lenses.
Stakeholder Engagement
In order to fully understand the complexities of restoring the fragile and impaired Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, students engage directly with a broad group of stakeholders, including public officials, university researchers, watermen, farmers, and local historians.
Skills and Competencies
Self-Knowledge
Throughout the program, each student is challenged to pursue personal growth, explore individual intellectual passions, and develop a unique voice. The knowledge of self and others is cultivated on field studies, distilled through reflective practices, and refined during the creation of a capstone project.
Leadership
We believe that leadership is a skill that can be learned by every person and is an outgrowth of self-knowledge. Through experiences during field studies and in the classroom, students develop the deftness, vision, confidence, and sense of responsibility necessary to lead effectively.
Sustainability
We believe that sustainability encompasses three domains: environmental integrity, social equality, and economic vitality. Throughout the program, students grapple with issues of sustainability in their academic classes and in the daily operation of CWS. We strive to model sustainable practices through our actions, purchasing decisions, and partnerships.
Community
Each Chesapeake Watershed Semester forms its own inclusive and collaborative community of learners. Through shared experiences, we come together as a group of individuals who celebrate the aesthetic beauty and ecological complexity of the region. The formation of community is an intentional undertaking and requires ownership of students and faculty. Students practice active listening and learn to facilitate meetings, furthering their leadership skills.
Technology
The use of technology is vital to 21st century teaching and learning. We focus on the appropriate use of technology in our community to further intellectual inquiry. Students use probes and modeling equipment in labs, conduct geospatial analysis, utilize various digital platforms to collaborate with stakeholders, and become proficient researchers of primary and scholarly literature.