Our Education Mission
To provide education opportunities that develop fundamental skillsets targeted at Colorado’s in-demand water professions.
Our Education Goals
To encourage, inspire, and equip the next generation of water leaders, engineers, and technicians to help solve, protect, and manage our water.
To develop local projects based on community needs where students can gain experience while providing service to their communities.
Our Program - River Science
Our program is a vehicle for STEM education. We utilize our rivers and water resources to teach our programs and provide students hands-on experiences in a high-demand field. Working in the "water world" requires technicians with various backgrounds, training, and expertise. Understanding water in the west is an asset that plays a significant role in diverse career paths. For example, understanding the basics of hydrology, water law, and river functions is fundamental for realtors, local government leaders, and natural resource technicians. Water is essential for everything and therefore requires individuals with unique skillsets in ecology, engineering, geography, law, policy, management, construction, and many more disciplines.
Our Curriculum
We currently offer the following two (2) courses in water resources (click to view a course demonstration)
Introduction to Hydrology
Ecology & Water Quality (Approved CDIP Certification)
River Science built this curriculum with flexibility in mind. Each course provides a complete set of curriculum and lesson planning. Schools can choose to utilize the curriculum as a standalone course in a semester, combined for an entire year, or added as a supplemental curriculum to existing programs (such as biology, environmental sciences, etc.).
Each course provides daily lessons taught by professionals, skill-building activities, research projects, quizzes, exams, and an abundance of additional resources. Upon completing the course, students will have the knowledge and skillsets required to enter the workforce at entry-level or pursue educational career paths associated with hydrology, engineering, policy, law, & management.
Our Pilot Program - CCHS & River Science
Canon City High School (CCHS) and River Science partnered in 2018 to provide Environmental Science's students with data collection skillsets. The early days were field trips to Big Cottonwood Creek, where CCHS students helped collect water quality data to help River Science monitor the post-wildfire impacts on several creeks. These field trips became very popular, and soon CCHS and River Science developed the idea into a whole semester class.
Van Norman Project
Today, the River Science class participates in the Van Norman Project. This project focuses on working with local landowners to restore & rehabilitate a degraded creek just south of Canon City, Colorado. Over the last few years, students have helped collect baseline data of the current degraded conditions of the creek and learned about the stream's degradation and potential restoration. River Science was successfully awarded grant funding from the Colorado Water Conservation Board & Colorado Parks & Wildlife for the restoration aspects of the project. These awards were only made possible through the contributions of CCHS who is providing an in-kind match towards the grant through student involvement. This project and associated partnerships are excellent examples of how to build mutually beneficial projects in local communities. The project serves as the model for the River Science Program and provides a physical demonstration of our goals in action.
A Story Map by one of our past students, Shea Garcia
Our Future
As we keep working toward education and river health, we are working toward providing curriculum on the following two (2) courses - Colorado Water Law and River Engineering and Restoration. With all of this, we hope to provide new education opportunities to rural school districts and find collaborative projects to improve local streams by using our online learning platform coupled with community-driven project development. We believe our Van Norman Project and CCHS partnership serves as a physical demonstration of the River Science Model, which can be transferable to rural communities and school districts across the State.
Introduction to Colorado Water Law, Policy, & Planning
Hydraulic Engineering & River Restoration
Want More Details?
Click the links below for a list of skillsets and a curriculum demonstration.