Climate Resilience
Nature-based Solutions in the Classroom
Municipal Officials & Professionals
Backyard & Neighborhoods
Land Managers or Stewards
Youth, Parents & Teachers
The Nashua River Watershed Association education department has had a regular presence in classrooms throughout the Nashua River watershed with their popular series of Scientist-in-Residence programs (SIR) for two decades. Throughout school-year 2023- 2024 and 2024- 2025, funding from a Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Action Grant gave over 2,000 third grade students the opportunity to participate in an experiential education lesson on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) designed specifically for them
The program introduced NbS to students as a way to offset problems caused by extreme weather and was a perfect fit for the 3rd Grade Earth Science curriculum. The program’s hands-on activity enables students to “evaluate the merit of a design solution that reduces the damage caused by weather” as specified by the Earth and Human Activity Standard ESS 3-1.
The program begins with an original NRWA video containing local footage that may be familiar to students. The video introduces key vocabulary like atmosphere, weather and climate, and concepts such as the effects of excessive heat and extreme storms, fossil fuels, renewable energy and how we can look to nature to solve human driven problems.
Working in teams, students are given materials that allow them to replicate the effects of excessive rainfall on wetlands and impervious surfaces. The students perform a series of experiments and compare their flooding data. Students then experiment with absorbent materials that simulate the effects of NbS on flooding on the impervious surfaces. At the conclusion of this experiment, students share their findings as a research team. Students are given a fun take-home activity so that they can share their newfound knowledge with their families. The program has been presented in 3rd grade classrooms in Fitchburg, Groton, Leominster, and Pepperell.
“Children are born naturalists; they explore the world with all their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them,”
–The Audubon Nature Preschool
Schedule an In-Classroom Program
To schedule this fun in-classroom program, or other NRWA environmental education lessons, please email the NRWA education team.