This one day (6-hour) professional development workshop fulfills three goals: To familiarize teachers with the concepts of water use, water supply and water conservation; to engage participants in classroom activities that explore these concepts; and, to focus on information and data that pertain to drought in New Jersey.

Conserve Water! workshops are now being scheduled for 2005. Teachers of grades K - 5 that attend the Conserve Water! elementary workshop will receive a copy of Project WET (Water Education for Teachers). Teachers of grades 6 - 12 that attend the Conserve Water! secondary workshop will receive copies of Project WET and can also receive the Conserve Water Educators' Guide at an additional cost.

Both water-related supplemental curriculum resources (Project WET and the Conserve Water Educators' Guide) were developed and are distributed by The Watercourse, a non-for-profit science and education program based at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. The Watercourse specializes in the development of educational materials on water and water-related management issues and has a goal of building informed leadership in resource decision making. While the Conserve Water Educators' Guide can be purchased directly from the state's Project WET Coordinator, the Project WET guide is only available through Project WET workshop participation. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is a co-sponsor of Project WET in New Jersey.

Conserve Water! workshops can be scheduled as part of in-service or pre-service program experiences and needs or can be hosted by an educational or environmental facility and promoted to the local schools. Cost is minimal and varies between the elementary and secondary workshop versions. The fee for a Project WET Workshop facilitator is $200.00 for the day. The Project WET guide costs $15.00 each and the Conserve Water Educators' Guide costs $20.00 each.

Highlights

• The Conserve Water! workshop differs from the standard Project WET workshop because of the increased emphasis on three concepts - water supply, water use and water conservation. The classroom lessons that are used during the workshop will specifically explore these concepts; and, the data and information resources that are shared will focus on drought in New Jersey.





• The elementary and secondary versions of the workshop will include a presentation on the status of, as well as conditions and restrictions related to, water supply and drought.





• The Project WET and Conserve Water Educators' Guides are both collections of interactive and innovative classroom lessons and projects that focus on water resources and water management topics and issues. Both offer young people the information and tools needed to become responsible stewards of water resources and to later become informed leaders and decision makers within their own communities.





• The Project WET guide is correlated with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and is recognized as a Professional Development Provider by the New Jersey Department of Education. Teachers attending either the 6-hour elementary or secondary Conserve Water! workshop will receive 6 professional development credit hours.