2023 NOAA Hawaii Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

Overview

The NOAA Hawaii Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program is a federal funding opportunity that meets NOAA’s mission of science, service, and stewardship. The Hawaii B-WET program supports a vision of a future where societies and ecosystems are healthy and resilient in the face of sudden or prolonged change. The purpose for this financial assistance is to support our communities by developing well-informed members of society involved in decision-making that positively impacts our coastal, marine, and watershed ecosystems in the Hawaiian Islands. This is a competitive opportunity for grants to assist in the development of new programs, encourage innovative partnerships among environmental education programs, and support geographically targeted programs to advance environmental education efforts that complement national and state school requirements. The Hawaii B-WET program plays a foundational role as an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, experiential learning in the K-12 environment on Priority Content Areas such as Earth science, climate science, and indigenous local knowledge models for all sciences. Funded projects provide Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences for students and professional development for teachers that support regional education and environmental priorities.

The NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program was established in 2002 to create environmentally literate students and teachers through education. Recognizing that an informed community is the key to sustaining the Nation’s watersheds, in addition to both coastal and ocean environments, NOAA has developed B-WET programs in seven regions: California, Chesapeake Bay, Hawaii, Gulf of Mexico, New England, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes. The NOAA Office for Coastal Management - Pacific Islands in Honolulu administers the Hawaii B-WET program on behalf of the NOAA Office of Education and in partnership with the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in Hawaii.

The goal of the Hawaii B-WET program is to support K-12 environmental literacy programs that provide students with Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) in Hawaii’s ahupuaa and related professional development for in-service teachers, administrators, or other educators serving K-12 students. Individuals that have been educated about Earth’s processes and long-term environmental trends can become effective problem solvers, informed future community leaders, and engaged decision-makers charged with managing Hawaii’s limited island resources. Experiential learning techniques, such as those supported by the B-WET program, have been shown to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and math, thus contributing to NOAA’s obligations under the America COMPETES Act.

The MWEE consists of four essential elements that describe “what students do:” (1) Issue
Definition, (2) Outdoor Field Experiences, (3) Synthesis and Conclusions, and (4) Environmental
Action Projects. These elements, together with the supporting practices, create a learnercentered framework that emphasizes the role of the student in actively constructing meaning from the learning experiences. The essential elements are not meant to be linear. In fact, some elements, such as Synthesis and Conclusions, occur repeatedly throughout the MWEE.

The MWEE also includes four supporting practices that describe “what teachers do,” along
with their partners, to ensure successful implementation with students. The supporting
practices are (1) Teacher Facilitation, (2) Learning Integration, (3) Sustained Experiences, and (4) Local Context.

NOAA Priority Content Areas: NOAA has identified three areas of interest for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 projects. Projects must include at least 1 of the 3 Priority Content Areas.

1) Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK): The Hawaii B-WET program seeks applications
for projects that provide opportunities for students and educators to immerse in indigenous,
local, and traditional knowledge (e.g. ecological, social, and historical). These projects will
use ILK as the foundation of program design, structure, content, and implementation.

2) Climate science: The Hawaii B-WET program seeks applications for projects that
incorporate elements of climate science into programming that provide opportunities for
students and educators to understand why climate studies are important and how learning
climate science provides a basis for understanding climate change. 

3) Earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences: The Hawaii B-WET program seeks applications
for projects that provide opportunities for students and educators to engage in exploring and
investigating Earth’s dynamic processes. Projects should reflect a multi-disciplinary
approach in the study of NOAA related sciences and the interaction of different ecosystems
within an island ahupuaa, as well as long-term trends in average environmental conditions to
support appropriate resource management, long-term sustainability, and local economies in
both water-based and terrestrial-based activities.

Eligible funding applicants are K-12 public and independent schools and school systems,
institutions of higher education, commercial and nonprofit organizations, state or local
government agencies, and Indian tribal governments conducting projects in Hawaii (Islands
of Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, Niihau, and/or the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands).

Three informational webinars with the Program Officer will occur on:  
Thursday, November 10, 2022 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.; 
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.; and
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. HST. 

Webinar links and related teleconference information will be sent to interested applicants who sign up for an information session here.