Logo courtesy of the Yuba Water Agency

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - Yuba County students can study chemistry through local waterways and learn about flooding through the county's 1986 and 1997 floods under a new K-12 science curriculum developed by local teachers.

Yuba Water Agency introduced its Yuba River Watershed Curriculum as the new school year begins. The free program includes hundreds of lessons from kindergarten through high school centered on the Yuba River watershed and local water issues.

Dozens of Yuba County teachers developed the curriculum, which Yuba Water funded and coordinated. The lessons cover subjects including water chemistry, flooding, erosion, hydraulic mining and human impacts on water systems.

"It's incredible to see this come together after years of hard work by our teachers, and to be able to give this gift to the community," Yuba Water General Manager Willie Whittlesey said.

Teachers began developing the curriculum in 2020 after receiving training on creating lessons that align with Next Generation Science Standards. Working in small groups by grade level, they developed units using local watershed topics to teach science concepts.

Over the following two years, teachers refined the lessons, tested them in their classrooms and made changes based on their experiences.

Yuba Water later contracted with Arroyo Research Services, an education consulting firm, to independently review the curriculum and determine whether the units meet or exceed Next Generation Science Standards.

"One of my favorite things about this project is that year after year, the curriculum will build on itself, so that by the time these kids graduate from high school, they will not only have a really solid science education, but also, a deep appreciation of the Yuba River and the benefits that our natural resources bring to this community," said DeDe Cordell, Yuba Water's communications manager and project manager for the curriculum.

An advisory group overseeing the project included superintendents from all five Yuba County school districts along with representatives from the Yuba County Office of Education, Yuba Community College District, South Yuba River Citizens League and Yuba River Endowment.

The curriculum arrives as Yuba Water reduces some spending following an incident involving its penstock that took much of the agency's hydropower generation offline earlier this year. Whittlesey said the curriculum had already received funding before those financial pressures emerged.

"Given the financial impacts of our penstock incident that took much of our hydropower generation offline earlier this year, we're having to cut back on non-mission critical expenses," Whittlesey said. "But this program was funded before the crisis, so it's especially meaningful to be able to give this gift to the community right now."

The curriculum is available at http://yubawater.org/415/Yuba-River-Watershed-Curriculum. Teachers can access and use the lessons at no cost.