Over the past two years, several southern Arizona watershed groups including the Cienega Watershed Partnership, the Gila Watershed Partnership, and the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, have been exploring their watershed connections through a process called a Shared History timeline. Shared History timeline exercises are used to engage many different residents in conversations about the unique development of their watershed over time. 

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The shared history timeline is an impressive visual document that represents a small portion of the many efforts and experiences that have contributed to the current state of the watershed. Participants report that they come away with a feeling of being a part of a community of action. An important part of the exercise is that the shared history timeline doesn’t end at the current date, but extends many years into the future. It asks, what will the watershed look like in ten years, twenty, or fifty years from now?

 

Southwest Decisions Resources has facilitated these Shared History timelines in partnership with the aforementioned watershed groups. However, to date, the voices of youth, teachers and schools have been largely absent from these Shared History exercises. The Cienega Watershed Partnership would like to build on the Shared History work by actively engaging young people in their watersheds.

 

The Process

The Shared History of the Watershed Curriculum Project will occur in two watersheds, Cienega Creek and Altar Valley, that have completed a shared history exercise. A middle or high school class in each watershed will be asked to participate.

 

The Curriculum Coordinator will work with two teachers in each school to help design a curriculum based on the information previously gathered in the shared histories. The Curriculum Coordinator will deliver two in-depth lessons per watershed to serve as a model. Students will be trained to conduct oral histories of local residents and document their own experiences of living in the watershed.

 

The enduring results of this project will be a pilot of a teaching resource about the history and science of the local watersheds that can be refined going forward. No such resource currently exists.

 

As a result of this project, teachers will have a tool to illustrate their social studies and science curricula with local examples. Students will be able to locate themselves not only in the physical space of the watershed, but also as historical participants. By conducting oral histories with local residents, students will gain historical understandings and make personal connections to their neighbors. Through digital storytelling exercises, students will learn to tell their own experiences of living in the watershed. These stories will be added to the timeline: