
Our acclaimed programs include:
Field Programs—We take students outside to explore the Chesapeake Bay watershed and learn how we can all take action to save the Bay. We offer unique outdoor education experiences—on the water and on land—in some of the region's most inspiring places. (See a field experience in action.)
Teacher Professional Learning—We form lasting relationships with teachers and administrators and support their work to incorporate watershed learning into the classorom through our Chesapeake Classrooms professional development courses, mentor networks, and curriculum resources.
School Leaders Environmental Leadership Program—CBF supports school principals and administrators in environmental stewardship opportunities for their entire school community. Through experience, training, resources, and collegial discussion, school leaders learn how to design a school program that incorporates and benefits the local environment.
Student Leadership—Our Student Leadership Program provides students with opportunities to tackle the watershed issues they care about; improve their planning, teambuilding, and leadership skills; and use their voices to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and its communities.
Find out more about our Education Program and Resources.
Meaningful Watershed Experiences
Integrating state learning standards with explorations of local waterways, our programs provide a "meaningful watershed education experience" as defined by the Chesapeake Bay Program. Programs are supported and created in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the National Geographic Society.
Opportunities include exploration of local wetlands by canoe or a day aboard a traditional watermen's workboat or modern research vessel. In the heart of the Chesapeake, our island centers provide a unique insight into how the livelihoods of watermen are connected to the Bay, offering participants the opportunity to interact with surrounding 300-year-old fishing communities.
CBF's environmental education opportunities link the natural environment and human culture of the Chesapeake. They enable students and teachers to conduct their own research through biological sampling, chemical analysis, and physical measurements. In addition to using critical thinking skills to evaluate the health of the ecological system, participants also gain a unique perspective in the relationship between water quality, fisheries, and economics. Our courses combine many academic disciplines, such as earth science, biology, history, art, English/writing, math, chemistry, civics, economics, government, and responsible citizenship.
Innovative teaching methods and a knowledgeable, enthusiastic education staff have put CBF at the vanguard of the environmental education movement. The result is an exceptionally informed and inspired constituency that values the Bay and its watershed as a living, connected system. Read what people are saying out our education programs.
Video: Washington-Lee High School Students Explore the Bay with CBF
What is it like to go on a CBF education field experience? The Arlington Educational Television Department featured a student field experience on its weekly cable show, "Green Scene." See what we do and hear students, teachers, and CBF educators talk about the program.
Green Scene is filmed and produced by the Arlington Educational Television Department (AETV) in cooperation with the Arlington Public Schools Department of School and Community Relations.
From Our Blog
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Learning for Life
January 19, 2023
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of CBF's award-winning Education programs, we reflect that the first way to get young people to care about the Bay is to let them experience it.
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To the Streams!
October 17, 2022
Baltimore City teachers and students are heading into the city's waterways as part of a new initiative that aims to overcome barriers to environmental education.
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Fall Birding on Island Time
September 13, 2022
CBF Educator Shayla Keller shares her love of birding on the Chesapeake and tips to enjoy the fall migratory season.
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