River Science & River Leadership

The River Stewards discussed River Science, during the mini-course on Friday October 13th, and how it relates to the River Leadership Curriculum being developed by the Rivers Institute. Joined by a "teaching team", including Jeff Kavanaugh (Biology faculty), Mike Eckberg (Community Partner - MCD), and Liz Whalen (Biology student), the students evaluated the importance of understanding the science of rivers despite your academic major.

Below are a couple of the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) that were brought up at our Saturday brainstorm session a couple weeks ago. We thought about these (and others) as we listened to the "teaching team" talk about River Science.


1. means to evaluate and participate in scientific conversations within the community (learn the Language)

2. demonstrate knowledge of ecology of river systems (surface and ground)

3. articulate the importance of water as a sustainable resource, water as a system, how to use water, implications of water use

4. demonstrate basic understanding of ecological principles as they relate to river systems

5. Understanding connections between community health and rivers (water quality and availabilty)

These are only a few examples. The entire list is on the website at: http://rivers.udayton.edu/notes.htm