Educational Philosophy

Our Educational Philosophy includes convening the widest range of policy opinions, experience and case studies to provide course participants with a reality based range of values, policy consequences and implementation challenges. Our curriculum, including the core courses for the certificate and special topics courses and seminars, are constantly evolving as the law, policy and science of watershed management evolve each year. Our faculty members are not only excellent teachers, they are also practitioners actively involved in watershed management and restoration efforts throughout North America.

In addition, six principles of education articulated by David Orr in his book Earth in Mind, are central to our methods. Two of the principles are worth emphasizing in this context of watershed management. First, Orr writes, "all education is environmental education. By what is included or excluded students are taught that they are part of or apart from the natural world. To teach economics for example, without reference to the laws of thermodynamics or ecology is to teach a fundamentally important ecological lesson: that physics and ecology have nothing to do with the economy. It just happens to be dead wrong..." Watershed management is by its very nature interdisciplinary and WMPP instructor's presentations reflect this principle.

Orr also proposes that "the way in which learning occurs is as important as the content of particular courses. Process is important for learning. Courses taught as lecture courses then to induce passivity. Indoor classes create the illusion that learning only occurs inside four walls, isolated from what the students call, without apparent irony, 'the real world'. Reflecting this principle WMPP core courses include a mix of discussion, music, film, lecture presentation, field work, small group exercises, and watershed case studies.