RiverWays
Beth collaborated (as Ethnologica) with RiverWays, a consortium of local environmental organizations in Philadelphia—Bartram’s Garden, Independence Seaport Museum, Urban Promise, Wooden Boat Factory, Glen Foerd on the Delaware—to evaluate their innovative river stewardship program for youth.
Intended to teach youth about the local watershed, the shared program taught conservation and ecology to ignite stewardship, activism and interest in science. Students from each site visited each other, participated in field trips and led on-the-water excursions to teach boating and safety skills.
She collaborated with the consortium to develop an evaluation framework of shared learning and curricular goals and created participatory data collection tools in collaboration with youth participants. Youth kept photo-diaries and created group presentations to showcase their learning. She facilitated peer interviews and focus groups, walking and boating tours and other tools to measure success. Each year, the shared programming culminated in a celebration and exhibition of student photographs documenting program impacts.