Listening to the River – Final Evaluation Report

Listening to the River (LTTR) is a watershed science education project funded by the National Science Foundation. Its aims are to deliver education experiences in the local area, Traverse City, Michigan, and also to develop a model that could be replicated in other locations. Inverness Research was contracted by the Listening to the River project to conduct both formative and summative evaluations. Our work began in 2005 when the project received a planning grant, and continued through the life of the project. Primarily through interviews and product reviews, along with some direct program observations, we produced several memoranda which we shared with the core project team to provide formative feedback. In this summative report we examine core features of the project's model and its potential for replicability. Our purposes are to provide the funder, NSF, with lessons learned from their investment and also to provide others who are interested in watershed-based science education with our independent perspective on the LTTR model.