LEARNThe 4Liters Pop-Up Experience: Los Angeles Middle Schoolers Learn To Love & Conserve Their Water
The 4Liters Pop-Up is a flexible, multi-disciplinary learning experience designed to help middle school students in Los Angeles better understand and protect their local and state water resources.
Are any other organizations collaborating on this proposal?
Girls Athletic Leadership School (G.A.L.S.), LAUSD Beyond The Bell
Please describe your project proposal.
DIGDEEP Water would like to create a temporary exhibit, coined the '4Liters Pop-Up Experience' for a hands-on-learning experience with middle school students in Los Angeles.
The 4Liters Pop-Up Experience includes several interactive displays that will help students explore fundamental concepts about water conservation both locally and beyond their communities.
Which of the LEARN metrics will your proposal impact?
Student education pipeline
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
East LA
San Fernando Valley
County of Los Angeles
LAUSD
Describe in greater detail how your proposal will make LA the best place to LEARN?
In 2010, Xylem (a water technology company) released its Value of Water Index examining American attitudes toward water. The survey revealed that 69% of Americans take clean water completely for granted (“Value of Water Survey.' xyleminc.com. ITT Corporation, 3 Sept. 2010. Web. 6 Aug. 2010.) This lack of concern is easily observable in Los Angeles, where water consumption rose by 8% in 2014, despite an historic drought (Sanders, Sam. 'Despite California's Drought, Taps Still Flowing In LA County.' npr.org. NPR, 20 July 2014. Web. 20 July 2014).
One contributing factor is a lack of experience-based water education for young people. Los Angeles Public Schools have no existing program to give young people hands-on training in fresh water consumption and conservation.
Los Angeles is among the top ten (10) areas at highest risk for water scarcity in the US according to a 2013 study by the Columbia University Water Center (Shi, Daniel, Naresh Devineni, Upmanu Lall, and Edwin Piñero. 'America’s Water Risk: Water Stress and Climate Variability.' GrowingBlue.com. Columbia University, 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 31 Dec. 2009). The city is also a national leader in conservation, technology and entertainment. Taken together, these strengths and weaknesses make Los Angeles an ideal place for innovation in water education.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
We will define and measure the success of this project through the following metrics:
1) Event press coverage (number of outlets that cover the exhibit)
2) Number of students that take water-savings pledge from pop-up experience
3) Number of educators that pledge to run our 4Liters curriculum in their classrooms beyond the experience
4) Surveys that will measure both student and educator feedback
How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed?
Money
Volunteers
Publicity/awareness