Is River City Right For You?

All middle grades (6-9) teachers are invited to participate in the River City Project. Although we traditionally work with science teachers, we have worked with social studies, math, and language arts teachers with much success. As long as schools and teachers that are interested in participating in the study and can meet the six requirements listed below, we are interested in working with them.

1. Teachers need to implement River City with at least 20 students.
2. From start to finish, the project requires approximately 14 to 20 hours (2-4 weeks) to complete.
3. Every student needs a computer (a PC, not a Mac) to work in the River City simulation.
4. Teachers must agree to work on the River City Project with students continuously from start to finish, or at least 4-5 class periods each week, avoiding long vacation breaks (e.g., winter break; spring break).
5. The River City software must work on all the PCs teachers and students will use. There are specific technology requirements for running the River City simulation. Teachers and their technology coordinators must review the documents below and compare them with the resources in their classroom/school.
   • Technology Requirements Checklist lists the requirements for running the simulation.
   • River City Hardware Analysis Document walks users through the steps to determine if a computer can run the simulation.
6. All teachers must attend River City training before they can begin using the River City curriculum. We are using Elluminate, a Web conferencing tool, to deliver this training online in monthly sessions. There is no cost for this training, and we will send additional information after you make sure that River City is a good fit for your program.

Next Steps - How to get the River City software

If you and your school meet the technical and classroom requirements, please email us at rivercity.support@gmail.com with your complete mailing address (with school information including school name and grade level) so we can send you a CD containing the River City software. We will also send instructions on how to install and test the software on your computers, and how teachers can sign up for River City training.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 9980464, 0296001, 0202543, 0310188, and 0532446. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.