Many archipelagoes of Pacific Oceania are undergoing heavy commercial development, especially island nations dependent on tourism for economic stability. The Republic of Palau is one such nation near the Philippines, where coral reefs and mangroves are threatened by increasing stream sedimentation from recent construction of a new highway and nation capital. In May 2003 we took students of a study abroad course to Palau to collaborate with government, educational and non-profit organizations toward a common goal of collecting data for a stream biomonitoring program for that nation. Because many island nations like Palau do not have the fiscal resources or stream research expertise to develop taxonomic monitoring programs, we proposed to develop and test a macroinvertebrate functional feeding group approach for such a program. This approach does not require taxonomic expertise nor extensive field and laboratory commitments, thus making it fiscally feasible and suitable for non-experts, such as students. Students from both nations worked together with local authorities to collect field samples, process them in a lab, analyze the data, write individual reports and present findings at a University symposium. Students were immersed in the process of science being applied for assisting another nation in a movement toward watershed stewardship.