Educating the Community

Overview
Following background study and completion of an experimental design (see Special #2) to understand the costly effects of invasive, exotic plants, students create computer generated visual materials - Books, Web Pages, Posters - that inform and educate about this ecological issue. Students display and describe their investigative results to peers, younger children, and elders at several forums and special events.

For more about Special #3 from
Pay Attention to our Earth!
e-mail Gabriell DeBear Paye, author and AT&T Teacher Disseminator.
Learning Standards
  • Make effective presentations.
  • Use focused, coherent and well organized writing.
  • Use proper technologies to present information effectively.
  • Communicate observation results through models, illustrations, narratives and oral presentations.
  • Employ arts to communicate beliefs.
  • Classroom Activities
    Using field notes, data from experimental designs, and samples of seeds and cuttings, students draw or photograph invasive as well as native plant species. They collect information about these species and organize the images and text into meaningful products. These include computer generated

    posters, web pages, digital slide shows, and/or books that describe invasive plants and tell:
  • Why they are a problem.
  • What can be done about them.
  • How to encourage native and rare species.
  • Community Activities
    Students share products with:
  • E-pals through an Internet web page
  • Kids at learning festivals and science fairs
  • Local newspaper, senior center, and library
  • Careers
    Students learn about Biological Illustrators and Photographers who help people understand the natural world and living things through accurate and informative images.
    Materials
    Invasive Plants edited by John Randall and Janet Marinelli, 1996: Brooklyn Botanical Garden; The Art of Botanical Illustration: An Illustrated History by Wilfred Blunt, 1994: Dover Publications; art supplies, seeds and plants specimens
    Technology
    Students use scanner, computer, digital camera and photo enhancing (Adobe Photoshop), web authoring (ClarisHomepage) software to create a Web Page for their products.
    Assessment
    Student products are evaluated on:
    1. Quality of photographs and/or drawings.
    2. Information accuracy.
    3. Textual accuracy.
    4. Neatness and attractiveness of product.
    5. Presentation skills.

    Web Sites
    Students continue to research at: http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/worst.html and http://www.invasivespecies.gov/