Florida Everglades

Students will also need Internet access, access to a digital camera and scanners.

Subject Area(s): Science reading, writing and technology

Grade Level: 4

Short Description:

This UOP is designed to give students background information about the Florida Everglades and why this precious National Park and itsÕ inhabitants are endangered.

Approximate Time Required: One month

Procedure for conducting this activity:

Gain Attention:

Students participate in a laser disc lesson from Animal Pathfinders, an exciting interactive science program that always grabs their interest. The lesson will be about saltwater marsh habitats. Next, we will discuss studentsÕ knowledge about the largest such area in Florida, The Everglades.

Tasks:

Students will complete a unit of study about The Everglades that covers the various habitats, ecosystems and the animals that make the Everglades their home.

Database:

A database will be used to list animals of the Everglades and informational facts about each animal. Fields will include: Name of the animal, classification, habitat, diet, and lifespan.

HyperStudio Presentation:

Students will create a presentation about their specific animal that includes 10 cards. The presentation will be in the form of an interview, the student will be a reporter who is talking to the animal. Questions to be answered include; Describe yourself, Tell about your habitat (describe the geography,plants, other animals etc. and diet, How do you have your young and what kind of parent are you? Why are you endangered? Students may include any other interesting facts they discover also.

To see a sample of a HyperStudio stack, click on the link for Hyperstudio. To run a Hyperstudio stack you will need the Hyperstudio plugin. To download click here.

PowerPoint Presentation:

Display information collected in the database by using PowerPoint. To see a sample presentation, click on the link for PowerPoint.

Resources:

Multimedia Interactive Nova: Animal Pathfinders This is a laser disc interactive program Adventures in the Everglades: A curriculum for 4th grade teachers A video with accompanying activities provided by a grant from the National Park Foundation. This is an excellent resource, very easy for teachers to use as it has instructions on the video for hands on activities etc. It is available from the National Park Service.

Manatee Messages-video

Bill Nye the Science Guy-The Wetlands video

Florida Panthers-video

Wild Florida for Children-Bill KernÕs Nature Series video

Web Sites:

http://www.nps.gov/ever/home.htm

http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/

http://www.nps.gov/ever/eco/danger.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/evergladesanimals/index.html

http://www.nps.gov/ever/eco/panther.htm

http://www.floridapanther.org/

http://www.miamisci.org/ecolinks/everglades/keydeerinfo.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/everglades.htm

http://www.florida-everglades.com/home.htm

http://www.pennekamp.com/everglad.htm

Books/Magazines

Zoobooks -monthly periodical published by Wildlife Education LTD.

The Grolier Student Encyclopedia of Endangered Species Published by Grolier Educational Corporation

Mangrove Wilderness by Bianca Lavies

Crocociles and Alligators by Kate Petty

Florida Reptiles by Arthur honblow

Manatee on Location by Kathy Darling

Interactions:

Students will take a pretest provided in the Adventures in the Everglades curriculum. The unit of practice THE ENDANGERED EVERGLADES will be introduced. The teacher will first show a laser disc lesson on wetlands. (this includes an introduction to the basic habitats in the Everglades and various life forms that reside there) Students will share their background knowledge in informal discussions and select an animal to research. Students may work in small groups, cooperative pairs or independently. Students choosing to work in groups or pairs will decide how to allocate the work. A few class periods (45 min.) will be spent exploring approprite internet sites, with the teacher first modeling using TV mirroring.

Situations:

Activities willl take place in the classroom, technology lab, or media center. Students will have technology lab time 3 times that first week to locate at least 5 appropriate sites for their research and write reviews of the sites including such information as why itÕs a good site for kids, are there good links, graphics etc. They will also begin collecting information appropriate for their research. The second and third weeks students will work on their hyperstudio stacks. As students are working, the teacherÕs function will be to circulate among the groups, evaluate progress and assist as needed. Presentations will be practiced and made the following week.

Tasks:

The tasks are the areas of study involving internet research, The Florida Everglades, endangered animals of the Everglades, ecosystems, the water cycle and itsÕ effect on EvergladeÕs life and the use of Hyperstudio Software.

Tools:

Classroom computer(s) with one featuring TV mirroring, word processing, database Hyperstudio, internet access, books, encyclopedias, videos and laser discs.

Assessments:

The students will be given pre and post tests on the Everglades provided in the Adventures in the Everglades curriculum, and also be responsible to present their, ÒInterview with an Endangered Everglades Animal,Ó Hyperstudio Stack. Assessment will be based on a student/teacher created rubric that addresses presentation, content and technology use.