Project WILD
What is it?
• Program for environmental education—
focuses specifically on wildlife issues.
• Interdisciplinary curricula.
• Emphasizes active involvement.
• Targets K – 12th grade learners.
What are some of its features?
• Managed and funded through US state
agencies but its themes are globally
relevant.
• Lessons can be used sequentially as
primary curricula or as supplements to
other curricula.
• Classroom tested.
Florida Project WILD
• http://myfwc.com/educator/projwild.html
• Check out
– Spanish Supplement
– SSS correlations
WILD Framework
Ecological Knowledge
• Wildlife Populations
• Habitats, Ecosystems, and Niches
• Interdependence
• Changes and Adaptations
• Biodiversity
Social and Political Knowledge
• Cultural Perspectives
• Economic, Commercial, and Recreational Considerations
• Historical and Geographic Development
Sustaining Fish and Wildlife Resources
• Attitudes and Awareness
• Human Impacts
• Issues and Trends
• Wildlife Management
• Responsible Action and Service
Related Curricula
• National projects
– Project WET
– Project Learning Tree
– Flying WILD
– WET in the City
• Florida projects
– Florida Schoolyard Wildlife Project
– Florida Black Bear Curriculum
Should environmental
education be a priority in
science classrooms?
• ALL THINGS ARE INTERCONNECTED.
• EVERYTHING GOES SOMEWHERE.
• THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE
LUNCH.
• NATURE BATS LAST.
Let’s get started with a
classic…
Oh Deer
Oh Deer!
In this activity, we will be simulating a natural deer
population.
What do organisms need to survive?
a. food
b. water
c. shelter/space
•
•
Count off; 1 – 4
1’s will be DEER; 2-4 will be habitat elements
(food, water, shelter)
• How does this activity model wildlife
populations?
• How does the model break down?
• What kinds of concepts could be taught
with this activity?
• What modifications could be made to
teach other kinds of content?
Important concepts emerging from
Oh Deer!
• Carrying Capacity & limiting factors
• How can these concepts be assessed
without asking students for definitions to
be remembered?
– Create graphs
– Describe how limiting factors affect carrying
capacity
– Respond to a scenario which describes a
natural population
How have birds adapted?
Bird Feet
Bird
Duck
Crane
Chicken
Hawk
Robin
Adaptation
Advantage
Bird Beaks
Bird
Duck
Pelican
Wood Pecker
Hawk
Hummingbird
Adaptation
Advantage
Task
• Select and describe a habitat (natural or manmade).
• Design an imaginary organism specifically
adapted to that environment.
• Consider the following issues for your organism:
What will it eat? How does it move? How does it
reproduce? How are offspring raised?
Birds of Prey… An ecological
whodunit
•
1)
2)
3)
4)
Examine the population graph for prairie
falcons and ground squirrels…
What is happening to the populations?
What do you think caused the drop in
populations?
How are the populations related?
What might have caused these
changes?
Ground Squirrel and Falcon
Populations in Southwest Idaho
600
500
400
Squirrels
300
Falcons
200
100
Ju
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Climate Data for Southwest Idaho
Temp
Rainfall
Wind Speed
Ju
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Ju
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M
ay
Hrs Sunlight
Ap
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Ja
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Fe
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100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
What are possible explanations for
the population changes?
100
Ju
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Hrs Sunlight
Ju
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200
Wind Speed
Ju
ne
Falcons
Rainfall
ay
Squirrels
300
Temp
M
400
Ap
ril
500
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Ja
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Fe ry
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600
• When temperatures reach at which it is too
hot for the squirrels to stay above ground,
they move underground and undergo
“aestivation” or summer hibernation.
• What happens to the falcons?
– Within days of the squirrel aestivation, the
entire population move to higher, cooler
elevations?
Important Concepts and Practices
• Making empirically based hypotheses.
• Integrating mathematics & science.
• Understanding the significant
interrelationships between biotic and
abiotic factors within an environment.
First Impressions
• Write down the first thing that comes to
mind when you see each picture.
• How do our reactions affect our behavior
towards wildlife?
• What roles do the 3 organisms which
elicited your strongest reactions play?
What you wear is what they were.
• Brainstorm a list of materials used for the
production of clothing & accessories
• Divide your list into materials that were
once living vs. nonliving
• Divide your list into renewable vs.
nonrenewable
• Divide the living list into plants vs. animals
Some questions to consider…
• Which materials consume resources which
cannot be replaced?
• Which materials require killing an
organism?
• Which materials are byproducts of other
products?
• Should any of these determinations affect
your buying patterns?
Animal Charades
• On one card write your name on one side
and a WILD animal on the other side.
• On the other card, write your name on one
side and a DOMESTICATED animal on
the other side.
• We will select random cards and “act out”
that animal. All you can tell the audience is
whether your animal is domestic or wild.
Turtle Hurdles
(p. 158: Aquatic WILD)
• Review of sea turtle natural history and
environmental challenges.
• Game set-up: Turtles & Limiting factors
• Detailed rules.
Goals of the Activities
• Oh Deer!
– Introduce concepts
• Adaptation Artistry
– Apply understanding
• Birds of Prey
– Using data to make hypotheses
• First Impressions
– Becoming more reflective re: emotive responses
• What you wear is what they were
– Stimulate discussion of social & ethical issues
• Turtle Hurdles
– Learn about turtle natural history and population
challenges in an interactive format.
Project WILD Activity Guides
• Guides are organized by
1- Elements of the framework (i.e., Ecological
knowledge, Social & Political knowledge…)
2- Grade level appropriateness
• Take a look at “Color Crazy” p. 2-3
• Appendices are very useful (pp. 458-493)
• Skills & Topics Indices (pp. 494-512)
Scavenger Hunt
• Where can you find “Drawing on Nature?”
• Identify a high school activity which can be
done in 45 min (or less) that targets
biodiversity.
• Identify an activity appropriate for middle
school learners which integrates science
and language arts.
• What WILD concepts are addressed in
“Hazardous Links, Possible Solutions?”
• Interpret the Conceptual Framework Topic
Reference for “Time Lapse.”
For Next Week…
• By Thursday night, send me two activities that
you would like to walk the class through from
Project WILD
• Activity should be appropriate for high school
audience.
• Plan to take 5-10 minutes leading the activity or
carefully describing how the activity could be
used; what content could be covered; what
modifications would need to be made; etc.