Introduction
The Everglades
The Florida everglades are in danger! No one seems to know all the problems that are affecting the everglades. There is a community forum coming up where the people will vote on whether or not to develop a 2,000 acre piece of everglade land. You will be assigned a role in discovering a certain point of view of the use and management of the land. You must defend your role in the use of the Florida Everglades. When you finish your research and task you will present your findings to the community in a well organized way to support your view point and then you will vote on the land use.
Task
THE TASK
Choose your role:
Tourism Promoter: You are a tourism promoter and are involved in building new attractions as well as promoting what there is currently in the everglade region for tourists. What problems are there for tourists? Why do you feel you need to develop the land? You will tell your audience why it is important to save and protect the tourism industry and describe what it provides for your customers as well as for Florida. Your final project will be to present a brochure to your audience that will include all the information someone would need to invest in tourism and all the positive things that it could bring to Florida.
Game Warden: You have been watching the game in the Florida everglades slowly diminishing and this concerns you. Many people want permission to hunt and use the land but you have been noticing much more garbage, alien species being let loose and some poaching. You think that the land in question needs to be federally protected. You will be investigating what is hurting the animals that inhabit the different parts of the everglades. You will present your findings in the form of a well labeled and well researched poster that shows the problems of the habitats and the solutions that you think the community should follow. Your goal is to have the people vote for land protection.
Water Management Official: You have been watching the fresh water level in your community dropping and being replaced with salt water. There are also concerns of water shortages that could cause wildfires. What is happening? There also have been chemicals and other pollutants found in the water. This concerns you but you feel that there are ways to control the water and its use. You will be researching what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present to the everglade water quality, and the use of it for residents and recreational users in. You will present your findings at the community by creating a colorful and well labeled map of the water flow and management. You believe it would be just fine to drain this section of everglades to build a new subdivision.
Resident: You enjoy the use of the land. You like to hunt, fish and photograph the everglades near where you live. The past year you have watched the water level going down. Last year there were even wildfires. You are concerned that the everglades will not be there any more in the coming years for your children to enjoy. You know that there are people who want to build more subdivisions but you are not sure that would be good for the land. You are interested in discovering how the land is being used over all. You will write a persuasive essay/speech on how you personally use the everglades and how it affects your way of life.
Community Forum: When you have completed your role's project you will present your well organized project to the rest of the community. As a class you will vote on either 1. making the land in question a preserve 2. draining the land for a subdivision or 3. draining the land for a tourist attraction.
Process
THE PROCESS
To accomplish your task, you will research different websites to gather information about your role and your specific topic. You will need to create a list of problems and possible solutions to the problems.
- First you'll be assigned to a team of 4 students by your teacher. You will work with this team helping each other by sharing information and presenting your finings to the community forum together.
- Once you've picked a role to play you will come up with a list as a groups of possible problems that could occur in your area of expertise that you could share with the class. You can gather information from the book, The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo ,by Jean Craighead-george or from the other resources that your teacher will provide.
- Each individual needs to complete their own task for their role. Then as a group you will share your project with the rest of your class. So, for example, if 3 students are a tourist (in the classroom as a whole) then they will each have a brochure for that role to share with the class.
- Once your group is familiar with what you will be searching for you will begin to search the websites and other resources provided by your teacher. When you have searched the specific sites for your role you may search the sites of the other roles for more information if need be.
- When the research has been completed the task for each individual must be started. Each task is listed out and needs to be well organized, colorful and labeled.
- When tasks are completed the class will come together as a whole. The teacher will direct the process of the presentations. Each group will go at the same time and the class will vote on which role presented their point of view the best FOR THAT GROUP ONLY. (So, each group will have a different choice of who will be chosen). Then the teacher will have the next group present and the class will vote again for that group and may reach a different conclusion.
RESOURCES:
Tourism Promoter:
Everglade tours
Virtual Tour
Tour options
As a tourist you will create an individual brochure using Word that will picture all the different ways that someone could explore and use the everglades and the surrounding habitats. You should propose a new idea or two of what you could place on the land to attract more people. Create an eye pleasing brochure that is colorful and balanced between pictures and text. The information must be accurate and referenced.
Game Warden:
Wildlife
Natural History
Restoration
As a game warden you will be responsible for the care of the animals and habitats. Your job is to make sure that everything is well taken care of and that there is balance and restoration taking place in the everglades. You will create a poster picturing the different habitats and animal species that are in located in the everglades. You should mention some alien species as well. There should be a balance between text and colorful pictures and should be eye pleasing and well labeled.
Water Management Official:
Water Management District
Florida Waters
Florida Everglades
As a water management official you will be responsible to share the current water condition of the everglades. Share the problems that you are facing and how you keep the water usable and clean. Share some of the problems that you experience with certain animals and pollutants. You will create a well developed map to use as an example to share with the community of where water is located, where habitats are located and how water is monitored. Please be sure your map is colorful and labeled. (Remember you think that it is okay to drain a section to build a subdivision.)
Resident:
Everglades
Everglades, gov
Avocado School
As a resident you will be in charge of sharing how you use the everglades for recreation, water use, etc. You will write out a speech to share your opinions with the community and how you believe the land should be used. Remember you are looking for ways to share your love of the land. The speech needs to be well organized and typed out in Word. (If you would like to create a power point check with your teacher.)
Making a Public Service Announcement using iMovie
What is a PSA?
A PSA tries to influence people on a specific topic to either become aware of a situation or take action.
Things to consider when making a PSA?
Decide upon and clarify the purpose of your PSA. What are your goals here? What do you want to accomplish by putting a PSA on the air? And for that matter, why use a PSA instead of other publicity outlets?
- Target your audience. What type of people are you hoping to reach through your PSA? This will help you focus in both your desired media outlets, and also upon your PSA content.
You will make a PSA using iMovie
How to Use iMovie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCq2ncg7Mqg
Evaluation
EVATLUATION
Your performance will be evaluated very specifically based on the task for your role. There will be an individual grade as well as a group grade.
|
Beginning 1 |
Developing 2 |
Accomplished 3 |
Exemplary 4 |
Score |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tourism
|
Little work done on brochure and little to no effort on presentation |
Partially completed brochure not presented as well and no balance between text and pictures |
Fair presentation, missing parts of brochure, not colorful |
Well presented facts and completed brochure, colorful and accurate | |
|
Game warden
|
Little or no effort was given to complete the task well. | Partially completed poster, no labels or no picture | Fair presentation most of the parts are there but missing some. | Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance. | |
|
Water Manager
|
Little or no effort was given to complete the task well. | Map is somewhat unorganized and no balance between labels and pictures. | Missing a section of your map. | All parts of the map are present. It is colorful and well labeled with a legend included. |
|
|
Resident
|
Little or no effort was given to complete the task well. | Many parts of the essay/speech are missing and presentation is questionable. | The speech/essay is written out and most of the parts for the speech were clear. Some components were missing. |
Had all components of speech well planned out or a power point is included and is well organized and thought out. | |
|
Group grade |
Very little collaboration or participation in presentation as a group. |
Participated in some activities but was not a group help in presentation |
Did not complete some part of the group project and presentation was not organized |
Worked well with others and participated to the fullest extent. Very organized and well presented. |
iMovie Rubric
Conclusion
Thank you for participating in today's community forum and voting on these very important issues. Please do not keep what you learned to yourself, share it with others! The everglades need your help!!
Credits
All pictures and graphics are used for educational purposes only.
Water Lily- Photographed by Richard Perry at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia.
http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/02327_47.jpg
Panther- http://www.nps.gov/ever/parknews/upload/crocodile.jpg
Alligator swimming- http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/distancelearningopportunities.htm
Great Blue Heron- http://www.nps.gov/ever/parknews/upload/greatblueheron-2.jpg
Crocodile- http://www.nps.gov/ever/parknews/upload/crocodile.jpg