Download From the Ground Up

From the Ground Up
Interpreter Script
2007-2008
Developed by:
Rachel Golden
Environmental Education Program Coordinator
Airlie Gardens
Revised by:
Nicole Mitchell
Environmental Education Program Manager
Airlie Gardens
Matthew Collogan
Environmental Education Program Manager
Airlie Gardens
From the Ground Up
Interpreter Script
Length of tour
2.5 hours
Age
3rd grade
Overview
The From the Ground Up lesson plan includes pre-visit, on-site, and post-visit activities.
The on-site activities consist of hands-on lessons at two outdoor learning sites in Airlie
Gardens: the WaterWise Garden and Airlie Woods. There are separate teaching stations
at each of the outdoor learning sites. When students arrive, they will be split up into
groups of 20-25. One interpreter will be assigned to each group and will lead them
through the teaching stations.
The script is written in a conversational tone. This was done intentionally, with the idea
in mind that questioning strategy engages students in learning. The script contains many
questions that you might ask the students throughout the lesson, as well as many of their
probable responses. Finally, at the end of the script are several articles and lesson
excerpts from other programs that will provide you with excellent and ample background
information.
The WaterWise Garden
Introduction
As an interpreter, you will lead a small group of students through the two teaching
stations located in the WaterWise Garden.
Station #1: Tree Parts and Seed Dispersal
Location: Platform
Purpose: Students will be introduced to the parts of a tree and act them out as a learning
activity. They will also review the five ways that plants disperse their seeds.
Activities
We are going to be learning about plants and soil today, and we’re going to start out by
talking about the parts of a tree. First of all, remind the children how important trees are
to us. Trees provide food, trees provide lumber for our houses, trees produce some of the
oxygen we breath, trees provide homes/habitats for countless organisms, trees prevent
flooding and erosion, trees provide shade, trees beautify the landscape. For something so
vital as a tree, it’s important to understand how a tree works. Who knows some parts of a
tree? Students will likely know about the trunk, bark, leaves, and roots. Explain that this
morning they are going to learn about some parts of a tree that a lot of people don’t know
about because you can’t see them, and that they are going to act out the different parts.
The first person who is going to be part of our tree needs to be someone who’s really
strong. Call a volunteer up to be the heartwood. Explain that the heartwood is what we
call the middle of the tree. It is actually made up of dead wood, but it provides the tree
with a lot of strength. Tell the person who is being the heartwood that they have to flex
their muscles. (with a large class, you can make use four students as the heartwood).
Next, our tree needs water. Who knows how the tree gets water from the ground. Most
students will know that the roots collect water for the tree. Have 2-4 more students come
up and sit at the feet of the heartwood group with their legs stretched out away from the
tree. Have them kick their legs and make slurping sounds to signify the act of retrieving
water from the soil.
Once the water is collected by the roots, how does it get up to the top of the tree? Ask
students to think of what moves water around your house? Pipes! The tree has something
similar to water pipes called xylem. It acts like a giant drinking straw and sends water all
the way up to the tree’s leaves. Have 2-4 students come up and form a circle around the
heartwood, standing in between the roots. Have them hold hands and crouch down.
Next, have them stand up and raise their hands high while making slurping noises. This
represents the water moving up the tree from the roots.
Trees cannot move around and look for food like animals can, so how do trees get food?
Can they go to the store? No! They make their own food! Where does this happen in the
tree? In the leaves! Think of the leaves as solar panels that collect energy so they can
make food. What does the tree need to make food? Water, sunlight, nutrients from soil,
and air (carbon dioxide). Have 2-4 students come up to be leaves. Have them stand
around the tree with their backs to the students in the xylem circle. The leaves should
raise their hands in the air and shake them. The faster they shake their hands, the more
food they are making.
Finally, how does the food that the leaves make get to all of the other parts of the tree?
Trees have another special part called the phloem. The phloem is also like a giant straw,
but instead of sending water up the tree, it sends food down the tree. Use everyone left to
be the phloem. Explain that these people need to be very energetic because they have to
run up to the leaves and get some food (run over to a leaf person and give them a high
five), and then deliver that to all of the other parts of the tree (go up to another part of the
tree and give that person a high five). They have to keep doing this so that all of the parts
of the tree get food (demonstrate one more time).
Let’s review! Start from the beginning with the heartwood and ask students what each
part does and have them act out their part. At the end, give the group a round of applause
for being such a great tree.
Alright, well now we know the parts of a tree, but how do we get more trees? Students
should know that seeds are needed to make more trees. Do seeds just fall right off of a
tree or another plant and grow right there? No. Why wouldn’t this work? There would
not be enough room, water, and nutrients for new trees to grow so close to their parent.
So what do plants do? They disperse their seeds. Ask students what "disperse" means.
It means to send out or spread out over an area.
What are some different ways that plants disperse their seeds? Students should have
gone over this information in a pre-visit activity, but you might need to prompt them.
Plants can disperse their seeds using the following methods:
 Fruit – The seeds are inside of a tasty piece of fruit. Ask the students if when they
eat an apple they eat all of the seeds. No. Do you think animals eat the seeds?
Usually. Then what happens? Students might be reluctant to talk about poop, but
encourage them. Many seeds do not break down inside of an animal with the rest
of its food. They come out the other end. How far do you think an animal might
travel between eating a piece of fruit and pooping out the seeds? It might sound
gross to us, but what a great way to disperse your seeds!
 Wind – many seeds are built to be carried by the wind. Cattails, maple seeds, and
dandelions are some examples.
 Water – some plants that live near water have seeds that can float and travel
downstream to a new location. In fact, the largest seed in the world, the coconut,
uses water to disperse.
 Hitchhikers – Have you ever gotten a bur stuck to your clothes? What is a bur?
It’s a seed. They stick to things like people’s clothes or animal’s fur and then fall
off or are picked off somewhere else. Biomimcy is the ―science and art of
emulating nature’s best biological ideas to solve human problems.‖ The most
famous example of biomimicry is the invention of Velcro. The Swiss engineer,
George de Mestral, who invented Velcro noticed that the end of each piece of dog
hair has a tiny hook, which causes it to stick to anything with a loop such as
clothing (as most of us have clearly seen). Velcro, of course consists of a strip of
hooked material and an opposite strip of a loose-looped meterial that holds the
hooks. As Janine Benyus, pioneer of the biomimicry movement and author of the
1997 book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature states, ―The more our
world funtcions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this
home that is ours, but not ours alone.‖ Composting and other organic growing and
lawn care methods are examples of biomimcry because they follow nature’s
examples of pace and overall respect for fewllow creatures.
 Self-propelled – some seeds are actually shot off of a plant like a slingshot.
Jewelweed is a good example. Jewelweed seeds are in a pod. The pod is under a
lot of tension, almost like there is a coiled spring inside. A person brushing
against the pod, or even a breeze, is enough to make the pod explode open and
send the seeds flying.
Show students some of the examples of seeds in the seed box and see if they can figure
out what plant it is from and how it gets dispersed.
Station 2: Carnivorous Plants
Location: Carnivorous Plant Garden
Purpose: Students will revisit the term ―adaptation‖ as they learn about three different
species of carnivorous plant. They will also figure out why carnivorous plants have
adapted to eat insects.
Activities
Ask students if they have ever heard of the word ―adaptation.‖ Does anybody know what
it is? An adaptation is something that a plant or animal has or does that helps it live in its
environment. It has to be something that gets passed on to the plant or animal’s children.
So, if I went to the gym every day and became big and buff, does that mean that my kids
would be big and buff? No. So that is not an example of an adaptation.
What is something that humans have that not many other animal have (wave your thumbs
around in the air as you say this). You might have to give some clues. Thumbs!
Thumbs are great examples of an adaptation that humans have that help us live in our
environment.
All of the plants in this garden have a special adaptation. What is it? They can eat bugs!
These are carnivorous plants. Who knows what the word carnivore means? It is
something that eats meat. These plants have adapted to eat meat. Why do you think they
need to eat bugs? Ask students what the plants would get from bugs. Nutrients. Where
do most plants get their nutrients from? The soil. If these plants need extra nutrients and
they can’t find those nutrients in the soil, where do they get it from? Bugs provide the
nutrients lacking in the soil. What kind of soil do you think the VFT’s live live in?
Nutrient-poor, acidic soils, like the sand peat soil you find longleaf pine wetland forests!
What do we know about sandy, peat soil? It does not have a lot of nutrients. So these
plants adapted to eat bugs for extra nutrients so that they can live in nutrient-poor soil.
The VFTs are specifically after the nutrient nitrogen when they eat bugs. Like other
photosynthetic plants the VFT can make its own food (sugar through photosynthesis), but
high-protein nitrogen boost allows the VFT to function much more effectively, thus
explaining the plants’ unique supplemental feeding of bugs.
Explain how each of the plants catches bugs. Venus flytraps have three trigger hairs on
the inside face of each of their specialized trap leaves. The insect or bug (such as ants,
beetles, spiders or flies) are attracted to the VFT because the plant emits an attractive
smell (to the bugs) that is secreted from nectar glands that line the edge of the trap. Once
a curious bug comes to the trap, it has to touch two trigger hairs or one trigger hair twice
for the trap to close. Once a meal is sensed, the trap can snap shut in less than a tenth of a
second by flooding elongated cells on the outer surface of the trap leaves to trigger the
elastic open leaves to close. Initially it does not close completely, because it wants to
ensure that it has caught prey that is large enough to justify spending the energy for
digestion. Little bugs can escape, but larger bugs remain stuck. If it does not successfully
trap a bug (the plant can feel if a bug is inside or not), it will open back up in about a day.
If there is a bug inside, the trap will close all the way and seal up for about 5 days. Inside
the bean shaped pounc of the VFT, the hapless bug succumbs to the digestive enzymes
released by the plant. Ask students if they know where in the world Venus flytraps live.
Most of them are surprised to find out that the only place they can be found in the wild is
within a 100-mile radius of Wilmington. Because the VFT lives only around Wilmington
and is found nowhere else in the world, the plant is endemic to this region.
VFTs thrive in sunny openings, like those produced by wildfire. Fires once swept through
the longleaf pines and swamps as frequently as every two years, knocking back the dense
understory of shrubs so that such sun-loving plants as the VFT could thrive. Today
maintaining a natural fire regime in such a fragmented countryside is beset with
difficulty.
Charles Darwin called the VFT ―the most wonderful plant in the world.‖ They are a great
indicator species for longleaf pine savanna. In North Carolina, the flytrap is considered ―a
species of special concern.‖The VFT native range has shrunk dramatically in recent
years. Long ago, many of the longleaf pine forests where VFTs are found were destroyed
through ditch and drain methods used by global timber companies. More recently
housing developments have destroyed habitat outright. Brunswick County, for example,
contains one of the world’s largest flytrap populations, and is also the 55th-fastest
growing county in the nation—growing 30% between 2000 and 2006.
Explain to the students that they should not touch the traps. This is because each trap can
only open and close about 5 times before it dies. It takes a lot of energy to close and
open. If we kept touching all of the traps, what would eventually happen to the plant? It
would die because it was using energy and not getting any back.
Next explain how the pitcher plant works. Through special glands the plant emits a smell
(reminiscent of cat urine) that attracts pollinating insects. Seeking nectar, the bugs go
down into the plant where a waxy secretion makes them lose their footing. The slippery
walls are covered with stiff downward facing hairs that guide victims lower into the trap.
They get trapped and fall to the bottom where their soft parts are dissolved by digestive
juices (enzymes, bacteria, and in the yellow-pitcher plant a hemlock-like narcotic is used
to paralyze its prey). The hard part on the outside of a bug, the exoskeleton, is not broken
down and stays at the bottom of the plant. Open an old pitcher plant and show the
students the bug remains at the bottom. We have purple pitcher plants (short and squatty
with no rain hood), white-topped pitcher plants (look variegated on the rain hood); the
hooded pitcher plant, and the yellow pitcher plants. Pitcher plants have a range in North
America that extends from southern Virginia to Florida. Some wasps can chew their way
out of the trap if caught.
Finally, explain how the sundew traps bugs for food. Sundews were named for the dewlike glandular hairs on their leaves, which are actually sticky traps. It also emits a sweet
smell, and it is very sticky. Bugs get stuck and get digested. It is now time to head into
Airlie Woods!
Airlie Woods
Introduction
As an interpreter, you will lead a small group of students through the three teaching
stations located in Airlie Woods.
Station #1: Tree Aging
Location: Just off of trail
Purpose: Students will learn how the rings of a tree can tell us how old the tree is. They
will also learn how an increment borer can allow us to age a tree without cutting it down.
Activities
Lead the students to the big tree cookie in the woods. Ask them if they know how they
can tell how old a tree is. Most students know that you can count the rings. Ask the
students if they know why the tree has rings. Show the poster with the tree cross section.
Explain that every year the tree puts down a light ring and a dark ring. The light ring is
put down in the spring when the tree is growing the fastest. Since the tree is growing
quickly, the cells are large and spread out. The darker ring is deposited while the tree is
growing more slowly in the summer and fall. The cells are smaller and more densely
packed.
Looking at the rings can tell us more than how old the tree is. Ask the students what they
think it means if the rings for one year were very skinny. The tree did not grow very
much. Can they think of reasons it might not have grown very much? This often
happens when there is not enough water.
Ask the students if they can think of any way that you could count the rings in a tree
without cutting it down. Let them ponder this for a few moments, and then show them
the increment borer. Explain how it works. Ask the students if they think this would hurt
a tree. Trees are able to mend themselves. It’s much like when we get a cut and it scabs
over.
Let the students help you use the increment borer. It is important that you get it started
and remove the sample, but each student can have a turn twisting the borer into the tree.
Once you have extracted a sample, let them try and count the rings to try and figure out
how old the tree is.
Station #2: Soil Types and Decomposers
Location: Just off of the trail
Purpose: Students will learn about the different types of soil that there are. They will
figure out what kind of soil we have here at Airlie. They will also learn about
decomposers and their role in the environment.
Activities
Ask the students if all soil is the same. No. What are some differences between different
kinds of soil? Color, texture, how much water it can hold, etc. Explain that you are
going to show them three different kinds of soil. Give everyone a chance to feel the
different kinds. First pull out the sand. Ask the students what it is. Ask them how it
feels. Sand has the largest particle size of any soil type. Ask the students if they can see
the individual particles. They should be able to.
Next take out the potting soil. Let the students feel it. How is it different than the sand?
It shouldn’t feel as gritty. It feels more like flour. This is known as silty soil. The
particles are medium-sized. Ask the students if they can see individual particles. It
should be more difficult than with the sand.
Finally, take out the clay. Have the students feel it and describe how it feels. Explain
that clay has the smallest particle size. Ask them if they can see individual particles.
They shouldn’t be able to. In just a few minutes we are going to dig around in the soil
here at Airlie and figure out what kind of soil we have. We’re also going to look for
something else that is very important.
Pick up a leaf and ask the students if that leaf is going to stay on the forest floor forever.
No. Why not? What is going to happen to it? It will break down. How does it break
down? Have they ever heard of decomposers? Decomposers are critters that live in the
soil that break things down that used to be living and turn it back into soil. Hold up the
leaf again. Even though this leaf is dead, does it still have energy in it? Yes.
Decomposers are very important because they return that energy to the soil.
As we dig, we are going to put any decomposers that we find in one of these white trays.
Students might want to look for decomposers under rotting logs. That is fine, but make
sure they roll the log towards them. This way, if they disturb something underneath, the
log will act as a barrier. You might have to have students pair up and share the trowels.
Have them spread out, but not go too far. Once they have spread out, place the trays on
the ground so that everybody is near one.
Let the students collect for several minutes. While they are doing this, you should get a
soil sample using the soil auger. They will be more excited about bugs then about soil.
Have the group come back together and explain the soil auger and have them look at the
soil that you collected. What is it made of? It is a combination of silt and sand. Does it
make sense that we would have sandy soil in this area? Yes, we are near the beach. Next
have the students share what they found while digging. After everybody has shared, be
sure they return all of the decomposers back to the soil so they can continue doing their
very important job.
Station #3: Vermicomposting
Location: Along lake trail near bench
Purpose: Students will learn about composting and how worms can be used to compost
food waste.
Activity
Ask the students if any of them know what composting is. When they eat an apple, what
is left behind? The core. Even though we don’t eat the core, does it still have nutrients?
Of course. When people compost they save their food leftovers and let decomposers
break them down. What do the decomposers turn the leftover food into? Soil! A worm
bin is an example of how you can use worms to compost.
All we did was punch some holes in this Rubbermaid container. We then shredded some
newspaper and wet it down. Then we added a handful of soil and a handful of sand.
Finally, we added a bunch of red wiggler worms. Open up the bin and let interested
students hold the worms. Explain that this is an easy way they could compost at home or
in their classroom.