Welcome
2007
Dear Teacher,
Thank you for your interest in our Invasive Plant Education Initiative and Curricula . We’ve been busy developing lessons and activities and making them available on our website as they are completed. Helpful Hint: Don't miss the free and affordable resource pages, as there are lots of goodies available.
The goal of this initiative is to inform teachers and students about the importance of native plants and the impacts that some non-native, invasive plants are having as they spread through Florida's natural areas. We also hope to inspire students of all ages to spend more time looking at plants and learning more about them. To accomplish this, we've focused on four main objectives:
- Defining native versus non-native plants and why some are considered to be invasive;
- Illustrating the ecological role native plants provide in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and the problems/impacts caused by invasive plants;
- Explaining why we need to manage invasive plants;
- Informing students about the cool careers available in Florida's Freshwater Environments.
Each study unit may be utilized in its entirety or parts may be used as “stand alone” lessons, labs or research activities, depending on time limitations and classroom goals. We've also made sure that everything we've created meets Florida Sunshine State Standards. All lessons may be viewed and/or printed as a PDF file, Microsoft Word document or html (note: printing from the actual web page may not result in the best copy).
Lastly, we encourage you to use the education web pages and associated links as a pathway to our main website and companion Plant Management Guide : http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu & http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/guide. We think you'll agree that both provide a wealth of information about Florida’s freshwater environments including – but not limited to – plant management, water management, wildlife, ecology, etc.
After reviewing these materials, we hope you'll share your ideas and/or comments and let us know what we can do to make your job easier as you teach this very important subject.
Thank you!
Amy Richard and the CAIP Education Outreach Team
CAIP-education@ufl.edu
