Projects that your students can become involved in can be as simple as the ideas listed below.

At Your School…

  Write an illustrated story about an exotic aquatic species and read your story to another grade or classroom of students.

  Plan an “Exotic Aquatic Species Day” in your school to inform other students and teachers of the problem.

  Design T-shirts about exotic aquatic species. Produce the shirt and wear it to school.

  Design a David Letterman-type Top 10 list.

In Your Community…

  Design posters, pamphlets, or brochures about exotic aquatic species and distribute or display them in your community.

  Set up a display or make a mini exhibit for a public or school library.

  Set up an exotic aquatic species information booth in a local bait or boat store.

  Write letters to the editor or a series of articles for the local newspaper.

  Present a documentary for broadcast on a community cable access channel, the local television station, or community radio station.

  Write a play on exotic aquatic species that can be presented or filmed for local cable access channels.

And Beyond…

  Make signs for local docks describing measures that boaters can take to prevent further spread of exotic aquatic species. Be sure to cooperate with local officials in the appropriate natural resource agency.

  Make a presentation on exotic aquatic species to a local sporting organization, fishing or hunting club, Ducks Unlimited, Bass Pro, Trout Unlimited, or similar organizations.

  Write to the President, a congressperson, or senator urging them to propose laws aimed at preventing invasions of exotic species.

  Identify a “target” community: One that has waterways currently free from infestation by an exotic aquatic species, but one that is especially vulnerable to being invaded. Contact community officials, write letters to the editor, and take other actions that help promote awareness of the problem in that community.

  Write a letter to encourage pet shops to establish a policy for returning unwanted fish.

  Create a “don’t dump your aquarium” poster and asking that it posted in local pet shops.

  Write letters to plant nurseries to persuade them to discontinue selling nuisance exotic species, such as purple loosestrife and giant salvinia.

 
Let your imagination be the guide!

Guidelines for implementing the stewardship projects.

     Who does the work?  Projects should be teacher-guided but student executed.

     How big a project does our project need to be?  The project needs to go beyond the classroom and have at its heart a community-based project based on the material you’ve learned in this workshop (see examples).

     How many students need to be involved?  Stewardship projects can be done with all students in a class or a just a few selected students.

     How many projects can we do?  You can do as many projects as you would like.

     Do the projects need to be done in school?  You can do projects both in and out of school according to your districts guidelines.

Format of your stewardship project(s) presentation.

We want to encourage community-based stewardship with regard to exotic species.  Therefore, these exotic species projects will be published in two ways – in hard copy and on the web.  This is why we are requiring a standardized format in the way of PowerPoint presentation.

Stewardship projects will be presented in the form of PowerPoint presentations with an accompanying one-page descriptive narrative of your project.  These should follow the same general format (outlined below) and should be illustrated with photos of students doing the projects.  The presentations and write-ups you turn in will be published in a print version, as well as published on the Exotics on the Move website (http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/EXOTICSP/).

 Your Stewardship PowerPoint presentation project should include the following items:

   Introduction to Stewardship Project (includes basics of class, why they chose the project they did)

      Please include a catchy title that reflects the “big picture” of what the project is about and overview of the project.

   Objectives of the Stewardship Project

       What is the aim/purpose of doing this stewardship project?  What do you and your students hope to accomplish as a result of this project?

  The Stewardship Project Activity (the nuts and bolts)

       What did your students actually do?  How long did it take them?  How did you set up the project?  Any special materials or contacts required?

  Outcome/Impact of the Project (this is the most important section!)

       What impact did your project have on your community?  on your students?  Quotes from students and the community would be great in this spot!

We ask that...

  teachers distill the activity into the most important points.  Please limit your presentation to between 4-8 PowerPoint slides.

   teachers distill the activity into a one-page descriptive narrative of your project using the headings list above (submit as a text file).

   if different projects were done by groups of students, only one summary PowerPoint presentation is required along with a written summary of all the projects.  Within this summary, include for each individual project, include the nuts & bolts and impacts.

  if you do not have access to PowerPoint, you can turn your project in "cut and pasted" onto 11x17" paper – with original photos carefully taped into place.

 
For photos, we ask that...

   You send in the original photo.  (Put your name and phone number on each photo if you want it back.)

   If you use a digital camera, use the highest resolution possible! (Send these on a floppy.)

   Each photo used in the presentation needs to have a caption and identify the students featured in the photograph.

Deadline for turning in your Stewardship Project presentations:

February 28, 2001

Presenting our state’s stewardship projects at a national meeting.

These stewardship projects will be presented by one of our workshop participants at the National Council for Geographic Education Conference, August 1, 2001, in British Columbia, Canada.  We will distribute an application for those wishing to apply for this delegate position at the November 4, 2000 meeting at Tickfaw State Park.  In exchange for the trip to the conference, it is expected that the successful delegate will synthesize all of the stewardship projects done by their colleagues and present the summary in the form of a conventional poster session.  Only participants attending both workshops and completing the lesson and stewardship project activity will be eligible.  Funds exist to send a teacher and student pair to present our work.  Details about this part the project will be discussed in full at the November meeting.

Start your stewardship projects ASAP – be ready to share what you’ve done at our November meeting.

Questions?  Contact your workshop coordinator