Deidra Pulvermacher, Eric Ziino, Chris Leighty

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Deidra Pulvermacher, Eric Ziino, Chris Leighty

Wetlands and Why They’re Cool

Grades 3-5

Water and/or Environmental and Sustainability Ed.ucation

Science

Essential Questions

1. What connections do we have to wetlands?

2. How does a wetland affect the surrounding ecosystem?

3. How do we create, protect and/or sustain wetlands?

Learning Outcome

Students will be able to identify the different elements that make up a wetland.

Students will be able to explain how a wetland is beneficial to the surrounding ecosystem and human community.

Students will be able to identify how a wetland functions to filter pollutants.

Materials and Resources

·Wisconsin Wetlands

o Maps of Wisconsin rivers and/or lakes

o Color pencils

• Paper

Wetland growth/effectiveness

o Large open space

o Two color markers/identifiers

Wetland Model

o Paint Trays

o Sponges

o Food coloring or coffee grounds

o Water

o Modeling clayand/or play animals, trees etc. or Enviroscape kit from WCEE

Standards

Wisconsin StatePerformance Standards

A.4.1 Make observations, ask questions and plan environmental investigations* (see Science [SC] Inquiry; English/Language Arts [LA] Research)

A.4.2 Collect information, make predictions, and offer explanations about questions asked (see: SC Inquiry)

A.4.3 Develop answers, draw conclusions, and revise their personal understanding as needed based on their investigations* (see SC Inquiry)

A.4.4 Communicate their understanding to others in simple terms (see LA Writing)

Background

Wetlands are vital ecosystems that provide various services to people, animals, plants, and the environment. These factors also all play a role in how wetlands are maintained, the overall health of wetlands, and how well a wetland functions. Humans can create and destroy wetlands in more ways than one, such as building and development, road construction and agriculture. In addition, natural, non-living factors can create or destroy wetlands, such as flooding, drought, and snow melting in the spring, to name a few. Beavers can create wetlands by building a dam in a river. That created wetland can then be destroyed if the dam is removed and the river water goes back within its banks and rate of current returns to what it was before. Despite the fact that wetlands can be manipulated in so many ways, they are a critical ecosystem that must be protected in every way possible.

Wetlands are on the decline in the world and have been for a long time. According to United Nations Environment, the global extent of natural wetlands has declined by 64% since 1900, with marine and coastal wetlands declining even more rapidly than inland wetlands (2015). There are many reasons for this wetland loss, but ultimately one of the biggest reasons is negative human impacts. Negative human impacts include pollution, development, alterations to the land for farming, and global climate change, to name a few. Since so much of this wetland loss is human-caused, it is important that we, as natural resource educators, teach about the importance of wetlands, as well as build a lasting appreciation for them.

Wetlands provide a great number of services to the environment. According to Defenders of Wildlife, wetlands provide habitat for many unique animals and plants, filter, clean and store water, collect and hold flood waters, absorb wind and tidal forces, and provide places of beauty and recreational opportunities. Wetlands also act like sponges in that they hold flood waters and keep rivers at normal levels, and plants that wetlands contain help prevent soil erosion. With all of these awesome things wetlands do for the world, one can see why it is so important to protect and conserve them, as well as have a life-lasting appreciation for them. Wetlands are amazing ecosystems that provide a great many services to people, animals, plants, and the environment.

Procedure

Wetlands in Wisconsin

1. The teacher will begin asking students about the local surroundings as far as land features. What kind of features are found throughout their state of Wisconsin? Is there more water or land in their area? What makes up a wetland/what do you see?
2. The class will be divided into groups and each group will be given a map of Wisconsin and directed to indicate where wetlands may be present on the landscape based on their knowledge of wetland features and water bodies.

Bring students back together and discuss the different types of wetlands present in Wisconsin: bogs, marshes, fens, and swamps and how they differ from each other.

1. Marshes: Open water, deeper, lush habitat and vegetation. Excellent habitat for small mammals and waterfowl. Most common in Wisconsin. Reduces damage from floods by slowing and storing water. As water moves slowly through a marsh, pollutants settle to bottom of the marsh.

1. Bogs: Primarily Northern Wisconsin. Moss, Black Spruce or Tamarack trees. Not usually water body sourced, rainwater. Wettest in spring time due to snowmelt and rainwater. Moss is sponge-like. Absorbs precipitation to prevent flooding.

1. Fens: These systems are often covered by grasses, sedges, rushes and wildflowers. In cold areas like Wisconsin where we receive precipitation year-round. Reduces the risk of floods, improves water quality and provides habitat for plants and animals.

1. Swamps: Wetlands covered in trees and shrubs such as red maples, white oak or cedar. Saturated soils during the summer and fall and standing water in the spring after snowmelt.They help prevent flooding in spring. Swamps can also help prevent drought conditions by slowly releasing water during dry summer months. Swamps are habitat for many different animals including: deer, owls, bears and songbirds.

After giving a brief description, assign students to draw one of the above wetlands and be able to describe the different parts of the wetland and what purpose it serves.

3. Ask for a volunteer from each type of wetland to show and describe their picture. Assess the students’ drawings and note if they were able to describe, show and understand a specific type of wetland and identifyits purpose.

Wetland Growth and Development

1. The transition will include talking to the students about how wetlands will grow and develop like our bodies. Wetlands are constantly growing/changing, like how you grow as you get older.

2. A simple quick lesson on how wetlands grow and develop:A wetland is defined as an area with water within 2 feet of the surface for 2 consecutive weeks out of the growing season. A field can turn into a wetland given the proper environmental conditions, such as development of a high water table or large amounts of precipitation each year. After development,it begins to filter the water that flows through it and, as the years go by, the wetland will begin to grow and filter more water.

To help students understand this more, they will be taken to a play area. The areas of play will be roughly the size of half of a basketball court. Students will be divided into two groups, one group will be the pollutants (⅔ the class) and the other group will be the wetland filtration system. The pollutants will stand on one end of the area of play while the wetland students will stand half way through the area of play and they will be spread out. These students cannot move, but their objective is to tag any of the pollutants that come through their line. If a pollutant is tagged, they have been filtered and now become part of the wetland filtration system. The teacher will track how large the wetland gets and how the pollutants decrease with each round, then show the students when the game is over.

1. When the game is over, the teacher will begin assessing the lesson by asking students how they think their wetland did as far as filter pollutants and if it grew? The students will be able to explain how as time goes on, the healthier a wetland gets and how the surrounding environment becomes healthier as well.Ask questions such as: Did the wetland do its job of filtering out pollutant? What did this activity demonstrate? How a wetland can grow over time? How well would the wetland have worked if we started off with one student being the wetland and everyone else as pollutants? Do you think the wetland’s effectiveness would change if we increased the play area? Why is this important?

Wetland Model

1. The teacher will begin the transition phase of the lesson by asking their class basic questions on their water recreation and drinking water. They will ask if the class prefers clean water over dirty polluted water. This will begin the lesson on how pollution in the form of runoff makes its way into the water bodies and ways to prevent this.
2. Students need to be divided into groups of 3-5. The teacher will demonstrate what the model landscape would look like without a wetland in place. This will be done by him/her pouring water on the polluted landscape (of the paint tray) and showing it flow right into the river. Then, explain how if a wetland was in place in front of the river, how less pollution will reach the river. The teacher will then hand out the modeling supplies to the group, giving them ~15 minutes to create their landscape with trees, houses, animals, etc. without a wetland in place. The groups will then test their landscape by pouring water on it and see how much reaches the river feature in their model. The class will regroup and talk about why all of the pollution made it to the river. The usefulness of wetlands will be brought up by the teacher, and how introducing a wetland could help prevent more pollution reaching the river. The groups will then go back to their models and add a wetland feature and retest their models, comparing the differences.

1. The groups will have an opportunity to discuss how effective their model was. They will talk within their group and then be given a chance to present their findings in front of the class.
2. Possible discussion questions:
3. After adding the wetland to the landscape, was your model more effective at reducing runoff pollution? Why or why not?
4. How would you compare your model before and after you added the sponges to act as a wetland? What were some of the changes you saw and believe will happen by the addition or lack of sponges?
5. What do you think would happen if you only used one sponge instead of three?
6. Why is clean water important?

Assessment

Wisconsin Wetlands

From students’ drawings of wetlands, evaluate that students have a clear understanding of a type of wetland, what's included and what purpose they serve.

Wetland model

Have students demonstrate and describe what is happening in their model wetland. Ask probing questions such as:

●After adding the wetland to your landscape was the environment more successful at containing pollutants? Why or why not?

●How would you compare your model before and after you added the sponges to act as a wetland?

●What do you think would happen if you only used one sponge instead of three?

●Why is clean water important?

Wetland Growth and Development

The assessment strategy for this lesson plan is for the teacher to have an open discussion with his/her class. The instructor will have a list of questions provided and possible answers their students could give. This also allows for students to ask questions for better understanding.

Provided Questions:

1. Did the wetland do its job of filtering out pollutants?
2. Yes-explain why
3. No-explain why
4. What did this activity demonstrate?
5. How a wetland filters out pollutants.
6. How a wetland can grow over time

1. How well would the wetland have worked if we started off with one student being the wetland and everyone else as pollutants?
2. Not very well
3. Do you think the wetland’s effectiveness would change if we increased the play area? Why is this important?
4. Yes, the wetland would have been overwhelmed with pollution and could not filter and clean the water like it should, just as if we (as humans) were to reduce wetland sizes.

Differentiation

We feel it is important for students to have plenty of hands-on and group activity for the purpose of making sure that everyone is included and no students are left behind. Also, if everyone is participating in some way, then everyone should be learning in some form.

These types of activities allow for multiple ways to be involved and learn, so they help to address different learning styles. It is also important to assess what students know not only after, but also before, an activity, so that we have an idea of what background knowledge students have on the subject. Students also have different attention spans depending on their age level, so it is important to make sure that all activities are an appropriate amount of time. Too long of an activity can result in loss of interest. In addition, it is important to have all materials for activities ready ahead of time, and instructors should do the activities themselves ahead of time so that they are prepared and know what to expect.

For students with physical limitations, the instructor will have proper accommodations. For example, for Wetland Growth and Development, students could be given alternative tasks that would still pertain to the activity, such as being in charge of tracking the growth/decline, or being the game official (calling out when to start and stop the game). Lastly, instructors should always be sure that teaching and activities are being conducted in a safe learning environment.

References

Ducks Unlimited, Teacher’s Guide to Wetland Activities

-We used this source to develop the procedures for our activities.

United States Environmental Protection Agency, Wetlands Classification and Types

-We used this source to gather information about the different types of wetlands and wetland classifications.

United Nations Environment. Wetlands for our Future: Act Now to Prevent, Stop, and Reverse Wetland Loss.

-We used this source for our background information on Wetland Degradation.