For Younger Students: A hands-on display may be just right. Try one of several approaches:
Story: As a class, deliver an important message through a simple, illustrated story. A theme such as “Protecting Habitats — Saving Endangered Species” might work well in this style. To create a simple storyboard, break the theme into subtopics, such as description of the habitat; species that live there; threats to the habitat; what’s being done; and what we can do. Have different students work on different parts of the display and the titles or captions.
Mural: As a class, create a spectacular themed mural, with each student contributing one or more illustrated elements. A theme such as “A Wetland Community” works well as a mural.
Collage: Allow the students to produce individual contributions to a collage type of display. The theme “Lakes, Rivers and Streams in My Community” works well in this style.
For Older Students:
3-D model: Let students make a three-dimensional model of their local watershed and the habitat of species that live there.
Large wall map: As a class, show locations of water and land features (including different land uses by people) and then display information about these features on panels outside the map.
For High School Students:
Presentations: Encourage students to put their computer skills to work by creating slide shows or multimedia presentations.
Videos: Older students could videotape features of their local watershed and interview people on how they use the water and the land in ways that help maintain a healthy watershed.
Website development: Why not let students build a website about their watershed that features practices that help sustain wildlife and people? Websites could be posted within school district systems for maximum exposure to the learning community.
Putting the final display together can be a rewarding activity. Maximize the exposure of your display and its messages by positioning it in busy locations at your school.
Your students have done a great job. Now let’s share it!
Connect with your school. Have your students give an “interpretive tour” of their watershed to younger grades or to parents. They can explain their illustrations and deliver a message about what we can all do to protect our watersheds.
Contact other schools. Link with other schools located in your watershed. Contact those that have posted their projects on this website.
Celebrate. Plan an official “unveiling” of your display. Better yet, conduct an interpretive tour of it during National Wildlife Week or any other time of the year (such as Oceans Day, Biodiversity Day or Environment Week). If you plan a celebratory event around your display, list it on CWF’s website. Notify the local media, too. Media coverage is a great medium for promoting watershed awareness.
Send us a copy of your display (video, slide show, website, etc.) for posting on the WILD Education website. Be sure to create a photo journal of your project if you developed a hands-on display. Please include: