Name

A Soil-a-Bration

The students will examine and gain information on different types of soils and determine their water-holding capacity.

A Storm is Brewin'

Students will distinguish the differences between opinion and fact, and use that information in decision-making.

A Weed By Any Other Name (Would Smell As Sweet)

Students will discover that although humans often use the word "weed" as a derogatory term, many weeds do offer benefits to wildlife and humans.

Adaptation Artistry

Students will learn the concept of adaptation, then design and create a prairie roadside bird.

Before You Ditch It

Students will develop a survey to assess public knowledge of roadside ditches and determine a means of increasing public awareness.

Changes in a Roadside Over Time

The students will make observations of changes in a roadside through the school year and summarize their results.

Create a Roadside Prairie

This lesson is designed to create an awareness of roadside prairies throughout Iowa. Students will turn a hallway into a roadside prairie. The hall will be the road; the walls will be the roadside.

Create a Wildflower Coloring Book

This activity is designed for young students to begin to recognize certain Iowa wildflowers.

Create Your Own Identification Guide

This activity is designed for students to become familiar with some of the native plants of Iowa, expecially those seen along a roadside.

Cross Sectioning a Roadside

Students will construct a cross-section of a roadside.

Developing An Aesthetic Appreciation of a Roadside Prairie Ecosystem

Students will visit a prairie site and participate in individual or small-team prairie appreciation experiences. Journaling through notes, sketches, and photography will record the visit for classroom follow-up.

Disappearing Drips

Students will examine three types of soil to determine the differences in permeability.

Discovering Diversity

Students will learn the concept of diversity by exploring the similarities and differences between drawings they make and organisms they collect.

Ditch Math!

Students will research prairie-related statistics concerning the history and future of prairie in Iowa. Using these statistics, present and potential acreage for prairie maintenance/restoration/reconstruction will be calculated for their county or state.

Does the Media Influence Us?

Students will discover the various strategies used by the media to influence public opinion and policy.

Fire Ecologies

Students will discover the differences between burned and unburned prairie areas and develop an understanding of the positive and negative effects of burning.

Follow the Candy Trail

Students will learn to use a dichotomous key by "keying out" several different kinds of candy. Students will then learn to use the key to identify common roadside plants.

Litter Did You Know

Students will conduct a detailed study of roadside litter and develop a plan to reduce, reuse, or recycle it.

Mini Wetland

Students will discover and identify the major attributes of a wetland and explore roadsides for existence of wetlands.

Monoculture and Polyculture

Students will compare invertebrate life in a monoculture setting (cropland) with a polyculture setting (prairie roadside).

Nature's Nasty Neutralizer

Students will discover the use of roadside plants as pollutant neutralizers.

No Beginning ... No End

Students will learn the concept of cycles in nature by reading Chief Seattle's Challenge and applying his ideas to the four rings of a mobius strip.

Prairie Resources

An activity that allows students to discuss the value of prairie resources.

Roadside Erosion

Students will determine the destructive force of water in an unprotected roadside.

Roadside Map

Teams of students will map the plant patterns in a section of a roadside community.

Roadside Pollution

Students will discover, through observation and experimentation, the effects of pollution on plants and seeds.

Seed Collection Company

Students will develop a plan for seed collection and collect prairie plant seed from local roadsides and prairies.

Step Aside and Visualize

Students will read "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and draw a roadside as they visualize it. They will develop a "mind map" of the biotic characteristics of the roadside.

Succession

Students will compare roadsides in different stages of succession and relate these stages to the disturbances in the area.

To Mow or Not to Mow

Students will determine the economic difference between human and natural roadside maintenance.