| Together, the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants (CAIP) and the Invasive Plant Management Section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission developed a unique partnership with Florida educators to develop and distribute educational curricula about aquatic invasive plant management in Florida. Now that the core curriculum is in place, a number of tasks were completed this year that are less glamorous but equally important (and time consuming).In addition to the continued delivery of audio-visual presentations and related activities for each of the four main modules on the Florida Invasive Plant Education Initiative website, several supplemental resources were developed and/or further revised in an effort to enhance the curricula and provide additional incentives for teachers to use the materials. This included the completion of FCAT-style questions for each module; continued ‘linkage’ of lessons/activities to the Florida Sunshine State Standards and further development of Manage This! -the new multi-faceted classroom activity that provides students a chance to stretch their critical thinking skills, practice civil responsibility while learning just how difficult it can be to make plant and wildlife management decisions. This year also provided an opportunity to step back and develop an evaluation instrument that is being used to assess the impacts of our outreach efforts among the 200-plus teachers who attended workshops that CAIP has held or co-hosted since 2006. Results of the evaluation will guide the future direction for this initiative, including the development of lessons, activities, materials, and workshops. In an effort to cost-share and further leverage limited resources during the current economic climate, the FWC-CAIP Education Initiative has fostered a number of partnerships with other groups and agencies. For example, CAIP staff work continue to work with Project WILD (FWC’s environmental education program) and also the Osceola County Cooperative Extension Service to organize and co-host a number of teacher workshops this year. As well, the CAIP-Osceola County partnership resulted in the development and production of numerous outreach print materials about aquatic invasive plants, and an online student “Invasive Plant Video Festival” project, that is currently underway. Continued cooperation between CAIP, FWC and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection resulted in the production of invasive plant brochures for fourteen more state parks and yet another partnership between staff from CAIP, the Aquatic Plant Management Society, and FWC resulted in the production and publication of an online interactive booklet, Understanding Invasive Aquatic Weeds, using the latest “flash” technology. |
