The goal of environmental education is not to provide answers.
Rather, it provides a forum in which learners may individually and collectively formulate their own answers.
This Educator’s Guide is designed to help facilitate the process of discovery, learning, and enjoyment of the West Eugene Wetlands. It includes information about the field trip program, the wetlands and their natural resources, suggested pre-visit, field trip, and post-visit activities, and reference and resource information. This guide is designed to feature the natural ecology of West Eugene Wetlands focusing on the Willamette Wet Prairie. We hope this guide will assist you in incorporating these materials into your classroom or organizations’ activities as well as encouraging you to partake in a great outdoor learning experience. The guide is designed to complement the City of Eugene’s SPLASH program and Oregon science kits.
The following links will download sections of the manual to your computer for reading online, or printing. Adobe Acrobat is required, and may be downloaded here.
Activity Components ... v
This section provides background information about the West Eugene Wetlands, its habitats, plants and animals, and the Long Tom Watershed.
West Eugene Wetlands Resources Sheet ... 1-1
Wonders of the Wetlands ... 1-3
West Eugene Wetlands Maps ... 1-7
Endangered Species ... 1-11
Long Tom River Watershed ... 1-15
Long Tom River Watershed Map ... 1-17
What Kinds of Habitats Occur in West Eugene? ... 1-19
This section has information that provides assistance to educators planning a field trip, including a checklist and planning sheet that must be sent to the Environmental Education Center at least two weeks before the field trip. This section also contains adult handouts – pages to copy and distribute to activity leaders and chaperones. Educators need to become familiar with all handouts.
The entire PDF document is 1.6MB, and may be downloaded in its entirety by clicking on the section link above. Due to its large size, the individual components are available separately below:
Goals and Concepts of Environmental Education ... 2-1
Basic Ecological Concepts... 2-2
West Eugene Wetland Field Trips ... 2-3
Field Trip Registration Form ... 2-5
Field Trip Evaluation Form ... 2-7
Classroom Presentations ... 2-9
Classroom Presentation Registration Form ... 2-11
Classroom Presentation Evaluation Form ... 2-13
Field Trip Permission and Medical Information Form/Photo Release ... 2-15
Field Trip Teaching Hints ... 2-17
Field Trip Behavior Guidelines ... 2-21
Emergency Procedures ... 2-23
Volunteer Certificate ... 2-25
This section contains activities that educators can do to prepare their students for the field trip.
Learning Assessments ... 3-1
Preparing Students for the Field Trip ... 3-9
Sensing Nature ... 3-17
What is a Wetland? ... 3-23
Habitats and Food Chains ... 3-29
This section has activities that can be done at the West Eugene Wetlands. Educators choose the activities to be done during their field trip. Educators provide copies of the student worksheets needed for their activities. All other materials are will be provided by the Wetland Education program.
Watershed Connection ... 4-1
Wetlands Soils ... 4-9
Soil and Water ... 4-17
West Eugene Wetland Plants ... 4-23
Seeds on the Go ... 4-35
Exploring West Eugene Wetland Habitats ... 4-43
Home Sweet Home ... 4-51
Who’s for Dinner? ... 4-57
Mini-Beasts Discovery ... 4-61
This section contains activities that educators can do with their students, either before, during, or after the field trip. The activities are designed to introduce concepts and information or extend and apply knowledge taught at the West Eugene Wetlands. Many of the activities are interdisciplinary.
Watershed Model (Pre/Site/Post) ... 5-1
Animals and Plants of West Eugene Wetland Habitats (Post) ... 5-5
Wet Prairie Food Web (Site/Post) ... 5-7
West Eugene Wetland Hotel (Pre/Post) ... 5-13
What can I eat with this beak? (Site/Post) ... 5-21
Design a Bird (Post) ... 5-25
The Key to Categorization and Classification (Pre/Post) ... 5-29
This section provides educators with stewardship information and activities including resources for community action projects.
Wetland and Watershed Watchers ... 6-1
This section provides educators with information about how to correlate West Eugene Wetland activities to all subject area benchmarks for third and fifth grade.
Oregon Standards/Benchmarks ... 7-1
Oregon Standards/Benchmarks Correlations ... 7-7
This section provides educators with information about educational theories and objectives and how these apply to a unit of study on the West Eugene Wetlands.
Matching Science Processes and Content With Children’s
Cognitive Development ... 8-1
Pattern Shapers ... 8-3
Science Inquiry ... 8-5
The Triune Brain: Three Brains in One ... 8-7
Theme Building ... 8-9
The “Constructivist” View of Learning Theory ... 8-11
Ways Environment-Based Education Can Benefit Educational Practices ... 8-13
Experience and Learning ... 8-15
Multicultural Education ... 8-17
This section contains a list of alternative activities, vocabulary used in the guide, and lists of educator and student resources.
Alternative to Written Reports ... 9-1
Glossary ... 9-5
Educator Resources ... 9-15
Website Sources ... 9-19
Other Resources ... 9-21
Birds 1 thru 6 Birds 7 thru 12 Birds 13 thru 18 Birds 19 thru 24 Birds 25 thru 27
Insects 1 thru 6 Insects 7 thru 12 Insects 13 thru 18
Mammals 1 thru 6 Mammals 7 thru 9
Plants 1 thru 6 Plants 7 thru 12 Plants 13 thru 18 Plants 19 thru 24 Plants 25 thru 30 Plants 31 thru 33
