Dyke Marsh: Stability Through Diversity

To the Teacher

Stability and diversity are key concepts in ecology. Scientists believe that diversity helps make an environmental system more stable, and therefore better able to adapt to change.

As your students will come to learn, Dyke Marsh is a study in change. Through dyking, dredging and filling, it has been altered repeatedly since the 1800s. Though it supports a diverse plant and animal community -- nearly 300 species of birds have been sighted here -- Dyke Marsh is a wetland system under increasing pressure from non-native flora and fauna. This makes for a powerful learning experience about biodiversity, the marsh's avian community and the importance freshwater tidal wetlands play in the environment, our economy and our recreational pursuits.

Dyke Marsh: Stability Through Diversity is a Parks As Classrooms program designed to help students in grades six through eight to develop the skills necessary to learn about wetlands and biodiversity. Like all Parks As Classrooms programs, it was developed in cooperation with teachers to compliment and enhance existing curriculum.

While park specific, each program takes concepts students learn in the classroom and applies them to field situations in a national park. These Parks As Classrooms pages will prepare students for visiting Dyke Marsh, providing background information and activities that can be used in the classroom.

This Web site is broken down into several sections. The Program Description provides a sense of what students will be experiencing on their visit to the marsh. This section also includes program logistics and a sample itinerary.

Following a statement of the program's theme and objectives, there is background information about Dyke Marsh. Please share this information with students prior to your visit and make use of it while conducting the activities.

The pre-visit and post-visit activities are designed to support the program's theme and objectives. Pre-visit activities will provide students with the information they need for a positive and meaningful experience at the wetland. Post-visit activities are designed to reinforce the concepts students learned during their park visit.

Also included are guidelines addressing safety issues, chaperones, items to bring on the day of your visit and a list of terms that students should be familiar with prior to their visit to Dyke Marsh. Please make note of the evaluation form for Dyke Marsh: Stability Through Diversity. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will help upgrade and further develop this Parks as Classrooms program.

And of course, this program would not have been possible without the assistance of numerous people. The National Park Service gratefully acknowledges their contributions.

Thank you for participating in the Parks As Classrooms program. Should you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact the Parks as Classrooms Program Coordinator at (703) 289-2556 or write to the Virginia District, George Washington Memorial Parkway.

See You at the Marsh!