The Swamp Water and Me Program (S.W.A.M.P.), is a hands-on, curriculum-based program with the 6th grade students and their teachers from the Collier County School System. Students are led by a ranger into a cypress strand, prairie and pineland to participate in activities, conduct field experiments and collect data. This is done using scientific equipment such as radio telemetry, G.P.S., water quality testing, dip netting, soil sampling, animal and vegetation identification and weather monitoring. The data collected in their scientist data notebook is used in activities back in the classroom.
While the program is participated in by the science teacher and science classes it is an interdisciplinary program in which much of the information is also used by the teachers in language arts, math, art and social studies classes.
Approximately 3,000 Collier County Students will participate in this program this year along with 28, 6th grade science teachers and approximately 300 parent chaperones.
Through this hands-on inquiry-based experience in the classroom and in the field, students who participate in S.W.A.M.P. will have a long lasting effect on their scientific learning skills and their perception of the natural world. In turn it will promote an awareness of the South Florida ecosystem, the threats that face the inhabitants of the preserve and of other remaining wild areas of the country. As students come to a clearer understanding of their connections and responsibilities to the natural world, it is believed that they will become better informed citizens, community leaders and stewards of this fragile and unique environment. Schools and teachers benefit by having an experiential learning device to fulfill required standards.
SWAMP Teachers Guide
- For more information about the S.W.A.M.P. program contact the Big Cypress National Preserve Environmental Education and Outreach Office at 239-695-1164, or by email.
