Florida's Hidden Invaders: Teaching Youth About Invasive Species

Welcome back to our Florida’s Hidden Invaders Blog Series where we focus on spreading awareness of invasive species and their impacts. In this section we will focus on teaching youth about invasive species.

Studies show that learning through movement supports physical health, classroom engagement, and often academic achievement without reducing instructional time, making it a practical strategy for elementary education (Petrigna et al., 2022). The past two summers I’ve taught interactive activity on avoiding invasive species during the 4-H Youth Development – Orange County Summer Camps. This blog will spotlight the various methods I’ve developed to teach invasive species to youth.

Invasive Species Most Wanted Poster

Most students are familiar with endangered species. I used it as my hook to transition to native species and invasive species. I had a short slide show to introduce the key terms and the students followed along on their corresponding guided notes. The slides underline the words that are to be filled in on their handouts.

I start the presentation discussing animals and then ask them to ponder if endangered, native, and invasive plants exist as well. To be relatable to students, I focus on house plants that they may have at home. I brought in a display of Swiss Cheese Plant, Snake Plant, Pothos, and Wax Begonias for the students to see.

The students developed MOST WANTED ads for one of the 4 house plants on display. I created youth-friendly fact sheets that they students utilized to fill out their wanted poster. This activity called for creativity with drawing the plant as well as reading comprehension as they read through the fact sheet. If they finished early, I had 2 bonus pages of a word search to familiarize themselves with they key terms as well as a coloring page of invasive houseplants.

Invasive Species Relay Race

One day after a walk in the Exploration Garden, I accidentally tracked some plant debris back to my desk. This is what prompted developing a game that simulates various methods that invasives species are spread. I divided students up into groups and we played 4 rounds, each with a different challenge. There was a starting line and a bucket at the finish line for them to place their ping pong ball in.

Materials:

Pom-pom balls or ping pong balls (1 per student)
Painters tape or duct tape
Plastic spoons (1 per student)
Handheld fans (1 per team)
Buckets (1 per team)

Directions:

Round 1: Each member will receive their own spoon. Placing the spoon in your mouth, you must balance the pop-pom ball on the spoon and place it in the bucket at the finish line.
Round 2: Using a fan, you must blow your pop-pom ball from the starting line to the finish line.
Round 3: Every group member will get a piece of tape around their hand. Keeping your hand flat and your palm facing the floor, you must carry the pom-pom ball from the starting line to the finish line. If it falls, you must use the tape to pick it up.
Round 4: One at a time, each member will crawl from the starting line to the finish line and must use one of the 3 methods to bring their pom pom (plastic spoon, tape, or fan).

Class Discussion:

We wrapped up with a class discussion on how each round of the relay race represented a method of how invasive species spread. The spoon represented a bird’s beak, and that they eat seeds and poop the seeds out somewhere else. The fan represented seeds blowing away in the wind. Tape represented plant debris accidentally sticking to a surface and being moved from one place to the next. And the crawling represented plants that have underground root systems that can spread.

The students enjoyed the physical activity! The movement helped them understand the different methods and at the end of class 100% (n=17) of the students could explain how invasive species spread.

Resources:

Invasive Species Wanted Poster Worksheet
Fill in the Blank Notes, Coloring Sheet, and Word Search Worksheet
Corresponding Presentation Natives, Invasives, and Endangered Species
Fact Sheets about 4 Common Invasive House Plants
Invasive Species Relay Race Handout

Don’t forget to check out the other blogs in our Florida’s Hidden Invaders Blog Series!

Sources:

Petrigna, L., Thomas, E., Brusa, J., Rizzo, F., Scardina, A., Galassi, C., Lo Verde, D., Caramazza, G., & Bellafiore, M. (2022). Does learning through movement improve academic performance in primary schoolchildren? A systematic review. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 10, 841582. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.841582