Connecticut’s Freshwater Wetlands
Stephen P. Broker
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CLASSROOM MATERIALS
1. Slide Set, “Connecticut’s Freshwater Wetlands.” A collection of nearly 100 slides showing the plants, animals, geology, topography, and biological structure of six representative wetlands in the state (see above text). The 10-25 slides for each wetland can be used in a single day. No more than two different wetlands should be considered during a day. The slides are intended to generate thinking, reasoning, discussion and debate—and to assist the student in “seeing the forest for the trees”. 2. Freshly collected plant material consisting of woody and herbaceous plants from the wetlands described in this unit. Collected by the teacher (and perhaps students) during the teaching of this unit, the cuttings can be used for identification purposes and discarded, or prepared as herbarium specimens. (See my 1994 unit, “Climate and Ecology”, for further hints on this activity. 3. Vernal pool detritus samples, collected by the teacher in non-destructive fashion from a local vernal pool. These small samples of leaf litter and pond water are to be examined with dissecting microscope and hand lens for the invertebrate larvae and adults found in vernal pool habitat. 4. Current events folder. A collection of newspaper, magazine and journal articles gathered from the New York Times, New Haven Register, science journals and other publications in recent months. They deal with the present debate in legislative circles about wetlands and wetland policy and management.
