Collier Middle School Students Get Hands-On Science in the SWAMP!

I love the swamp, I have to admit. It’s lush, bursting with flora and fauna and peace. Some of you may have visited Corkscrew Swamp, the Big Cypress Boardwalk or participated in the Clyde Butcher Swamp Walk. If so, you may have an inkling of the beauty and serenity that permeates into your soul. Besides walking, another way to immerse yourself in the swamp is to kayak or canoe some of the backwater rivers where you’ll experience the sound of your paddle and the gliding of your boat punctuated by occasional bird calls.

With this background, I happily accepted an invitation to chaperone a field trip of middle school students to the Big Cypress National Preserve to have hands-on experiences learning about the swamp ecosystem. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Collier County School District and the Big Cypress National Preserve, field trips are conducted on site with official U.S. National Park Service personnel. 

For those of you not familiar with the Preserve, it is the size of Rhode Island and is the nation’s first national preserve. Big Cypress National Preserve protects over 700,000 acres of South Florida swamp land, thanks to the coordinated efforts of environmentalists, Seminoles, Miccosukees, sportsmen and more who worked together to oppose the development of the world’s largest Jetport set to happen in that location.

Well before they arrived at the Big Cypress National Preserve, their teachers prepared the students well with instruction and practice that whetted their intellect and imagination. Uniformed Park Rangers headed up each of the three groups of about 10 students in each, along with park interns, chaperones, their science teacher and school science coach, but for the field work, they were further divided into groups of four so everyone had an opportunity to make the observations and record them.

Rest assured that the students were schooled with comprehensive safety instructions along with brilliant, orange vests and walking sticks to help them stay upright when walking through the created water trails with its surprises of rocks, Cypress roots and deeper holes to be aware of. Thank goodness I heard what they heard.

Little did I know that these students had no previous experience either seeing a swamp environment, least of all wading through the waters of the swamp. As each took their first steps into the water, their eyes registered shock. The water was not exceedingly cold but was not bath water either. It was cold enough to register widened eyes until their legs adapted to the temperature.

What activities were the students exposed to? I’ll bet that most of the skills and experiences they had were those most of us didn’t have an opportunity to experience in our middle school lives. Here are some examples; taking measurements of the depth of soil in three different habitats - prairie, pine uplands and cypress swamp - which varied in depth. The types of soils in each location were examined and identified through the use of a field guide given to each group. Additionally, with supervision, the students did tests on wind direction, wind speed, cloud identification, humidity, water quality, water Ph, as well as collecting specimens from the water to identify.

The students really enjoyed the identification of the mystery bones and were glued to the clues and observations made by Ranger Joseph and Intern Ella. The professionals posed questions about each bone and encouraged the students to identify the bones similar in their bodies. As a further test, the students were challenged to determine the cause of death for the mystery animal and look for clues to the circumstances of its death. Great observations and fact finding, just like the typical ranger’s job. We also learned to identify the flowers, trees, grasses that are prevalent in each area and the importance of controlled burns that the staff sometimes have to plan, in addition to a great selection of birds that were identified. 

Another activity which captivated the students was learning about how biologists track collared panthers. Students experienced assembling radar and connecting the receiver to the radar and how to interpret the signals and follow them to track the panther. I won’t tell you about the panther they found because it would spoil it for other future students fortunate to experience the natural environment with these stimulating learning experiences. Students worked together in their sub-groups to complete the questions in the field guides with the understanding they would be turned into their teacher for grading after the end of the onsite exploration.

Hopefully, they will remember this experience and apply their skills to future challenges. Maybe there will be some future park service professionals or inventors that design better ways to track animals. Who knows? The sky’s the limit!