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Bog Meadow
Brook Nature Trail Educator’s Guide
The Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail Educator’s
Guide was developed to facilitate greater understanding of the Trail
and its surroundings. Because the Bog Meadowbrook Nature Trail is
easily accessible and provides contact with three wetland communities,
we feel the area is an ideal outdoor classroom. The Educator’s
Guide will help you integrate Bog Meadow Brook and its wonderful
wetland communities into your classroom activities, scout outings,
or family recreation.
The Bog Meadowbrook Nature Trail Educator’s Guide includes
general wetlands information, local history, and activities for
all ages. If you are interested in borrowing a guide, please contact
us at (518) 587-5554. The Guides may be borrowed for up to two weeks.
 Sample
Lesson Plan -- Plants and Pollution
Adapted from the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center
Objective: Students will understand how wetland
plants remove pollutants.
Method: Students model how wetland plants remove
pollutants.
Materials: A few stalks of celery, glasses or
jars, food coloring
Background: Water carries many substances. Many
materials dissolve in water and cannot be seen while other materials,
such as sediments, are carried in suspension (small particles floating
around). Some things carried by water are good for plants and animals.
Dissolved calcium helps marine organisms build shells. Other substances
in the water may be harmful, such as pesticides, heavy metals, oils
and other wastes. Wetland plants are excellent filters because of
their location between the land and water. This allows them to intercept
and assimilate pollutants before they enter a watershed. However,
wetlands cannot solve our pollution problems since every wetland
has a limited capacity to absorb nutrients, metals, sediments, etc.
Overloading a wetland with pollution reduces its ability to serve
this function.
Procedure:
- Add several drops of food coloring (represents pollution by
a toxic substance) to water in a jar.
- Cut off bottom of celery stalks (represent wetland plants,
such as cattails and grasses) and place them in jars overnight.
- Observe the celery on day 2 to see that the colored water has
visibly soaked up (called osmosis) into the stalks. If the dye
is not visible on the outside of the stalk, break it open to see
the coloring inside the plant tissue.
Questions to answer:
- How do wetland plants help purify (clean) water?
- Why is the water remaining in the jar still “polluted”?
(Do plants get full?)
- What happens to the pollutants? (Do plants live forever?)
- Why can’t we dump all our wastewater into wetlands?
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