Let’s pretend for a moment…

You have just been given the job of developing plans for the “campus forest” natural area complete with trail and interpretive signs for the public.  Imagine yourself as the park manager – you decide which natural treasures you want to highlight for park visitors to learn about, what your mission for your park is, and what your park rules are.  You will create educational, interpretive signage to be placed along the trail for the public to read.  You will also take us on a tour of your park when you are finished!

This is your only major project for the quarter.  I expect you will have to do quite a few hours of research on your sign topics, and many more hours of work to create the signs.  Check the class web page for links to get you started on your research.

Project Requirements:

1)  Interpretive Signage Categories  You must create one sign for each of the following categories, and 2 additional signs of your choice, for a total of 9 signs:

• How to I.D. at least one plant (or how to differentiate between two plants that appear similar)
• Discuss some aspect of plant growth (seed or flower development, photosynthesis, respiration, etc. etc.)
• The ethnobotanical uses of a specific plant
• Description of a forest ecosystem component (something that is part of the forest)
• Information on soil, fungi, lichen, or a moss
• A plant adaptation
• An environmental benefit provided by a plant (bank stabilization, oxygen producer, shade provider, animal habitat, nitrogen fixer, etc.)
• At least 2 signs of your choice (some ideas might be how humans interact with nature, watershed information, a poem you write about the place, etc., etc.)

à signs should be on 8.5 x 11” paper

à the category the sign represents should be written on the back of the sign, along with the bibliography

2)  Turn in the following on a separate piece of paper, type written:

·        Your park name

·        A written park mission statement (at least one paragraph)

·        Park policies or rules and explanations for the rules (do you need to restrict use in order to preserve the park?)

3)  Guided Tour 

On the last day of class you will take us on a tour of your park, presenting your two favorite signs placed within your park, and answering any questions about the sign topics.  (You should know more about your topic than what is written on the sign!)  A “People’s Choice” Award will be given to the class’s favorite sign.

4)  Bibliographic Information  As you do your research, summarize in your own words what you have read and write it down, followed by the page numbers of those ideas.  Then write down the bibliographic information for that source on the top of the page.  As you create your signs using those research notes, write on the back of the sign (the author name, year of publication, and page number) pertinent to the particular information or graphic you used on that sign. 

You must also turn in a typed, alphabetized, annotated bibliography of ALL of your sources on the last day of class. The information on the back of your signs will correspond to the sources on your final bibliography, which must be turned in along with your signs.  Without this information I will not assign your project a grade.  In addition, you will be asked on the last day of class to sign the attached paper stating that you did not plagiarize your information.  I will check each source for plagiarism (and relevance.)  Students who plagiarize will be failed and reported to the department.

5)  Bibliography and Rough Drafts  On November 10^th you will turn in your current annotated bibliography (with at least 5 sources) and a copy of your rough draft of your signs or sign ideas, or research notes.  If you fail to meet this due date, no credit will be given for your rough draft; each week your bibliography is late you will lose 10%.

Please visit the campus library in the Dye Learning Center to find information on forest ecosystems.  Ask a librarian to help you, or browse the shelves in the following areas for books:

QK 98 – 99    Edible Plants                         QK 115-149   Flowering Plants

QK 192           Ethnobotany                           QK 477-482   Trees

QK 525           Ferns                                      QK 581           Lichens

QK 617           Mushrooms                            QK 711           Plant Physiology

You can also use the internet.  Check out the class web page http://dl.clackamas.edu/tsheller/   for links, or search on your own (using the scientific name of the item you are looking for will give you better info.)

Sign Guidelines

According to John Veverka in Interpretive Master Planning, visitors remember about 30% of what they read on a sign, 50% of what they see, and 90% of what they do.

• Your signs should encourage visitors to DO something like “touch the…”, “smell the…”, “look at…”, “compare the…”, etc
• Aim for about 100 words of text on each sign – not more than 2 short paragraphs. 
• If you use technical or scientific terms on your signs, define them.
• Graphics are very important on signs; pick one that is appropriate and best shows what you want to convey at that station.  However, don’t use a drawing of what we can already see next to the sign, try to illustrate concepts instead.  For example, if your signs reads “Sword fern leaves can be used to stuff a mattress”, add a picture of a bed mattress, not a picture of a sword fern.  Your source for your graphics should be listed in your bibliography.

• Your signs should be unified and consistent (i.e., it shouldn’t look like you did half of the signs on the computer, then ran out of time and hand-wrote half of the signs.)  For this reason you may want to wait until you have decided on the topics and information for all of your signs before you begin creating them.
• Add the sign category on the back of the sign.
• Do not forget to put the appropriate bibliographic information on the back of your signs or you will not receive a grade.

Project Grading

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