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Dear Educator -

Amphibian Alert! This downloadable curriculum aims to teach children what amphibians are and why amphibian population declines are important to scientists and communities throughout the world. The amphibian decline dilemma represents an outstanding opportunity for educators to introduce into the classroom a real-world problem that is being addressed by science. You need not be a science specialist to teach the Amphibian Alert! curriculum.

Amphibian Alert! was developed, produced, and distributed with major funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. Kits were distributed to AZA accredited zoos throughout the United States. The kits included some multimedia tools not available on this site. You might check with your local AZA zoo, as they may be able to loan materials to classrooms.

The curriculum targets age groups from grades 2-5 (ages 7 – 11). However, many activities can easily be adapted for other ages and ability levels. The activities herein meet several of the content standards as outlined in the National Science Education Standards. The major thematic concepts woven into the activities are:

  1. What are the characteristics of amphibians?
  2. What characteristics put them at risk?
  3. What is happening to amphibian populations worldwide?
  4. Why should we be concerned, and what can we do?

Frogs are well loved by children, yet traditionally very little is taught in classrooms about frogs and other amphibians. Textbooks generally afford them very little space and we as adults greatly underestimate their role in nature. Meanwhile, these small but charming and ecologically important animals are disappearing from our world. Through Amphibian Alert!, children can learn that some current human activities have caused unforeseen problems for amphibians and that by changing our habits we can begin to live more harmoniously with these animals and the rest of the natural world.

You are welcome to reproduce any of the classroom lesson plans and field activities with credit to the originating institution and Amphibian Alert!. We welcome your comments and suggestions for additional activities that may be included in future publication.

- DAPTF and AZA Amphibian TAG Education Committees

Use the below links to download curriculum and other resources.   If you have trouble downloading any of the Amphibian Alert! files please contact Sedgwick County Zoo at ask@scz.org.

Click here to learn more about Amphibian Declines.

 
 

 

 

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