Plants & Pollen Resources

Nature Explore Education from the National Arbor Day Foundation: A complete research-based program of fun, effective resources to help educators, families, and others working to connect children with nature. Nature Explore Classrooms are being constructed at schools; nature centers; national forests, parks, and wildlife refuges; zoos; arboretums; and child care centers. They are appropriate wherever a traditional playground might be built.

K-12 Resources from the American Society of Plant Biologists: Includes video resources, links, classroom materials, news, science fair tips, and more.

USDA National Invasive Species Information Center: Contains links to educational tools useful for teaching K-12 students for invasive plant species, organized by type of organization.

K-12 Resources from the Center for Invasive Plant Management: Links to dozens of online teaching materials, plus science fair resource links.

Native Plants Trunk from Montana FWP: Learn the magic of Montana’s native plants! Created by the Montana Native Plant Society, this trunk is rich in materials, field guides, curriculum, and visual aids to identify plants native to this Rocky Mountain Palouse prairie region.

Montana War on Weeds Education Curriculum: Numerous educational materials related to noxious weeds in Montana.

Pollinator Partnership Education Page: Links to a wide variety of lessons related to plants and pollination.

Xerxes Society Pollinator Conservation: The Xerces Society is a nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Their Pollinator Conservation program offers educational materials and resources specifically about pollinators.

Partners in Pollination from the Smithsonian: Includes three lesson plans and additional resources addressing plants, animals and pollination.

Pollination Parties!: A lesson plan with additional materials from Discovery Education.

Pollinator Friendly Planting Guides: From the Pollinator Partnership, downloadable and printable pdf files of native planting information for many different types of ecosystems and regions in the U.S.

Pollinators from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Includes news and activities as well as lesson plans related to pollinators.

How to Collect, Press & Mount Plants: From the Montana State University Extension Office, this pdf article explains how to collect, press, and mount plants.

Modified Stems from Backyardnature.net: A detailed introduction to stem modifications.

The Parts of a Flower: Interactive flower parts puzzle, click through to view each flower part and read a complete description of each part and its function.

Plant Structure: Detailed information on plant structure and tissue types from the University of California Museum of Paleontology.

Eplantscience.com: An online study and reference site for researchers and students in botany.

Arizona Master Gardener Manual: A comprehensive gardening and botany reference from the College of Agriculture at the University of Arizona.

Montana Master Gardener Program: Information about Montana’s Master Gardener Program from Montana State University.

2002 List of Ecological Communities for Montana (pdf) from the Montana Natural Heritage Program.

 

Video Resources

Pollination, Plants & Insects: This YouTube video explains an interesting and complex pollination process involving insects and milkweed. Pollination in this common plant is very similar to the pollination of orchids. The video is designed as a resource for teaching plant biology, particularly plant-insect relationships.

Flower Pollination: This YouTube video presents an overview of pollination.

Plant Reproduction: Methods of Pollination: Another YouTube video presenting an overview of pollination, from the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Co-evolution of Plants and Pollinators: From the American Field Guide at pbs.org, this lesson plan is targeted to grades 9-12, but also includes several video clips illustrating plants and pollinators.

Capturing Fast Pollen Tube Growth on Camera: From Physorg.com, in this video University of Massachusetts Amherst plant cell biologist Peter Hepler and colleagues have captured some of the fastest growing tissues known to advance understanding of fertilization processes critical to development of all fruits, nuts, grains, rice, corn, wheat and other crops we depend on for food.

 

Hard-Copy Resources

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods. Click here to see information about the book on amazon.com.

Wilson, Edward O. 1999. The Diversity of Life. Click here to see information about the book on amazon.com.

Clements, F.E. 1916. Plant succession: an analysis of the development of vegetation. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC, US. Click here to view the complete book online.

Egler, F.E. 1954. Vegetation science concepts. Initial floristic composition-a factor in old-field vegetation development. Vegetatio. 4: 412-417.

Kuo, F.; Sullivan,W. 2001. Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime? Environment and Behavior 33(3). Click here for more information.

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The MSP project is funded by an ESEA, Title II Part B Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant through the Montana Office of Public Instruction. MSP was developed by the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program and faculty from Montana Tech of The University of Montana and Montana State University, with support from other Montana University System Faculty.