Mike:



I was searching the forum and came across your post. I am a professional environmental educator and also do snake presentations (among other things) for schoolchildren. I would highly encourage you to attend a Project WILD and/or Project Learning Tree (PLT) workshop. Project WILD and PLT are internationally recognized environmental education curricula. I am sure that by attending the workshop(s) you will get a lot of new program ideas as well as a good deal of information on age/grade appropriate techniques (esp for the little ones!). I do not know what state you are in but every state has a WILD and PLT coordinator. You can go to their websites to find out more info:



www.plt.org

www.projectwild.org



Also, another middle/high school program idea would be to have the students construct a dichotomous key to identify your snakes. In my state, dicotomous keys are a part of the 7th and 9th grade science standards. Having the students look at the snakes for specific traits (keeled vs non-keeled scales, head shape, etc) gets them to view the snakes in an entirely different way and it makes a somewhat boring topic fun. Just an idea....



I am very curious to learn what you do during your genetics program. I am thinking about doing something similar. What species do you use and which traits. Please email me if you would like to discuss this further.



Take care!



Gail

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