1. Prairie As An Educational Resource: Developing Prairie- Related Classroom Materials around the Indian Boundary Park Lagoon/Prairie By Francis Sohn

2. Introduction Indian Boundary Park has a long history. Its name stems from a treaty signed in 1816 between the Pottawattomie Indians and the U.S. government. Back then, it would have looked much differently than it did today – uncultivated, natural, wild, and free. It was first cultivated in 1834 by an Irish immigrant, Phillip Rogers, from whom the neighborhood takes its name. Today the park serves as a nexus of culture and community for the diverse ethnic groups in the area; its field house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

3. Personal Motivation When I first approached this project, I approached it as an assignment, something I had to do. In the meantime, I got a job as a tutor for several Chicago Public School students, and I was inspired by that in two ways. First, it saw that their knowledge of their own neighborhood is woefully inadequate, and second, I remembered the quality education I received from the same system in a different area of the city. As a student in a gifted program, there was naturally more money and therefore a greater range of activities available to me as a student than at a regular neighborhood school. I see this project, developing educational resources for community schools, as a way to give back to the community and help students get in touch with the history and ecology of a wonderful local park. All of that said, there is a selfish reason I want to do this project as well; I want to see if I have any real talent for interacting in this way with grade school children, as a potential indicator of whether or not I should continue with my desire to teach.

4. Goals Intro 15 Schools within a 10 minute drive, most within walking distance 2 Ways to aide natural science learning: –Resource-aided self-development of ecological knowledge –Hands-on maintainence of the area under supervision

5. Goal Set 1: Self-development of ecological knowledge 2 Types of Goals –Development of naturalist guide, other ecological materials –Integration thereof into an educational program for grade-school children

6. Goal Set 1 1.1 Species Survey 1.2 Area Signage 1.3 Indian Boundary Park Naturalist Guide 1.4 Develop educational materials with CPS teachers.

7. Goal Set 2 2.1 Identify areas for possible natural area expansion 2.2 Separate areas into school plots