Format
Teacher directed pre-session activities
- 15-20 minutes: Have student groups with computers go through the linked presentation found on the Teacher's Guide ("Why are National Parks Important?") Students do a worksheet to help them start thinking about cave environments (also found on the Teacher's Guide).
Test connection meeting
- Educator has a 10 minute connection test with our team. This allows time to sort any technical issues and understand your specific classroom’s needs.
Distance learning live session
- 30 - 45 minute Cave Bacon Concentration live session program. We will have 10-15 minutes at the end for student’s questions.
Teacher-directed post-session activities
- Have students discover and research speleothems not discussed during the distance learning session (worksheet found in the Teacher's Guide).
Objectives
- Students will gain an appreciation for why we have national parks.
- Students will gain an appreciation for cave systems, how water shapes the earth, and the fragility of cave ecosystems.
- Students will understand how different speleothems are categorized based on their mineral composition and formation.
Standards Alignment
National Standards
ESS2C 3-5 -- The roles of water in Earth's surface processes
Specific Next Generation Science Standards
4-ESS-1 - Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
4-ESS-2 - Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
5-ESS2-1 - Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.