Distance Learning with National Parks
What better place to explore geology than at the national parks?! I have been sharing my love for the national parks with my students for years. Now, we can share that love with even more classrooms through distance learning with national parks.
Each week, a different national park will be featured to springboard student learning. Distance learning activities are developed around the earth science content related to the week’s featured national park.
Week 1 – Badlands National Park
Week 2 – Crater Lake National Park
Week 3 – Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Week 4 – Joshua Tree National Park
Week 5 – Grand Canyon National Park
Week 6 – Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Week 7 – Yosemite National Park
Do you love visiting national parks? Do you also want to write your own NGSS aligned storylines? Join me for spring break in Zion National Park! Teacher Travel + Professional Development! What could be better?
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How to Use These Videos
Full disclosure: I am a science teacher, not a videographer. These videos share my experiences and knowledge about featured national parks to get students interested in the geological features. The real learning comes from activities students will complete based around the featured park.
Here’s a quick run-down of what these videos are NOT:
- Explanations of processes that occur
- Specific questions for students to explore
- Detailed information about the geological features
These videos are meant to:
- Spark curiosity about the parks
- Bring a personal perspective to experiencing the parks
- Guide students to develop driving questions
- Highlight unique geological features
- Introduce a week of activities based on the featured park
Badlands National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- formation of sedimentary rocks
- weathering & erosion
- constructive & destructive forces
- how fossils form
- studying extinct animals from fossils
Student Activities
Are you feeling overwhelmed in this transition to distance learning? This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Formation of Sedimentary Rocks
Day 3 – Weathering & Erosion
Day 4 – Formation of Fossils
Day 5 – Research an Extinct Animal @ Badlands NP
Crater Lake National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- plate tectonics
- types of volcanoes
- formation of calderas
- caldera on Mars
Student Activities
Are you feeling overwhelmed in this transition to distance learning? This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Types of Plate Boundaries
Day 3 – Types of Volcanoes
Day 4 – Formation of Calderas
Day 5 – Caldera on Mars @ Olympus Mons
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- identifying igneous rocks
- how volcanoes affect people
- assessing the risk of a volcano
- hotspot formation of Hawaii
Student Activities
Are you feeling overwhelmed in this transition to distance learning? This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Virtual Tour & Igneous Rocks
Day 3 – Hotspot Formation of Hawaii
Day 4 – Volcanoes & People
Day 5 – Assessing Risk of Volcanic Eruption
Joshua Tree National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- epicenter vs. focus
- faults
- what causes earthquakes
- types of seismic waves
- earthquake safety
- seismic activity due to humans
Student Activities
Are you feeling overwhelmed in this transition to distance learning? This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Earthquakes in Joshua Tree
Day 3 – GEO podcast: Earthquakes
Day 4 – Types of Seismic Waves & Human Activity
Day 5 – Types of Faults
Grand Canyon National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- types sedimentary rock
- relative dating
- weathering & erosion
- constructive and destructive forces
- human impact on rivers
Student Activities
Are you feeling overwhelmed in this transition to distance learning? This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Types of Sedimentary Rocks
Day 3 – Relative Dating
Day 4 – Role of the Colorado River
Day 5 – Human Impact on Rivers
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- convergent boundaries
- geological history & people
- reading a topographic map
- elevation & temperature
Student Activities
Are you feeling overwhelmed in this transition to distance learning? This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Convergent Boundaries & Mountain Building
Day 3 – Geological History of Appalachia
Day 4 – Elevation in Smoky Mountains National Park
Day 5 – Elevation & Temperature
Yosemite National Park
Introduction Video
Click on the button above to easily copy the link to share with your students.
Concepts to include:
- intrusive igneous rocks
- all about granite
- igneous intrusions
- geological changes – rockfall
Student Activities
This complete set of activities are 100% ready for your students. Simply share the Google Slides with your students, they’ll make a copy, and do their work directly on the slide.
Each day is designed to take between 10-20 minutes for students to complete. Answer keys for each activity are included.
When a new national park video is released, you’ll also have access to that week’s activities. They’ll always be $5 for a complete set of activities, including answer keys.
Day 1 – Develop Driving Questions
Day 2 – Identifying Intrusive Igneous Rock
Day 3 – All About Granite
Day 4 – Explore Igneous Intrusions
Day 5 – Assessing Rockfall
I hope that you and your students enjoy the videos and get excited about the geological features in the national parks!
Please reach out to me at teacheronatrip@gmail.com if you have any questions or I can provide any additional support.
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Thanks so much for doing this! I can’t wait to share it with my students!
You’re welcome and I hope they enjoy it!
Oh. My. Goodness!! Alyssa – this is seriously making me tear up and cry! What a blessing you are to me and my students. I have 5 Science mods to turn into Google and Zoom classrooms by the end of the week and the Earth Science class was one of my truly difficult transitions.
But then, YOU!
Wow.
I love this and I am definitely sticking with you for all your videos. Thank you, also, for the TPT worksheets. I know how much work that is, because I’ve done it for my A&P and Bio classes.
There aren’t enough ways to say thank you!
I’m so glad that it was a help to you and your students! It’s great to get that feedback and keeps me motivated to make more. 🙂