College of the Atlantic > Summer Programs > Summer Courses for K-12 Teachers > Course Syllabi

Integrating National Park resources into your classroom studies.

Course Goals:
1) To investigate a wide range of earth science topics paired with real examples in the field. 2) To discuss ways of utilizing the vast number of curriculum resources the National Park Service has for classrooms. 3) To create a kit of earth science instructional models, activities, investigations, and reading to take back to your classroom. 4) To look at and experience methods of integrating earth science curricula into math, science, social studies, language arts, and art classes.

Field Trips:
We will take field trips daily regardless of the weather. Participants should wear proper footgear for hiking uneven surfaces, appropriate clothing for variable weather, and sunscreen. Participants should bring a non-glass water bottle. A day pack or fanny pack would be convenient.

Instructor:
Kate Petrie, M. Ed. Earth Science & Natural Resources
As the lead education ranger at Acadia National Park, Kate maintains Maine State Teaching Certification in Life and Physical Sciences. She is the Director of Acadia's Residential Education Program and serves as adjunct faculty at the College of the Atlantic and the University of Maine at Orono.

Text & Materials:
All texts, articles, and maps will be provided as part of the course. Students should bring a field notebook for completing field assignments.

Class Schedule:
     Monday  - 9:00 am Welcome, overview, & individual goals.
                      10:00 am Earth's Minerals Exhibit, & NPS resources for educators
                      11:00 am Lunch
                     12:00 pm Field trip, geology hike of Great Head
                     4:00 pm Shoreline features
                        5:00 pm Free Time

    Tuesday - 11:00 am Overnight field trip to Schoodic
                      12:00 pm Metamorphic processes at Thompson Island
                        2:00 pm Frazier Point, reading the landscape; glaciers, granite, and shoreline features.
                        4:00 pm Schoodic Head
                        5:00 pm Free time/ settle in.
                        6:00 pm Dinner with visiting geologist
                        9:00 pm Optional Evening Activities (night sky & astronomy)

Wednesday -   Sunrise reflections, optional
                        7:00 am Geology Breakfast
                        8:00 am Introducing Universal Transverse Mercator Mapping (metrics) and

                                       Making Scale Bedrock Geology  (Sundew Trail).
                      11:30 am Lunch
                      12:30 pm Field trip along Maine's Ice age Trail.
                       4:00 pm Return to COA

    Thursday -  9:00 am Watershed monitoring (paired comparisons) possible hike up Cannon Brook trail.
                    12:00 pm Lunch
                     1:00 pm Oceanography, mapping the seafloor, preserving estuaries.
                      3:00 pm NPS resources and work on teacher kits.
                        4:00 pm Free time

         Friday  -  9:00 am Water Cycle activities, mineral kits, etc.
                       10:00 am Overview of NPS Traveling Trunks (rock forms, fossils, etc).
                       12:00 pm Goodbye