PENINSULA STATE PARK EXTENSIONS:
Peninsula
State Park offers many wonderful opportunities for both children and adults to
learn about the natural world inside of the park as well as other locations in
Wisconsin. All of the following information is from the Peninsula State Park
website (2000)
On
Bluff Road, inside of Peninsula State Park is White Cedar Nature Center, which offers many educational programs for children of all ages.
Inside the nature center itself are displays of native wildlife and
plant life complete with hands-on activities. Craft books, field guides and nature stories are available to
purchase.
Programs
include the “Junior Ranger” program for children in grades K-3 and
“Wisconsin Explorer” for children in grades 4-6.
Preschoolers may also participate in the “Preschool Discovery”
program. Booklets can be checked
out from the
For
campers, children may check out “Smokey Bear Packs” and “Forestry Packs”
from the Nature Center (no charge). Children
can keep Smokey Bear overnight and write about or draw pictures of their
experience. The Forestry Pack helps kids to learn about forests through
the use of games, stories, and activities.
There
are special nature programs offered by the Nature Center.
During the summer months, talks and walks are led by park naturalists and
trained volunteers on a daily basis. Topics
and activities vary widely and include skits depicting the Door Peninsula’s
past, astronomy, nature, crafts and campfires.
Of course, at the top of the list are the myriad of wildlife and plant
life within the park. The
Of
possible interest to teachers and students are the two State Scientific Areas,
the 80-acre Beech Maple Forest and the 53-acre White Cedar Forest, which were
established within the park in 1947 by the State Natural Areas Council to
preserve native plant species. The White Cedar Forest resides on an abandoned
ancient Lake Michigan beach.
For the more adventurous teachers and students, Peninsula State Park offers over 20 miles of hiking trails, which vary in difficulty and location within the park. Biking trails are also available, and bikes may be rented within the park.
Click here to return to the Peninsula State Park page.
Fossilization:
the process of becoming a fossil. Fossils
are rarely preserved, as the circumstances for preservation are highly volatile.
Most, in fact nearly all, fossils are preserved in sedimentary rocks.
The high formation temperature of igneous rocks makes fossil preservation
in them nearly impossible. Hard
parts of organisms such as shells, bones, and teeth are the most readily
preserved as they can survive the conditions of compaction and other processes
that occur once sediments are laid down. Trace
fossils are also preserved which include burrows, tracks, or other indications
of animal activity. Encourage students
to think of other things that might be preserved that would indicate animal
activity. Additionally have
students consider things from their daily lives that might be preserved for
later generations to find. What
evidence of our lives do they think will be preserved? Landfills and
footprints are good examples of evidence of our existence that might one day be
preserved in the rock formations of the future.
Click here to return to the Peninsula State Park page.
EXTENSIONS FOR ELLISON BAY:
Teachers
can give a clearer picture of how water moves through the ground by layering
soil, sand, and stones on a 2 liter soda bottle or milk jug (preferably clear).
Layer these in the jug and pour water through them to demonstrate how
water moves through each layer at different rates. An extension of this exercise would be to add in a thin layer
of clay in between one or more of the soil, sand or gravel layers to show how
clay in the soil can perch water above it and not let it pass to the next layer.
This is a good demonstration of how an aquifer, where we get our drinking
water, develops blow the surface. If
you put in several layers of clay you might see development of several
“mini” aquifers.
In
a similar fashion, fill several jars with sand, soil, gravel, and silt.
Trickle water from a saltshaker filled with water to simulate rain. Discuss the differences between the sizes of the pore spaces
in each sediment and how pore space affects the rate of water flow through the
material.
Click here to return to the Ellison Bay page.
Discuss
with students how the differences in lake level might affect shoreline and shelf
organisms. Ask students to consider how balance is achieved after the glaciers
retreat. Reinforce to the students
the concept of the great weight of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and how it depressed
the crust of the earth as it advanced over the land. Explain how the earth’s crust is still uplifting,
Michigan
is currently rebounding at a faster rate than the southern tip, and explain that
this is why drainage of Lake Michigan is currently toward the south (the
“bowl” is “tilted” toward the south).
Rebound of the land is uneven because as the ice sheet retreated, the
weight of the glacier was removed first from southern tip of Lake Michigan,
allowing it to begin rebounding first, and then the weight was progressively
removed from the rest of the Lake Michigan basin as the ice sheet retreated
further toward the north. At the present time, rebound is still occurring in the region
of Hudson Bay, Canada.
Click here to return to the Ellison Bay page.
LIBERTY
GROVE DRUMLIN FIELD EXTENSIONS:
Discuss
the extent of the Quaternary glaciers in this area and how this relates to where
students live. Would they have
lived near the ice margin or would their house have been covered with ice?
How would such extensive ice sheets affect the climate and the living
conditions of non-glaciated areas during that time? Explain where drumlins form in relation to the ice margin and
discuss other subglacial features such as eskers and contrast where the two
different features develop. Discuss
how glacial erratics are transported within the ice to locations often hundreds
of miles from their origin.
Glacial
scour can be demonstrated in the classroom by freezing gravel into ice and
rubbing it over a brick or other rock. Discuss
how the marks left behind can give indications of the direction of ice flow.
In
the classroom you can create a topographic map of a drumlin feature.
Do this by creating a drumlin form in a clear box, inside the box mark
off 1-inch increments on the vertical side.
Place a piece of clear Plexiglass over the top of the box. On top of the
Plexiglass place a piece of clear plastic or tracing paper. Fill the box with the drumlin up to the first 1-inch mark.
Replace the plastic and Plexiglass.
On the plastic trace the outline of where the water touches the landform,
trace the shoreline of the water.
Next fill the box to the next inch mark and retrace.
Continue to the top of the box. When
you finish you will have a topographic map of the drumlin form.
Click here to return to the Liberty Grove page.
45TH PARALLEL WAYSIDE
EXTENSIONS:
Explain
the law of superposition-- which states that in an undisturbed sequence of strata
the oldest layers will be on the bottom, and those successively above it are
progressively younger. Related to
this is the law of original horizontality-- which states that sediment layers
were originally laid down horizontally, which is true for most sediments but it
is recognized that sediments such as sand dunes can be laid down on a sloping
surface. Have the students try to
think of examples of other sediments which may not be initially laid down
horizontally.
Click here to return to the 45th Parallel Page.
Explain
why carbonate rocks, like limestones, chalks and dolomites are basic and acid
rain is acidic, and how the pollution in the air causes acid rain and
contributes to karst development. Have
students try this by using regular chalk and lemon juice.
Demonstrate how quickly the acidic lemon juice dissolves the basic chalk.
You can contrast this with dripping the lemon juice on other things like
shells and noting the slower rate that it dissolves.
This could lead into a discussion of air and water pollution and how they
lead to acid rain.
Click
here to return to the Cave Point County Park Page.
HERE ARE SOME OTHER GOOD WEB RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS:
Geoman - an excellent source for all things geological including links, a geological glossary, classes he teaches, etc.
http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/
Milwaukee Public Museum - lots of interesting web education stuff as well as descriptions of current exhibits.
http://www.mpm.edu/default.asp
US Geological Survey Education Site - lessons, and other interesting information both for teachers and students.
http://www.usgs.gov/education/index.html
US Geological Survey - Glacier pages (currently under construction, but lots of good information so far)
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/parks/glacier/glacier.html
US Geological Survey - Geology in the National Park Service (collaboration between the USGS and the National Parks)
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/parks/project/home.html
TEACH Great Lakes - interesting site with extensive information about the shoreline geology of the Great Lakes
http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/geog/shoreline/shore_1.html