Even though it sounds unlikely, Tom Bean Elementary School 5th graders had an opportunity to search for life in the Great Smoky Mountains Tuesday, November 03, 2009. In fact, Mrs. Lisa Courtney, 5th grade Science teacher, took them on an electronic field trip sponsored by the National Park Service during a one-hour webcast. Mrs. Courtney projected the webcast on her SMARTBoard and used some of their interactive lessons preceding and following the show.
Imagine being able to go to another part of the United States with a click of the mouse, and see its diverse species of animal life. And with the help of park rangers, explore the region’s creeks, forest and surrounding area looking for ways the environment has impacted local flora and fauna.
Earlier in the day, the students prepared for the field trip by conducting an information gathering experiment that would be highlighted in the webcast. They pretended to be hemlock trees! In the park, the trees are under attack from a non-native insect that is likely to kill most of the hemlock trees in the park.
The students learned about native and non-native plant and animal life in the Smoky Mountains, and were even able to call a question in live to the park rangers during the webcast. Fifth grader Abigail Gross was able to get on the air with her question about the most poisonous snake in the park. The park rangers informed the students that the most poisonous snakes in the Smoky Mountain Park were the Copperhead, and the Northern Water Snake.
Much emphasis was placed on man’s part in keeping the park in it’s natural state – regarding air and water pollution, trying to educate us to be good managers not just of this park with its abundant biodiversity but of our local parks as well.
