News
April 9, 2012
Students Learn about Their National Monument
Everyone loves to discover something new, and learning is most enjoyable when it is taught by skilled professionals who are excited about their field of study, and when students participate in the leaning experience through hands-on activities. This is the type of educational experience that the Grand Staircase Escalante Partners (GSEP) provides in communities — from Page, Arizona to Boulder, Utah – surrounding the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM).
Students from Big Water Elementary School listen to GSEP volunteer Brad Heap talk at the Kanab Visitor Center about ancient cultures.
On March 15th, students and teachers from Big Water Elementary were invited to visit the Kanab Visitor Center. GSEP staff, Monument personnel, and GSEP volunteers set up field stations in archaeology, fossils and geology, and native cultural arts. At each station students were participants in learning and encouraged to ask questions, handle 75-million old fossils collected from the National Monument, and learn to throw an atlatl (a spear-throwing device that pre-dates the bow and arrow). These types of learning events offer a tangible sense of the prehistoric worlds and cultures that once existed at the National Monument.
GSENM paleontologist Dr. Alan Titus introduces students at Escalante High School to a model of the horned dinosaur Diabloceratops, who once roamed southern Utah.
On March 23rd and 28th, learning events were presented to over 170 students, teachers, and parents from Escalante and Boulder. In these programs, GSEP held school assemblies at the Escalante Elementary School and the Escalante High School. A special feature available at both assemblies was a presentation by GSENM’s paleontologist Dr. Alan Titus who discussed the varieties of dinosaurs that 175 million years ago roamed where the students now live.
For his presentation at the schools, Dr. Titus brought along molded representations of dinosaur skulls that have been discovered at GSENM, and he invited students to participate in a hands-on encounter with Deinosuchus (a dinosaur-eating alligator growing over 40’ in length), and Diabloceratops (a creature with devil-like horns).
As part of the learning event in Escalante, trained paleo-technicians and volunteers set up a table of fossils and dinosaur parts for students to handle and rouse their curiosity. The students seemed most fascinated by the rocks that had impressions made by the skin of dinosaurs.
The response to the assembly at the Escalante High School was enthusiastic: students asked presenters to return, and the dinosaur skulls remained at the school so students could bring their parents to see them.
Escalante Elementary School Principal Sue Bassett commented that the program involved student learning goals. “We are very pleased that the presentations addressed state education standards and objectives.”
GSEP’s outreach to schools is made possible by Bureau of Land Management educational funding provided to GSENM. GSEP’s success in stirring a sense of wonder in the minds of young learners is due to the knowledge and enthusiasm of GSENM staff and GSEP’s volunteers. To schedule an event at your school, contact GSEP’s education coordinator Wade Parsons (435 644 1302).
GSEP provides numerous programs for volunteers to participate in; call the GSEP office to discuss a volunteer activity that is right for you (435 644 1308).
