The National Park Service offers a variety of programs straight from the Grand Canyon–Through the wonders of modern technology, a park ranger will “beam” into your classroom and lead your class through one of several explorations, including animal and plant adaptations, geologic history (layers, plate tectonics, etc.), the history of people groups in that area, or what it’s like to be a park ranger. They begin scheduling in October and fill up quickly. Programs range in suitability from preK-12th grade (they even have Sesame Street visits the Grand Canyon…if you choose that one, invite me to come join in!)

Alternatively, involve your students in real live research in your schoolyard. CitizenScience.gov is a gateway for citizen science projects that your students can participate in. You can search the database by topic and age appropriateness. Many of these projects also make the data available to participants, so your students can dig into results from around the country–and you can draw on the data for meaningful integration into math topics as well.