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Grade K-1
AZ Standards: K.L1U1.6, K.L1U1.7, 1.L2U2.7, 1.L2U1.8
Encounter the super strength, speed, invisibility, healing powers, and mental agility of desert organisms. Assemble them all to build a team powerful enough to surmount any threat! This program includes games and activities to engage a young student's gross motor skills and natural affinity for the superhero story.
Available: October to March
Group Size: 60 students maximum
What do you think of when you consider a "field?" A big open grassy area? This field trip takes on the Sonoran Desert from multiple perspectives, including the "field of view" through a microscope and "fields of study" like ethnography. Get ready to think big, small, and everything in between.
Available late October to March Group Size: 60 students maximum
Grade 3-5
AZ Standards: 4.SP1.2, 4.G1.1, 4.G2.1, 4.G4.1, 4.H1.1
This program explores the timeline of human history, heritage, and tradition that have contributed to today's rich cultural landscape. Students will explore technology of paleo and early agricultural civilizations, art from the thriving period known as the Hohokam era, community resources assembled by the O'odham and food traditions that begin on the desert landscape and now appear in kitchens across modern America.
Available late October to March
Group Size: 60 students maximum
Saguaros are tall, but HOW tall? A hike feels steep, but IS it? The map says go north, but WHERE is that exactly? This program marries the emotions of exploring the Sonoran Desert --- feelings like awe, discovery, and challenge -- with the measurements of the natural world. Students will use scientific instruments to explore mathematical concepts like slope, volume, and angles.
Available: October to March
Group Size: 60 students maximum
The field trip will investigate a real-world program -- the declining population of small carnivores common in the Tucson Mountain District of the park. The kit fox, common raccoon, spotted skunk, hog-nosed skunk, and striped skunk have not been documented in the park since before the year 2000. It is hypothesized that small carnivores may be particularly at risk to declining population due to increasing urban sprawl in the areas surrounding the park. Students will determine a location to set and check wildlife cameras in in our wilderness and sensitive resource corridor, gather data around the camera site, sketch and map the area, and will record notes about the site’s environment in a provided journal. Students will use a variety of tools to conduct their research including GPS units, cameras, and weather instruments.
Available: October to March
Group Size: 30 students maximum
Community Science
Grade 9-12
AZ Standards: coming soon
Qualifications to be a scientist:
Be a person
Wonder about something
Observe the world
Share your findings
Empowered with these basic tools, students will apply them to current real-world scientific inquiry at Saguaro National Park. We may explore natural quiet, saguaro measurement, wildlife connectivity, phenology or other realms of study currently of interest. Each project can also be replicated in the student's own community such as the school campus or nearby public land.
Available: October to March
Group Size: 30 students maximum
