Celebrating a successful 2023/24 School Year

It’s a wrap on the 2023/2024 school year, and we’re delighted to have worked with so many classrooms and students this year, connecting the next generation of Great Basin stewards to the exceptional cultural and ecological resources that Great Basin National Park protects. 

Our in-person classroom visits introduced students to the Great Basin region through its geological, hydrographical, and ecological systems. Teachers continue to follow our 7-lesson module and prepare students for a Park field trip that provides hands-on learning about the changing Earth in their very own backyard. 

And we didn’t limit our reach to students within the Park’s surrounding counties. Our virtual programs reached students from California to Ohio, who don’t normally get the chance to learn about cave ecosystems or the effects of light pollution. Our virtual programs also emphasize the value of National Parks and why it's so important to protect special natural places around the country. 

This academic year we partnered with the Center for Interactive Learning (CILC) to expand marketing and outreach of our virtual programs to even more schools and groups that want to learn what makes the Great Basin so… well, great!

Also this year, we continued offering middle and high school students in Nevada and Utah the unique opportunity to interact with our Great Basin Observatory (GBO) partners. Alongside university professors, students were introduced to the field of astronomy, the concept of dark sky preservation, and many studied celestial systems and will have their research work published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

BY THE NUMBERS…

⭐ 150+ students from White Pine County visited the Park on field trips that complemented their STEM curriculum with tours of Lehman Caves and hikes on Park trails

⭐ 27 local middle and high school students published a paper in the Journal of Double Star Observations based on research using the GBO

⭐ 900+ students / 47 classrooms learned about dark skies, cave biology and geology, and took virtual tours of the Park through virtual education programs

⭐ 600+ students / 18 classrooms reached during classroom visits using our Great Basin-specific, Next Generation Science Standards lesson plans

SOME FEEDBACK FROM TEACHERS…

“My students were all engaged and everyone was included”

“Good information in a way that kids can understand and enjoy - including many ‘hands on’ experiences.”

“The concepts were easy for students to understand but challenging enough to hold their interest and encourage on-topic questions”

Want us to visit your school in-person or virtually, or schedule a field trip for the 2024/25 school year? Reach out to us at greatbasineducation@gmail.com and we’ll craft something that works best for your classroom.