Great Basin National Park as a Learning Labratory

Teachers, want to spice up your classroom science learning? Bring Great Basin National Park into your classroom this spring!

Great Basin National Park Foundation, in partnership with Great Basin National Park and the University of Nevada, Reno, and with support from the National Park Foundation’s Open Outdoors for Kids Initiative and the Nevada Outdoor Education and Recreation Initiative, is offering classroom programs, Park field trips, and virtual programs for elementary and middle school students.

Great Basin National Park Foundation began an effort to leverage Great Basin National Park as a learning laboratory in 2016, with the creation of the remotely operated Great Basin Observatory. Since then GBNPF has reached thousands of students in Nevada, Utah, and beyond, with Great Basin placed-based science curriculum that sparks wonder and encourages youth to love nature, the outdoors, and the Great Basin.

J.T. Reynolds, a 2023 Great Basin Explorers trip leader explains, “The Great Basin adventure benefited the participants by serving as an outdoor classroom and informed the participants about ways of protecting some of the state’s most precious and prized cultural and natural resources. The adventure also benefited the participants with the outdoor environment’s aesthetics, recreational, and spiritual influences.”

If you know a 4th-8th grade teacher, please spread the word! This spring GBNPF is offering virtual programs with subject matter experts teaching themes of astronomy and dark skies, animal adaptations, cave systems, and more. 

Reach out to greatbasineducation@gmail.com to learn more or schedule a program.