The National Park Classroom: A Guide to Designing Project-Based Learning Adventures

With a friendly style and an informative stance, this book shows educators how to make use of the National Park Classroom (NPC) model to engage students at all grade levels in active and meaningful learning in every subject. The NPC model is both flexible and rigorous. Fester, a former classroom teacher, teacher educator, and park ranger, successfully bridges the gap between classroom and park settings in order to provide a model of exciting and active learning. The book provides examples of how to teach a wide range of academic subjects, including science, social studies, mathematics, literacy, and the arts. It also deals with best practices for distance learning and inquiry. A strength of the book is the abundance of links to sources of teaching materials, videos, examples of how to provide active roles for students, and student work samples. This is a book that can be consulted many times as teachers build meaningful curricula for their students.