Recommended for Fourth Grade to Eighth Grade

Electronic Field Trip to the Saguaro National Park

Using the iconic Saguaro National Park in Arizona as a classroom, the National Park Service invites classrooms across the country and around the world to learn about the role biodiversity plays in this unique desert environment through an innovative new Electronic Field Trip (EFT). Originally broadcast on October 21st 2011, the field trip in now archived for on-demand use. The EFT will focus on the most unique and important species living in this desert full of Saguaro cactus.

As part of this learning experience, the program will follow thousands of students doing "hands-on science" and discovering the biodiversity in the park as part of the BioBlitz program led by the National Park Service and National Geographic.

The EFT has a companion website available at: http://www.electronicfieldtrip.org/saguaro/. Here you will find lesson plans and interactive games to prepare students to view the electronic field trip to Saguaro National Park.  

Related resources from the APTPLUS Learn360 database:

To take advantage of these FREE resources, you must:
Go to www.aptplus.org
Scroll down and click on the APTPLUS icon to Sign In or Register for the APTPLUS database.

A sampling of videos is listed below. These and others can be easily located by using the title and keywords as you search the APTPLUS Learn360 database:

Desert Giant: The World of Seguaro Cactus
Reading Rainbow Series
Grade(s): Pre K - 2, 3-5
Run Time: 28 min. 42 sec. 
This is a saga of the life cycle and ecosystem of the giant saguaro cactus and the animals it helps to support in the desert.
(Teacher guide included)

Internet resources:
Sonora Desert Fact Sheets

What is a Desert for K-3 (Video)

What is a Desert 4-8 (Video)

How Are Deserts Formed (Video)

Virtual Habitat  (Interactive Exploration)

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum 

Last Updated March 7, 2013