Creating
Travelin’
Trunks for
Elementary
and Secondary
Classrooms
By
Arizona teachers,
Grand Canyon
Association, and
Arizona State
University
Travelin’ Trunks
Available through the Grand Canyon Association
 Grand Canyon National Park Travelin’ Trunks are an outreach endeavor of Grand
Canyon Association. GCA designed the program in a way that transports students
and teachers to one of the world’s premier learning destinations without actually
leaving the classroom. Trunks may also be used pre- or post-visit.
 Most materials and lessons are geared toward fourth- through eighth-grade
students; however, GCA also offers a Grand Canyon Primary trunk for kindergarten
through third-grade students. The trunks focus on the ecology, human history, and
geology of Grand Canyon. Trunks contain books, videos, posters, slides, maps, and
other interesting and appropriate materials. Each trunk also includes lesson plans.
Teachers may choose the lessons and activities most appropriate to their learning
goals.
 Education specialists created the activities and lesson plans, and appropriate
National Park Service staff and other outside experts reviewed the materials for
accuracy.
 ASU teamed with GCA for this project to revise the elem human history trunk and
to create a secondary trunk (a mini-archive in a box!) to help middle and high
school students learn about Grand Canyon and its place in larger American history
themes.
 http://www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute/educators_trunk.asp
Teacher
Team
Arizona Elementary and
Secondary Teachers
joined ASU
undergraduate and
graduate students to
create the lessons:
Amanda Arndt
Greg Beatty
Bill DeStefano
Mary DeStefano
Sara Detrick
Kim Hoffman
Marcie Hutchinson
Mary Landahl
Diana Laufenberg
Joan Miller
Adam Tompkins
Peter Trentacoste
Navajo Consultants
Delbert Bighorse and
Julia Curley contributed
to teacher
understanding of Grand
Canyon history
GCA Headquarters at Canyon
Teacher Workshop at Grand Canyon launches Travelin Trunk creation. Paul Hirt (top
left) and Yolonda Youngs (right of Paul) share GC history and geography insights.
Professor
Paul Hirt and
teachers at
Grand Canyon’s
South Rim
Grand Canyon Historian Mike Anderson
Touring Grand Canyon Museum
Collection with Archivist Colleen Hyde
Finding Primary
Sources
Hopi Ranger Phyllis
Yoyetewa Kachinhongva
Field Trip with
Delbert Bighorse’s
Navajo Family
Julia Curry
Tells oral histories of
life at her family’s
property near the
Grand Canyon
Lesson Creation
Lesson Design
 Engage students in Hands-On, Minds-On Learning
 Help students learn by doing history
 Promote historical thinking skills and analysis
 Link to national history standards and Arizona’s revised social
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studies standards.
Cross-curricular: help teachers meet reading & writing
standards
Teacher-friendly and easily adaptable to a variety of settings
Make available via the GCA Travelin’ Trunks and through the
project’s and GCA’s websites
Couple trunk and internet resources
Student Objectives
 Understand and appreciate the unique and special environment of the Grand Canyon by
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examining artifacts and historical resources.
Compare and contrast the multiple perspectives of the people who have lived here or passed
through the Canyon during the past 400 years.
Analyze and interpret primary sources to understand the relationship between historical
evidence and the construction of the historical record.
Understand that indigenous peoples still live, work, and play at and near the Canyon.
Assess the inherent contradictions of the creation and maintenance of the Grand Canyon
National Park’s boundaries in an effort to control the actions of others in this habitat deemed
“publicly owned.”
Examine controversial policies within the context of the environmental movement and
determine the application of past efforts in protecting our environment in the future.
Identify and note the impact of efforts to portray the Grand Canyon in photography and
painting, understanding that the Canyon is seen through cultural lenses,
Evaluate how the art of the Canyon can be a lens by which American history can be
understood.
Discuss the Canyon’s importance on art, literature, environmental understandings,
government policies, relationships between peoples, recreation, science, and tourism.
Describe and evaluate the actions Native Americans to endure in this environment and
maintain traditions while adapting to the presence of the Grand Canyon as a National Park.
Use
Movement
Power
Guiding Concepts
of the Travelin’ Trunk
Lessons
Concepts are “word thoughts” that guide
learning enabling facts to be thoughtfully
organized in building enduring
understandings.
Piloting the
Lessons
Primary Source Photo: CCC Camp at
Phantom Ranch
Kim Hoffman
and Archival
Folders with
Primary docs
K-20
Learning at
Project
Website
Elementary
Secondary
University
More Information
 Nature, Culture, and History at the Grand Canyon Website
 http://grandcanyonhistory.clas.asu.edu/
 Grand Canyon Association Website on the Travelin’ Trunks
 http://www.grandcanyon.org/fieldinstitute/educators_tru
nk.asp
 Adelheid Fischer, “Outdoor Classroom Grande!” in ASU
Research
 http://researchmag.asu.edu/2007/09/outdoor_classroomg
rande.html
Funding Support and thanks to
 Arizona State University Institute for Humanities
Research Seed Grant
 National Endowment for the Humanities
 Helios Education Foundation/William C. Jenkins
History Education Fund in the Department of History
at Arizona State University for the improvement of the
teaching of history at the secondary level
 Grand Canyon Association
 Salt River Project
Special Thanks to the Project’s
TEACHER TEAM!
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Amanda Arndt
Greg Beatty
Bill DeStefano
Mary DeStefano
Sara Detrick
Kim Hoffman
Marcie Hutchinson
Mary Landahl
Diana Laufenberg
Joan Miller
Adam Tompkins
Peter Trentacoste