Earth’s Systems: Field Trip Guide iPad Guidelines
Keep iPad in a protective part of your bag
Keep iPad away from your food and water inside your bag
At the park:
Use iPad only when you are stopped and on stable ground
Do not walk around with iPad open
keep cover closed at ALL times when not in use
Use iPad ONLY for your science work (no playing)
Time table:
8:10: Leave for park
8:40: Arrive
9:00: Enter main gate
9:00- 10:00: Break into groups and inquire into your questions. Collect data
10:00- 10:20: Snack at your leisure (either with other groups or on your own)
10:20 - 12:00: Continue collecting data and make your final project. (iMovie, screencast, Notability…)
12:00- 1:00: Picnic lunch as a whole group and relax (meet by the paddle boats and playground)
1:15 depart
1.
As you walk around and explore the park, you should be looking for answers to your “Park Questions.”
2.
Take pictures of items to add to your screencast or movie.
3.
You might want to record each question and then the answer.
4.
You can also take notes in your notebook.
5.
At about 11:15 find a nice place to rest and get started on making your final project (screencast, iMovie, Notability…)
6.
Meet for lunch at 12:00
Options:
Visit the Bee lady
Feed fish
Walk to Red Lantern
Walk the trails around the park
Geosphere:
Key Vocabulary: volcano, earthquake, geyser, tectonic plates, shift, mantle, molten, fault line, continental plates, subduction, fossils, erosion, landform, topography
1.
What types of rocks and soil are present in the mountain of Qi Feng park?
2.
What evidence of erosion do you see in the park?
3.
What different factors cause the erosion?
4.
What are the different types of landforms you observe?
5.
What might you infer about how these landforms were formed?
6.
What is the general geography and topography of the area around the park? Which features are natural and which are human-made?
7.
How might the topography have an impact or be impacted by other spheres?
Atmosphere:
Key Vocabulary: climate, weather, solar energy, temperature, precipitation, wind, pressure, convection cells, humid, hydrological cycle, Orographic (mountain) effects, Gradient effects, Solar heating winds

Earth’s Systems: Field Trip Guide
1.
How might the air quality be different in the park than at ISD? What might cause that?
2.
What would cause the humidity to be different in the park? How could you tell?
3.
What factors could affect the climate of the park? (wind, foliage…) How can you show evidence of these factors?
4.
How does the topography (areas of elevation and depression) of the park affect the climate? (shade, trees, temperature, soil composition…) Can you show evidence of these effects?
5.
What effects might the weather have on the different spheres (and related systems) within the park?
How do you know?
Biosphere:
Key Vocabulary: autotrophs, heterotrophs, trophic level, nourish, food web, food chain, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, decomposers, amphibians, season, ecosystem, organisms
1.
What types of trees are indigenous (grow naturally) in the park?
2.
What types of trees have been brought to the park from other areas of the world (not indigenous)?
3.
Why would some trees grow better than others in the park?
4.
What evidence of the trophic level do you see in the park?
5.
What evidence of the food web might you see in the park?
6.
What types of amphibians and insects are indigenous to the area?
7.
What makes the park an ecosystem?
8.
Why are the bottoms of the trees painted white?
9.
How does the biosphere inside the park look different from the biosphere outside the park?
Hydrosphere:
Key Vocabulary: hydrological cycle, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, water vapor, condense, circulation, ocean, river, pond, lake, glacier, ground water
1.
What evidence of the water cycle do you see in the park?
2.
Are the water sources natural or man-made? Why might this be important to know?
3.
What connections between air quality and the hydrosphere might you observe in the park?
4.
What examples of the biosphere depend up on the hydrosphere in the park?
5.
What can the color and consistency of the leaves in the park tell you about the hydrosphere?