ADVENTURES IN WILD CALIFORNIA Educational Resource for Teachers

The ADVENTURES IN WILD CALIFORNIA large format film is appropriate for all intermediate grades (4-8). The educator guide will be most useful when accompanying the film, but is valuable as a resource on its own. Teachers are strongly encouraged to adapt activities included in this site to meet specific needs of their students. All activities support National Education Standards for science, geography, math and English.

The following are descriptions of the educational activities. To download the full teachers' guide, click below.

DOWNLOAD WILD CALIFORNIA TEACHERS GUIDE.
Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™  to view

Activity 1 California Crusin'

Objective:  Students will use math, mapping, and language skills to plan, design, and report on a trip that will take them to several California locations.

Activity 2 The Water Up There

Objective: Students will experiment with the dynamics of water pressure in a tube to learn the effect of height/depth on water pressure.

Activity 3 Populations Pyramids

Objective: Students will use the Internet to access information from the U.S. Census Bureau to create population pyramids and ethnicity graphs.

Activity 4 Bridging the Gap

Objective: Students will experiment with the bridge designs to learn the advantages of a suspension bridge over a simple single-span bridge.

Activity 5 Environmental Defenders

Objective: Students will research various species of plants and animals in California that are on the endangered species list, then present their findings in one of the two formats.

Activity 6 Does It Pan Out?

Objective: Students will research and report on the Gold Rush, then take part in gold-panning simulations.

Activity 7 Build a Better Board

Objective: Students will research surfboard history and design in order to create a surfboard to match a chosen surf condition.

Activity 8 Take a Deep Breath

Objective: Students will conduct experiments to learn about lung capacity and function.

Activity 9 Falling For You

Objective: Students will experiment with rates of fall of different shaped objects to understand the affect of air resistance on the rate of fall.