Third-grade students traveled to DeSoto Caverns in Childersburg, Alabama, for an overnight field trip March 30-31. The group participated in an educational program called the “Underground Classroom,” learning exciting new facts about caves and their relationship to the Earth’s water supply.
Students learned about spelunking, or cave exploration, using two caving simulators, the Cave Crawl Box and the Cave Wall Climb.
In the cave, they observed the growth of stalactites and stalagmites and studied cave hydrology, geology, and archeology. Students followed surface rainwater into the caverns and experienced a special lantern-lit tour of the caverns, which was the way the early explorers saw the cave.
Before turning in for the night inside the cave, the group had a campfire, cooked hot dogs, and roasted marshmallows
This trip enhances topics covered in the social studies curriculum, including a unit on early exploration that explains how Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, explored this cave.
Students learned about spelunking, or cave exploration, using two caving simulators, the Cave Crawl Box and the Cave Wall Climb.
In the cave, they observed the growth of stalactites and stalagmites and studied cave hydrology, geology, and archeology. Students followed surface rainwater into the caverns and experienced a special lantern-lit tour of the caverns, which was the way the early explorers saw the cave.
Before turning in for the night inside the cave, the group had a campfire, cooked hot dogs, and roasted marshmallows
This trip enhances topics covered in the social studies curriculum, including a unit on early exploration that explains how Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, explored this cave.