INTRODUCTION
Students will find out how many national parks are in their state and
figure out how much of the area of the state is composed of national parks.
SUGGESTED TIME ALLOWANCE
40 minutes
OBJECTIVES
Students will:
become aware of the national parks in their state.
realize how much of their home state is comprised of national parks.
compute the total acreage of the parks in their state.
MATERIALS
PROCEDURES
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Review the following vocabulary words with students before beginning the
lesson: acre, acreage, square (as in square miles), percentage,
convert.
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Advise students that their task is to figure out what percentage of the
land in their state is made up of state parks. Begin by having students
find out the area of their state by looking here: http://infoplease.com/ipa/A0108355.html.
Have students enter this information on their worksheet.
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To convert this square mile figure, use this conversion chart: http://www.onlineconversion.com/area.htm.
Students should set the first counter at "square miles," and the second
counter at "acres," and then type in the square mile figure showing the
area of their state from their worksheet. Record the number.
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Have students search for the number of state parks and their acreage by
finding their state at http://www.factmonster.com/states.html
and scrolling down to the State Parks heading. (Several states only have
state forest information; this can be used instead of state park information,
if necessary.) Students should note the number of parks and the total acreage
on their worksheets.
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Ask students how they could figure out what percentage of their state’s
total land is comprised of state parks. Lead students to conclude that
by dividing the total acreage of the state (which was converted above)
by the total acreage of the state parks, the resulting percentage will
be that part of the state that is covered.
ASSESSMENT
Check answers as a class. If students have gotten a wrong
answer, help them retrace their steps to find their mistake.
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Hang a state road map on the wall. Have students locate as many state parks
as they can find on the map, marking them with a pin or adhesive star.
Using the scale of miles on the map, have them figure the distance each
park is from the city where they reside.
Using the site http://www.nps.gov/parks.html,
which links to the National Park Service for all 50 states, ask students
to research various state parks and find one they’d like to visit. Make
posters telling about the park’s features.
STANDARDS CORRELATION
