Virtual field trips are currently FREE as either live virtual sessions facilitated by TERC educators or as pre-recorded videos and activity guides. Please click here to submit a field trip request form to schedule a live field trip or to gain access to all the materials for a pre-recorded field trip. (https://tinyurl.com/TERCVirtualFieldTripRequest)
Tahoe's Aquatic Food Web
(Grades 3–5, one 1-hr session)
Students explore changes in our local Lake Tahoe aquatic food web. As a pre-field trip activity, students learn about a specific Tahoe organism and use that knowledge to construct a food web live with their peers using Google Jamboard. Students work together virtually to create an accurate food web model to demonstrate its complexity and use the model to discuss the many impacts from a single change.
NGSS: MS-ESS3-3, MS-ESS3-4
Trees of Tahoe
(Grades 3–5, two 1-hr sessions)
Students learn how to identify the common tree species found in Tahoe’s forests. They get to practice and apply these skills by performing a forest survey to assess the local biodiversity. Students then use their survey to determine the health of Tahoe’s forests. Trees of Tahoe is a simplified version of the Forest Health field trip geared toward younger students.
NGSS: 3-LS4-3, 3-LS4-4
Formation of Lake Tahoe
(Grades 4–6, three 1-hr sessions)
Students are taken on a broad journey of the geological processes that formed Lake Tahoe over millions of years. Through several hands-on demonstrations, students explore big-picture earth science topics such as density, plate tectonics, and earthquakes, and make the connection of how those actions over time led to the formation of Lake Tahoe.
NGSS: MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-3, 4-ESS1-1
Forest Health
(Grades 5–6, two 1-hr sessions)
Students will explore and identify common tree species found in Tahoe’s forests. Students then have the opportunity to practice and apply these skills by performing a forest survey that provides insight into the biodiversity of trees around them. They will learn about the main factors that affect forest health and ecosystem dynamics and will use this knowledge, and their collected data, to assess the health of Tahoe’s forests.
NGSS: MS-LS2-4, MS-LS2-5
Climate Change at Lake Tahoe
(Grades 6–8, one 1-hr session)
Students start with an active and engaging lesson that discusses ways to combat climate change from a personal to global level. This is followed by an evidence-based exploration into how our changing climate affects Tahoe specifically. The field trip is designed to give students the information they need to understand the implications of this global catastrophe while empowering them to get involved!
NGSS: MS-ESS3-3, MS-ESS3-4, MS-ESS3-5