Caspers Park

Caspers Wilderness Park is roughly 8,000 acres of land dedicated to wilderness and recreation. The area Inside the Outdoors® uses is not open to the general public and has a variety of ecosystems including hot springs, riparian area, oak woodland, and coastal sage scrub.

Curriculum enrichment for 5th & 6th grade:
California Science Content Standards Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, Investigation and Experimentation
5th Grade:   2f, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 6b, 6f, 6h, 6g
6th Grade:   1b, 1d, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5e, 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d

Students spend the day engaged in hands-on activities to study plant and animal adaptations and characteristics of local ecosystems. They also take a hike and discover the plants living in these hot, dry ecosystems. This is a one day field trip for fifth and sixth grade students to explore Caspers Park. Their day will include these learning stations:

Plant Labs
Students work in cooperative groups at six lab stations to learn how plants adapt to dry conditions in the coastal sage ecosystem.

Energy/Food Pyramid
Participating in a demonstration and discussion of energy pyramids in ecosystems helps students understand the interdependence of living and non-living things.

Live Animals
Students see and touch a live mammal and reptile representative of animals in this ecosystem and learn how their adaptations enable them to survive.

Hot Springs and Cold Stream
Students learn geological processes involved in the formation of hot springs. They use the scientific method to determine the similarities and differences between the hot springs and cold springs ecosystems. Working in teams, the students take the temperature, asses measure the pH, the water’s clarity, and conduct a brief plant and animal survey of both ecosystems. They then compile their data and develop a conclusion regarding the suitability of the two ecosystems for sustaining life.

Water Station
Students participate in several hands-on activities to learn about the source of their local water, the water cycle, the amount of fresh water available on Earth, and water reuse.