Teachers Rock On!

PSD Geology Field Trip Experience for Teachers- Group Photo

The perfect counter-pose to a year of teaching? Two glorious mornings in the field, learning about our community’s amazing geology.  As part of Poudre School District’s Summer Institute, teachers from across grade levels and schools, joined together for a fun day in the foothills west of Fort Collins.  Each of the two mornings was followed by afternoon classroom trainings where teachers used the days’ photos, video clips, and notes to construct virtual field trips for their students. Lessons included stream erosion and deposition along the modern Poudre River, explanation of mountain building, faulting and folding, and of course, the obligatory time travel. This group visited the ‘ancient’ Poudre River dating back 300 million years to the time of the Ancestral Rockies. Capping the experience was a close look at shale beds which are both economic (shale gas and oil) and a hazard (when homes are built on their unstable slopes).  Thanks to Dee Dee Wright, Adam McBride and guest scientist Neil Sherrod for their support and teaching.

Shale layers in Dakota Formation

Demonstrating faulting and folding of the modern Rockies

Looking at landslide features in the Dakota Formation

High flow along Poudre River and resulting bank erosion

‘ancient’ Poudre River (Pennsylvanian Fountain Formation)

the always photogenic Bellvue Dome