Parks and Tourism in the Natural State: An Economic Driver
The activities on this site use Arkansas Parks to teach Arkansas history to students in grades 4 to 8 through fun and interactive projects.
Also please check out Quick Links and Tech How-To Videos. They are there to provide resources and support for teachers!
Overview
Arkansas, the natural state, has six geographically diverse regions which make for a wide variety of educational and experiential opportunities. Arkansas’ investment in its parks resulted in economic benefits to local communities through use by locals and visitors alike. The activities on this site introduce students to Arkansas’ parks in each region and their goals of historical and cultural preservation, conservation and understanding of valuable natural resources, education and a wide variety of experiences both indoors and out. These Arkansas Parks activities help you to teach history, economics, geography and even entrepreneurship through research and virtual engagement. Then hopefully, the park exploration will begin either individually or as a school excursion.
Arkansas Parks Timeline
Use this timelineto introduce students to the history and development of selected Arkansas parks. Use Tiki Toki, the platform for the timeline, to have your students research additional parks and create timelines. You’ll find a video on how to do this on the Tech How-To Videoslink at the top of the page. This Arkansas ParksOne-Pagercan be used to facilitate student research on parks as well as provide a creative way to share their research. (Example) Research links are provided in the Quick Linksabove. One-Pager templatesare provided.
Google Earth: Arkansas Parks Project
Use Google Earthto zone in on the parks and explore their locations and surroundings.
Arkansas Parks Brochures
Students can use these brochures, created by our team, to learn about selected Arkansas parks while analyzing the goals of each park. The brochures serve as examples for your students to create their own. Tech How-To Videos show how to use Adobe Spark to unleash your students’ creativity. This goals analysissummary can be used for researching parks from the Timeline, Google Earth or the parks brochures. Be sure to have students use the parks’ websites to learn about events, programs and amenities.
Arkansas Parks History Video
This videoshows the founding of the Arkansas Parks system as a way to save landscapes, values, history and traditions. Original park construction by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration is shown along with the institution of the Conservation tax to fund facilities upgrades and ongoing maintenance. The second half covers many parks and varied learning opportunities through school field trips. By learning about park interpreters, students are introduced to new career possibilities.
Economic Impact of Parks and Tourism in the Natural State
Presentationon the goals and history of Arkansas parks system with embedded quiz questions.
Arkansas Park Development: Creating a New Park Presentation & Activity
After thisintroductionof the purposes of Arkansas parks coupled with innovative ideas, students are challenged to create a new park that attracts Generation Z visitors. Directions are included in the presentation and in this lesson. Students create a poster (Example 1,Example 2) describing their proposal. A modified Lean Canvas(simplified business plan) summarizes their choices. Thisrubric helps the ‘parks commission’, students and educators assess their proposals.
Natural Numbers: An Arkansas Numbers Book written by Michael Shoulders
Use thisNotes Pagefor students as you read Natural Numbers. Answers provided here.
Mystery Park Activity
Use this fun game to see which student can recognize the most parks from the clues provided.
Quizizz – What did you learn?
Quizizzis a fun competitive way to see what your students have learned through this project.
For more information on anything on the site, please contact Dr. Rita Littrell, Director of the Bessie B. Moore Center for Economic Education at the University of Arkansas at: rlittrell@walton.uark.edu