Exploring Caves:
Lessons 1.4 Find a Cave
Skip Navigation | Main Page | Teacher's Guide: Download | Multimedia Resources
Explore Caves: Cave Types | Cave Animals | Cave Care | America's Caves
Story: Ch 1 > Lessons | Ch 2 > Lessons | Ch 3 > Lessons | Ch 4 > Lessons | Ch 5 > Lessons
Lesson 1.1 Reading Follow-up Activity
Lesson 1.2 What Is a Cave?
Lesson 1.3 Cave Stories - Tales of Adventure
Lesson 1.4 Find a Cave
Lesson 1.4 Specifications
| Grade Levels
| Scientific Topics
| Disciplines
|
| K, 1, 2, 3 |
Geography
Mapping |
Geography |
Activity Summary
This activity shows the "big picture" of caves in the United States and provides a geography lesson. Students will see that limestone caves are not isolated oddities of nature but part of larger natural systems. They will find out how close or far away they live from a major cave and perhaps consider visiting a cave some day.
Educational Goals
- Students will be able to locate their own communities and the nearest caves on a map of the United States.
- Intermediate and advanced students will be able to calculate the distance to their nearest cave, using a rough scale.
Teacher Background
Your class may live near rock formations rich with caves. Or, you may have no nearby caves. Caves are concentrated in areas of the United States rich with limestone formations. These areas are located in parts of the Northeast, Midwest, and Western regions of the country.
Materials Provided
Materials Required
- Wall map of the United States
- Ruler
Procedure
- Post U.S. map on the wall.
- Distribute Handout 2: U.S. Map With Cave Locations. Explain that the dots represent major caves in general, not just the "show caves" that people can visit. Some "show caves" are in parks; others are commercial. You must pay to get into most "show caves." Caves that are on private land, undiscovered, not visited, or closed to the public are called "wild caves."
- Point out or ask a student to indicate the location of the class' community (city, region, or State, depending upon student's background) on the large wall map. Ask students to mark the same location on their desk maps with a small "x." Circle the nearest cave or caves.
The following activities are for more advanced students.
- Tell students to draw lines around two big areas of the United States where there are many caves. Tell them that they have probably just mapped two "limestone areas." Most U.S. caves are found in limestone rock areas. A few are also found in volcanic lava areas.
- Ask students to use their rulers to measure the distances between their hometown and various caves, as the crow flies. With younger students, explain that the ruler distances help to figure out real distances. Short distances on the ruler are short actual distances on the land. Which cave is the nearest? What cave is farthest away?
Find the name and location of the nearest cave. Have students write for more information about that cave and others that interest them. You may be able to pull up information on the cave on a Web page also.
- Have older students multiply the ruler distance times the scale factor to find out the distance in miles. Can they also figure out how many miles across the whole United States?
Ch 1 > Lessons 1.1 :: 1.2 :: 1.3 :: 1.4 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5
All USGS teaching packets are based on National Education Standards.
|
