Protecting the space-time continuum isn’t normally a task trusted to elementary school kids. However, on the Eco-Explorers: Colonial Time Warp adventure at Piscataway Park, things are a little different.
When entering Piscataway Park, students are appointed to the Eco-Explorers team and given a very important mission—save the earth and preserve the course of history! Equipped with time traveling goggles, Eco-Explorers depart present day and transport back in time to a colonial farm in 1770.
Upon arriving at the colonial farm, the Eco-Explorer team faces the challenge of deciding whether or not to give the colonial people modern items in order to make their lives easier and more comfortable. But, if left in 1770, some of these objects could create a chain reaction, altering the course of history and speeding -up any future destruction of the environment. Along the way, the explorers meet characters from the past and the future that help them understand the impact of their decisions, learning valuable lessons about the affect their actions have on the environment and the future.
This interactive, experience-based tour provides supplemental social studies and environmental education for students while also equipping them with knowledge that promotes eco-friendly decisions, all the while, experiencing national park grounds.
Transportation is the largest financial burden in providing educational field trips for elementary students. However, thanks to the National Park Foundation and the Every Kid in a Park initiative, the Accokeek Foundation has received support to help subsidize the cost of field trip transportation to Piscataway Park. Through this grant, the Accokeek Foundation – in partnership with the National Park Trust — is welcoming over 724 Title I students to Piscataway Park this school year to engage in an educational, time-bending adventure
Maryland students will not be the only ones able to explore their local National Parks and public lands. This grant extends across the U.S., providing $1.1 million dollars to help make the nation’s public lands more accessible to 4th grade students. Through this opportunity, the National Park Foundation hopes to provide educational experiences, service-learning opportunities, recreational activities, and above all a deep relationship with our national parks.
