Ice Age Floods Fourth Grade Curriculum Development
One of the missions of the Ice Age Floods Institute is to educate young people about the Floods and the influence of the Floods on their lives today. The IAFI Educational Outreach Committee has contracted with the curriculum design firm The Inspired Classroom to produce engaging lesson materials to excite fourth-grade students from across the Northwest about the Ice Age Floods.
The curriculum will contain video footage narrated by experts and lesson plans for use by fourth grade teachers in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The story, entitled “Scholars Trek on the Ice Age Floods Trail,” will begin with a flyover video of the trail, including Glacial Lake Missoula, the Clark Fork Ice Dam, the Rathdrum Prairie, Spokane Falls, the Channeled Scabland, Lake Lewis, the Columbia River Gorge, Lake Allison, and the deposition of the eroded sediment on the continental shelf at the mouth of the Columbia River. Along the route, students will be introduced to the ways in which the Floods influence society today, including the influence of the Floods on the Spokane Aquifer and on railroad and highway routes across the Pacific Northwest.
Funding for the project will come from grants, the IAFI, and from private benefactors. The continued support of IAFI members through membership dues and donations helps fund projects like this.
The Education Committee is made up from a sampling of IAFI Board Members and Chapter Presidents from each state: Jim Shelden (Glacial Lake Missoula); Tony Lewis (Coeur du Deluge); Melanie Bell and Consuelo Larrabee (Cheney-Spokane); Gary Kleinknect (Lake Lewis) and Dale Lehman (Puget Lobe.) In the future, the Education Committee plans to work on curriculum materials for middle and high school students.
By Dale Lehman, 04/14/2022