Lessons and Curriculum

Making observations, asking questions, doing initial explorations of the national park. This is every group’s first class at Tremont.

Wrapping up their time at Tremont through reflection, discussion, and sharing. This is every group’s last class at Tremont.

Monitoring air quality in the Smoky Mountains through citizen science projects and investigations.

Exploring home-sites, church yards, fields, and forest to relive life in the late 1800’s in the Cades Cove community. School arranges transportation to and from Cades Cove. 60 students max.

Writing poetry, creating art, and using drama to investigate the natural world.

Hearing, smelling, tasting, moving… using their physical senses to become more aware of the natural world and their own place in it.

Building shelters, packing for expeditions, discovering the unknown.

Hiking to a scenic waterfall. Piecing together the geologic story of the Smokies through evidence found on the Falls Trail.

Exploring the vast, diverse hardwood forests of the national park…

Uncovering questions, following curiosity, and designing student-driven investigations to learn more about salamanders.

Investigating water quality through collection of bio-indicators (aquatic macro-invertebrates) and abiotic water quality testing.  Stream class– students will get wet!

Catching aquatic organisms and finding out how their structures and behaviors help them live. Stream class– students will get wet!

Measuring the flow rate of the Middle Prong without a stream flow meter. Exploring the power of water in shaping the landscape. Stream class– students will get wet!

Interviewing inhabitants of Walker Valley in 1926 to see how their lives would be affected by the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Using a map and compass to navigate through an orienteering course both on Tremont campus and off trail in the wilderness.

Setting off on an all-day adventure on the trails. Choose either a 4 or 8 mile hike.

Heading up to the high peaks of the Smokies to explore and understand the unique ecology of the ridge line forests. School provides transportation. 60 students max.

Embarking on an all day investigation of the most biodiverse forest in US. Students may discover food webs, life cycles, and other patterns of forest ecology.

Embarking on an all day investigation of the streams that fill Walker Valley. Students may investigate watersheds, stream dynamics, water quality, aquatic life, and more.

Embarking on an all day investigation of how the interactions of water and land gave shape to the Smoky Mountains. Stream class– students will get wet!

Participating in a long-term salamander population study by catching salamanders, collecting data and discussing results. Stream class– students will get wet!

Observing the geologic history of the Smoky Mountains through observations of outcrops, faulting, and deformation of rock.

Counting and cataloguing every living thing in a small plot of Smokies forest. Cultivating an understanding of biodiversity.

Identifying plants to use them for medicine, food, and crafts.

Investigating water quality through collection of bio-indicators (aquatic macro-invertebrates) and abiotic water quality testing. Getting in the stream. Stream class– students will get wet!

Uncovering questions, following curiosity, and designing investigations to learn more about salamanders.

Monitoring air quality in the Smoky Mountains through citizen science projects and investigations.

Measuring the flow rate of the Middle Prong without a stream flow meter. Exploring the power of water in shaping the landscape. Stream class– students will get wet!

Using a map and compass to navigate through an orienteering course both on Tremont campus and off trail in the wilderness.