The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project
On the trail to Fort Bowie: Plants & Artifacts
On the trail to Fort Bowie:
Plants and Artifacts
A 4th grade STEM lesson
Author: Adam Hardy
Date: April 2024
Notes for teachers
Additional activities for in-person visit to Fort Bowie, Arizona in conjunction with NPS Jr. Ranger program.
Ft. Bowie National Historic Site is located 23 miles east of Willcox, AZ. The last mile of the road is unpaved and it is about a 1.5 miles walk/hike to the visitor’s center from the parking area.
List of Materials
Standards
4.E1U3.9 construct/support and evidence-based argument about the availability of water and its impact on life
4.L4U1.11 analyze/interpret environmental data that species adapt/survive
CCs: cause/effect, patterns,
Develop understanding of diversity of organisms, man’s impact on the environment
Standards
Social studies:
4.SP1.2 compare life in specific time periods to today
4.G1.1 use and construct maps and graphs
4.G2.1 compare different ways people/groups have impacted environments
Objectives:
Agenda: self-guided field trip
Day trip to Ft. Bowie
1.5 mile of ‘moderate difficulty’ beginning at trailhead
Download Jr. Ranger booklet and print before the trip. Contact Callie Caplenor, Education Coordinator or all the NPS
520-366-5515
Relevant pages of Jr. Ranger booklet included in slide deck.
Intro/Driving Question/Opening
Observations, questions, inferences: the power of each to construct a story about things that don’t speak.
What do you notice about the plants? their location?
Hands-on Activity Instructions
Open the Plantnet app on your phone.
As you hike the trail, identify and record interesting plant species you find. Draw a line from the table to the species’ location on the map.
Make notes about the species density and what you observe at that location (shade? water? exposure?)
Inferences: what factors contribute to that species’s survival there? How do think Native Americans used that plant? Early settlers/fort residents?
Extensions
When you get home, look at your data and the trail map where you located the plant species.
Construct a graph from the data. (You actually already did this when you plotted the species on the map!)
Think outside traditional bar graphs or pie charts. Present your data creatively and artistically. You can graph how many, distribution, etc.
Write the history of the Ft. Bowie site from a tree’s perspective.
Research ways the Apaches used these plants.
Hands-on activity: artifacts
At the visitor’s center, find 20 interesting artifacts in the displays. Categorize them into 4 groups (military, household, etc.) Sketch a map of Ft. Bowie ruins, using the NPS brochure as a guide. On your map, write the category number where you think you would find the artifact. For example, if you chose a spoon, you might find that in the barracks or officer’s quarters.
Extensions
Count how many artifacts from each of your categories. Create a graph–get creative! It doesn’t have to be a bar graph.
Choose one of your artifacts and write a “Day in the Life of” story. For example, “A Day in the Life of Captain Robert’s False Teeth.”
Compare your map to an archaeologist’s map. What are the similarities? Differences?
http://npshistory.com/publications/fobo/nrr-2016-1361-nsv.pdf
Assessment (optional)
1. What are the predominant plant species on the trail? Name 2 and describe how the Apache might have used them.
2. What were the most common types of artifacts you found? What happened at Ft. Bowie that these artifacts were so
abundant? Explain.
3. Draw a map of Ft. Bowie. Include a compass rose and 4 important outbuildings that will ‘anchor’ the map. Illustrate it the
map to show who lived in the buildings or what the building was used for.
Differentiation
A simple, neat and informative bar graph or pie chart to start before more creative graphing is applied (if at all).
Remediation
Extension/Enrichment
Create your own visitor’s guide for other Jr. Rangers (comic book or manga style).
NPS Jr. Ranger pages
NPS Jr. Ranger pages