National Park Service Helps Teachers Make Learning Fun & Relevant
TUPELO-Teachers across Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee have a new tool to help them engage their students in classroom and place-based learning.
Today the National Park Service (NPS) launched a new online service for teachers that brings America’s national parks, including Natchez Trace Parkway, into neighborhood classrooms. The new “Teachers” section of the National Park Service website at www.nps.gov/teachers provides a one-stop shop for curriculum-based lesson plans, traveling trunks, maps, activities, distance learning, and other resources. All of the materials draw from the spectacular natural landscapes and authentic places preserved in America’s national parks.
“The Natchez Trace Parkway has long welcomed area students to the park for 
field trips,” said Dale Wilkerson, Acting Superintendent. “And now, through the new “Teachers” National Park Service website, all 401 national parks are throwing open the doors and inviting teachers and students to learn about science using lesson plans from parks like The Natchez Trace Parkway, to borrow a traveling trunk from parks like Lava Beds National Monument, to chat online with a ranger at the Grand Canyon National Park, or by visiting their local National Park.”
The Natchez Trace Parkway “For Teachers” site offers opportunities for teachers to help students develop a depth of understanding for the world around them. The Parkway covers 10,000 years of human history; includes 52,000 acres of land embracing four ecosystems and eight watersheds; and also provides a variety of healthy and fun outdoor recreational opportunities. Our education program reflects this diversity and provides opportunities for teachers to use the park as a teaching tool both in the classroom or in the field. Rangers may be available to lead field trips or present classroom programs. Teachers are always welcome to use our lesson plans, borrow traveling trunks, and lead their own field trips. The Natchez Trace Parkway also provides professional development opportunities and Volunteer experiences for both active and retired teachers.
The site is searchable by location, keyword, and more than 125 subjects, from archeology, to biology, to Constitutional 
law. Teachers will, for the first time, be able to rate NPS-provided content. In addition to park-created content, the site also features educational materials created by NPS national programs like the National Register of Historic Places and its award-winning Teaching with Historic Places series of 147 lesson plans.
The website is just one part of the National Park Service’s ongoing commitment to education. Every year, national parks offer more than 57,000 educational programs that serve nearly 3 million students in addition to 563,000 interpretive programs attended by 12.6 million visitors. The NPS is working with partners and educational institutions to expand programs and encourage the use of parks as places of learning. The NPS has partnered with the Department of Education to integrate national park resources into core curriculums. Each summer, teachers across the country are hired to work in parks to develop curriculum-based programs based on park resources through the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program.
To learn more about the National Park Service’s education programs, visit www.nps.gov/teachers.
