Field Trip
For field trip information, please call the Fossil Discovery Center main desk at 559.665.7107 during business hours.
The Fossil Discovery Center, Madera County offers you and your students a unique opportunity – tour the landfill that is also a fossil dig. With the fall 2010 opening of the EDUCATION CENTER, the San Joaquin Valley Paleontology Foundation provides ways for local community, especially our youth, to have a hands-on experience of the excitement of scientific discovery. We organize tours, classroom presentations and exhibits and soon to be offered mock digs. With our on-site Paleontologist, we provide opportunities for volunteers to help dig fossils, prep exhibits AND help teachers use fossils to make science exciting!
CALIFORNIA LEADS THE WORLD! California is a world leader in science and technology and, as a result, enjoys both prosperity and a wealth of intellectual talent. The nation and the state of California have a history that is rich in innovation and invention. Educators have the opportunity to foster and inspire in students an interest in science; the goal is to have students gain the knowledge and skills necessary for California’s workforce to be competitive in the global, information-based world.
Science is a way to explore and understand the world. It is a response to curiosity. Through a basic knowledge of science, people learn about the world, its technology, its environment, and the decisions that must be made to preserve the planet. If students are to construct meaning from experience, they must be provided with the time and the opportunity to experience the natural world. These experiences help to develop the skills of reading, writing and numeration as the child makes observations, collects data, orders and classifies objects, manipulates variables, and communicates findings (orally and in writing) to others. Science is the cornerstone of early achievement. Using the natural curiosity of a child as the building block, the skills of reading, writing, and numeration are enhanced.
Not all science learning takes place in the schools. Experiences with natural and cultural environments greatly enhance scientific literacy. All students should have the opportunity to learn science and should be taught in ways that encourage and build upon their natural curiosity and other abilities. Students learn more readily and remember things longer when they can connect new experiences with their natural and cultural environment.
To stay current with scientific developments, school science programs need to develop partnerships with library-media centers, museums, science and technology centers, colleges and universities, industry, and subject matter projects to build support for such programs.
Above Material excerpted from Tennessee and California State Science Frameworks www.cde.ca.gov/ci/sc/cf/ www.tennessee.gov/education/curriculum.shtml
