LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Goose Creek State Park

Located six miles from historic Bath, Goose Creek State Park provides educational opportunities for K-12 students in the flora and fauna of the area.

http://www.ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/gocr/home.html

Learn more

  • EEK! Environmental Education for Kids An electronic magazine for kids in grades 4-8 and their teachers too that features constantly changing information, games, and activities about nature and the environment.
  • Surf Your Watershed Find about the watershed near your hometown, get answers to watershed questions, and read watershed news.
  • Lesson plan: Create a wetland scene Students will learn about the different types of freshwater wetlands, and the factors that threaten their health. Finally, they will study specific examples of wetland areas of the U.S. and what is being done to protect them.
  • Lesson plan: Round and Round It Goes; Water, Where It Stops Nobody Knows The hydrologic cycle is the process, powered by the sun, which identifies the constant, endless movement of water from the atmosphere to the earth to the ground water, to the rivers to the oceans and back into the atmosphere. This experimental lab lesson will show the process of the hydrologic cycle as it relates to the earth's atmosphere by showing three different scenarios,the first scenario (the control), container A, shows the hydrologic cycle with no contaminates. The second scenario, container B, shows the hydrologic cycle with the earth's soil contaminated. The third scenario, container C, demonstrates the hydologic cycle with the air polluted. These three situations will give the student an idea of how the atmosphere and the growth of plant life are affected by different contaminants in the earth.This lesson will, in fact, investigate the hydrologic cycle experimentally.

Related pages

  • Jockey's Ridge State Park: Experience a world of the shifting sands and a barren, desert environment as well as an estuarine environment of the tidal waters of the Roanoke Sound at Jockey's Ridge State Park in Nags Head, North Carolina.
  • New River State Park: Visit New River State Park and discover its unspoiled beauty as well as the flora and fauna of the area.
  • Jones Lake State Park: A visit to Jones Lake Park not only teaches students about the habitats and animals that can be found there, but also the phenomenon of the Carolina Bays is explored.

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Giant, old oaks draped in Spanish moss welcome you to this special world where broad, lazy Goose Creek joins the Pamlico River. A primitive camping area, picnic sites, swim beach and hiking and canoeing trails offer a variety of ways to savor the tranquil surroundings at Goose Creek State Park. Rangers hold regularly scheduled educational and interpretive programs about Goose Creek State Park. For more information call (252) 923-2191.

Each state park and recreation area has an EELE (Environmental education learning experiences) curriculum guide that includes on-site activities, pre- and post-visit activities, student information pages, worksheets, fact sheets, vocabulary, and references. You can receive a free copy of an EELE by attending its corresponding workshop at a park, or you can borrow these guides through interlibrary loan at any public library in North Carolina. The EELE for Goose Creek State Park is “Wetland Wonders” for grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. “The program introduces students to wetland processes and functions and discusses how wetlands affect humans and the area’s natural environment. It also focuses on water quality, resource management, adaptations, and stewardship.”

The Environmental Education and Visitor’s Center has animal mounts, replicas and animals signs. The Discover Room teaches students more about wetland animals. Students can look at the aquariums that simulate a hardwood swamp and brackish marsh. There is also a bird observation station.

The North Carolina State Parks website offers a search feature for finding the plants and animals that can be found at each state park. Using the drop-down menus, you can choose a park and either an amphibian, bird, reptile, mammal, fungus, insect, or vascular plant. You can search within each group by family, scientific name, or common name. There are photographs from the state parks and fun facts for some of the species.

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