Education students create resource guide for field trip

Education students have created a resource guide to help middle and high school teachers plan field trips to Kinzua Bridge State Park.

The park is home to the remains of the Kinzua Viaduct railroad bridge, which was destroyed by an F1 tornado in 2003.

Laura Buchheit, a mathematics education major from St. Marys; Corey McGuire, a social studies education major from Kane; and Anthony Pascarella, a social studies education major from Bradford, prepared the guide with Dr. Wayne Brinda, associate professor of education, at the request of the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau.

Previous Secondary Education classes at Pitt-Bradford have prepared similar resource guides for teachers to visit the Eldred World War II Museum, Longhouse National Scenic Byway and the Allegheny National Forest, and the Penn Brad Oil Museum. Brinda and his students have been invited to develop future guides for Rock City and other local attractions in the future.

The new guide addresses the history of the bridge, engineering techniques used for its construction, the forestry industry in the area, the ecology of the park and tornadoes. The education guide provides teachers with writing prompts, mathematical problems and other material to prepare the younger students for a visit.

Each section of the 41-page guide includes a complete listing of the Pennsylvania Core Standards that it meets.

Available in pdf format on the ANF Visitors Bureau website, educators can either use the guide online with the benefits of links or choose pages to print to fit their own purposes.

Although designed for educators, the guides have activities relevant for families taking a day trip or camping in the forest.

In April, Brinda and his students were recognized by the Pennsylvania Wilds for encouraging schools to take new field trips in the region.