High altitude learning

A bus full of 6^th and 8^th grade students rode to the Snowy Range September 11 for a science class with Encampment K-12 sixth grade teacher Jordan Seitz.

“Rain or snow, we go,” Seitz said.

Seitz also teaches 6^th and 8^th grade earth science, but combines classes for different trips and rotates locations through the years.

The science field trip was filled with hikes, hugging rocks and learning about eras from the past which shaped the east side of the Snowy Range. The unique classroom allowed students to hear about metamorphosis processes and see them in real life.

Justin Stern, an education coordinator and resource specialist with the Saratoga Encampment Rawlins Conservation District (SERCD), was on the field trip to teach the students about the various rocks and fossils that were formed. Seitz used study items from the classroom to reinforce what periods those items were formed, which included the Pre-Cambrian Layer – millions of years before the Jurassic period.

The two-and-half mile off-trail hike was rewarded with an alpine lake and a little fishing before returning to the bus.

The first stop on the hike was a miner’s site. Stern explained to the students how miners would find where to dig based on the minerals and formation of rocks.

This site had sandstone. Stern and Seitz talked about the metamorphism process and how it changes the size, shape and density of rocks. The students were encouraged to touch and hug the rocks to get a closer look and to try and bend the sandstone rocks.

Seitz told the students how some rocks were formed with minimal pressure and others had high heat temperatures to form harder rocks. He also talked about the eras in which the changes occurred, but not before challenging them to see if they could identify which time period the events took place. Terms like igneous, magma and volcanic rock were used, giving the students an opportunity to not only hear about the rocks, but experience each one of them on the field trip. “The sandstone we observed was fantastic because it was a transition layer where some of it was still sandstone, and some of it was partially or fully metamorphosed into quartzite due to heat and pressure,” Seitz said. All the white rock that comprises much of the Snowy Range are quartzite.

The students were asked what they noticed about the sandstone. One student identified the layers. Seitz went on to explain, using a bookshelf as an example, how when the books are shifted in an incline that they create layers sticking out of the ground.

The students took a break in a field and wrote in their journals about what they had learned so far on the field trip. Once they finished journaling, Seitz challenged the students to find as many little rocks as possible. Several students came running back to him with several rocks in their hands. Seitz pointed out the different shapes, colors and sizes of the rocks explaining they were evidence of glacier activity in the area.

The next stop was to look at trace fossils of microorganisms, called stromatolites, which produced striations in rocks. Seitz likes to call them fossilized algae mushrooms so the students can visualize what they could have looked like. They are “Pre-cambrian” fossils and are the oldest fossils on the planet.

Once again, the students were encouraged to touch and hug the fossils.

As the elevation of the hike continued higher, around 400 feet in 2 miles, the students were introduced to basalt rock, which is a lava rock. Rather than heat and pressure, these rocks were formed by ice and water, Seitz told the students. The rocks the students looked at had parallel scratches or groves on their surface. Seitz hypothesized this was caused by glaciers dragging gravel along the surfaces as they shifted.

Another half mile and the students were at Lake Pinchot, which held “the big daddy”. There were several examples of all types of rocks around the edge including sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic such as basalt. The students climbed all over the rocks exploring them. The big daddy is a huge stromatolite fossil along the lake shore.

What is fascinating about the canyon the students walked though to get to the first stromatolite showed signs of mineral chemical reaction staining which usually happens with water, Seitz said, but it was u-shaped rather than v-shaped which leads Seitz to believe the it was carved out with glaciers. The staining from the water could have happened at the same time or later.

The students had brought fishing poles to try their luck at fishing. This part of the field trip seemed to be the favorite.

Mesa Suttee, and eighth grader, described the field trip as the best thing ever. She said she loved this type of learning about rocks and eras.

“Mr. Seitz is awesome,” she said.

Bella Dugger admitted she is a bit of a “rock freak” and liked learning about the basalt volcanic rocks.

While Seitz gets a lot of credit for the field trips, he says it could not be done without the cooperation of the community, the parents, the other teachers in the school, the school cooks, volunteers, principal and school board.

“I am lucky to be in a school district that lets me do this,” said Seitz.

The group was accompanied by Shannon Fagan, head school bus driver for Encampment, Randy Stern, a local volunteer, Sammy Buffington, a chaperone, and this reporter.

Wednesday, the 5th and 6th grade students hiked to the plane crash site at Lake Marie.