by
Stephanie and Ed

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Introduction | Process | Tasks and Resources | Problems | Evaluation | Conclusion

You and your friends have become tired of living in the city and have decided to move to the mountains to be alone.  Your group has chosen to escape to the mountains of New Mexico or Colorado.

Before you leave, your group has $160.00 to purchase supplies with and you will be researching the area in order to be prepared. Along the way you will face challenges th! ! at will test your ability to solve problems and use the information that you have gathered.  Prepare carefully and have fun!

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You'll be assigned to a team of four (4) students. Each student will choose the expert they will be (Land and Weather Expert, Plant Expert, Animal Expert, Supply Expert) and they will research their area. Once your research is complete your group will compile the information into a survival guide to use on your journey. Along the way your group will encounter problems and will have to solve them based on what you have learned. The solutions will be e-mailed to your teacher who will then send you! ! on your way to another dilemma.

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Your first task will be putting together a survival guide that will be your group's only resource as you try to survive the mountains. Build your group survival guide to include detailed information on the terrain, the normal weather conditions for this time of year, the plants that you can eat, the animals that you may encounter, and the equipment that will be needed to survive.

You will need to organize the information so that it is easy to read and understand.

Your second task will be to solve problems along the way using your survival guide and anything else you have learned while researching. You! ! will e-mail your solutions to your teacher and then your next problem will be revealed. To create your survival guide you need to perform the following tasks:

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• Preliminary Group Task: DO FIRST!!!

 

 
 
 

As a group choose an area (in either Colorado or New Mexico) to move to. You must do this first so that your research will apply to the correct area.

• The Land and Weather Expert must understand the area. In your part of the survival guide you might want to include graphs, charts, maps, and anything else that will help you to better prepare for the wilderness.

LAND: You will need to be aware of the terrain including water supply and possible shelter materials that  will be available.	WEATHER: You will need to know the normal weather conditions for the next few months in order to be prepared for weather changes.
New Mexico National Parks		USA Weather Maps
New Mexico Landform Map		USA Weather Forecasts
Colorado National Parks		Travel Cities Weather
Colorado Landform Map

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• The Plant Expert must be able to identify plants. This expert must be able to identify plants that are edible and those that are dangerous.

 

 
 
 

In your part of the survival guide you must identify plants that you will be able to eat. Give good descriptions of where to find them and what they look like. You should also include information on poisonous plants to avoid. Remember this guide will be your only resource in the wilderness. The more plants you identify the better off you will be. Use the following l! ! ink for your information.

Edible Plants

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• The Animal Expert must be able to identify animals. This expert must be able to identify animals thatch group can eat and those that are dangerous.

 

 
 
 

Your part of the survival guide needs to have descriptions/pictures of the animals that will be available for eating. You will also need to include information about animals that could be dangerous to the group.

 Animal Links
 Animals
Animal Tracks

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• The Supply Expert must be aware of supplies and equipment. This expert must recommend to the group the supplies to be purchased for your survival.

 

 
 
 

Remember your group only has $160.00.  You must decide what you will buy and where to buy it. You need to list the supplies you will have, as well as the uses for the supplies, and include this information in your survival guide. Don't forget food and water.

Camping Supplies

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Each of these problems will force your group to work as a team to solve the situation that you have encountered.  Use all of your expert knowledge and your survival guide to help solve the problem. You will write your solution in your journal and submit it to your teacher.