Objective: To teach students about the limestone caves in the Ozarks. How limestone caves are formed. Discuss the Cave Resources Protection Act. Learn about the popular (commercial caves) To prepare students to write on a topic they

have learned about caves, before a culminating field trip to Blanchard Springs caverns.

Set: 1st forwarn students that a required paper will be due in 4 wks, so they should listen, take notes and ask many questions. Read paper explaining cave formation, also about limestone caves. Review neat cave facts from the teacher activity guide:Earth adventure 6 on Caverns. Discuss Ark. Cave Resources Protection Act (# 523 of 1989). Discuss Commercial caves. Do word search and group cave finding on a blank Ark. map using state map.

Materials: blank state map, Arkansas state map, Information from web sites. Story about the caves of Arkansas. Story about cave lifeforms. Create a word search.

Key Terms: limestone, column, metamorphic, spelunker, explorer, cave, stalactite, stalagmite, caverns, formations, bats, speleothems (cave formations), calcite (cave onyx), Karst Terrain, Discrete recharge, Diffuse recharge, sedimentary rock, calcuim carbonate(limestone)

Key Facts: Limestone caves are in the Ozarks, only a few allow people to enter, there are hundereds in the Ozark region. Arkansas passed legislation to protect its caves in Act 523 of 1989. Many commercial caves have brochures.

Activities: fill out a word search with Key terms. Define key terms in groups of 4. Listen to stories about the process of limestone cave formation. Have groups use Ark. state map to locate all of the Commercial caves on a blank Ark. map. Have students find cave info on the Internet. Have students write 1 to 2 pages on any cave topic, (lakes, lifeforms, formations, etc.) as culminating exercise. The end with a field trip to a cave.

Resources: Ark. state map. , Http://www.kdu.com/caveform.html(cave formation), Http://www.scsc12.ar.us/ChadickD/creation_of caves.htm (limestone caves),Http://www.microsoft. com/education/lesson/tag/earth/cavern.asp (neat cave facts), Http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/act523.html (Act 523of 1989), Http://ww.state.ar.us/agc/arcaves.htm , Caves of Arkansas (or other cave story) by Francis McKinney from UCA's Archives SMC# 53