CHANDLER, Arizona—In the Sonoran Desert, peril is never far away. There's the threat of merciless heat, flash floods, and hungry predators. All these elements come into play, in fact, in a hair-raising adventure tale called One Day in the Desert by Jean Craighead George.

Fourth- and fifth-grade students at Kyrene de las Brisas Elementary School read the engaging book as a literature tie-in to their study of the desert ecology of Arizona. Teacher Kathy Grams decided to take her students on a more personal quest to gain an even better understanding of the inhabitants of the desert environment.

First, she launched them on individual research projects to answer a series of questions about a particular desert species. Using a word-processing template, students recorded what they'd learned, such as what their animal looks like, where it lives, what it eats, which animals prey on it, and unique adaptations. Using the Internet for research, students downloaded pictures of their animals and incorporated those into their written reports. Grams used a digital camera to take a photo of each student author, as well.

Next, Grams organized students into food chain groups of six, representing animals that interact and depend on each other for survival. Using One Day in the Desert as a guide, students worked as a team to create a story. "As the story progresses, the reader can link to reports on individual animals by clicking on links created in the document," Grams explains. Many of the teams added animal sounds, as well. "While the students were searching for different animals noise on the Web, our classroom sounded like a wild animal park!"

One of the resulting stories, titled "A Peculiar Day in the Desert," brings together a large cast—a prairie dog named Perky, a hungry Gila monster, a soaring eagle, a squished scorpion, a baby bobcat, and a nest full of geckos. Under the hot midday sun the story unfolds, weaving in students' understanding of predators and prey as well as desert geography.

As students shared their knowledge about animal behavior to create the tales, discussions became animated. "When students began discussing how their animals interacted in the food chain, several groups realized that their animal was prey to many animals within the habitat," Grams says. One creative group had all the animals work together to gang up on a species higher up the food chain.

Grams' multi-age classroom provides a perfect setting for cooperation among students, as well. She uses integrated, thematic instructional units organized around science and social studies. "Older students teach younger ones the technology skills each year as they work on projects together," Grams explains. She schedules flexible work time into the week to afford students the opportunity to work at their own pace, allowing her to meet students' individual needs.

Grams' appreciation for technology in the classroom has grown considerably since the 1970s, when she was a college student preparing for her teaching career. "I was told technology would be the new big change for our profession," she recalls, so she took a computer class. Her assignment: write a computer program that would generate a calendar. "After six tries, two weeks, and dozens of keypunched cards, I never was successful. I just couldn't believe technology would be a part of an everyday classroom."

Now, however, her students interact with technology daily, "participating in online Web quests, asking experts, creating slide shows and multimedia projects, working through experiments, creating stories, experiencing art—there's tons of learning." Although she continues to take classes to expand her understanding of technology, Grams says, "More often, the students will teach me with their enthusiasm and willingness to explore."