Resources to use for teaching and learning about deforestation...
This short, three minute video would be a good introduction video to show students when introducing the topic of deforestation. The clip gives a good definition of deforestation, methods of deforestation, and mentions biodiversity, which you may need to preface or define while watching. It is animated and narrated.
|
This is a short video clip that captures many facts about deforestation. It briefly talks about how many species are found in the rainforest and how many fall victim to deforestation yearly. It also mentions the amount of hectares of forest that is being harvested each year.
|
Click to set custom HTML
Click here to read about deforestation facts, causes and effects to educate yourself further before presenting information to your students. This comprehensive site provided by Livescience covers all the bases in plain English that is easy to understand. This site also has a quick video clip to help put into perspective the amount of deforestation that occurs in one year in relation to the size of soccer fields.
World Wild Life of WWF is a international fundraising group that aims to support the conservation efforts around the world. They have written this article about deforestation, which gives an overview of deforestation including causes and impacts as well as what WWF is doing currently to fight deforestation. Some impacts mentioned are greenhouse gas emissions, interrupted water cycles, and soil erosion. One unique thing about this site is that it lists species and places that are specifically impacted by deforestation today.
|
Nasa has created a wonderful free online resource for the public to educate themselves about deforestation. On their webpage you can read all about deforestation in depth, see where the rain forests are located on the globe, look at aerial footage from Nasa that shows lines of deforestation, compare deforestation areas of different countries and learn about the strategies that can be used to sustain tropical forests.
|
The short video below is a great intro video when presenting ecosystem services. It describes what an ecosystem service is and gives specific ecosystem service examples, from forests reducing floods to insects pollinating plants. The video also addresses the idea of putting a value on ecosystem services, something humans often take for granted. The group that produced the video aims to bring awareness to the public about the true worth of nature and to develop a plan to protect nature so it can continue to provide us with priceless services.
|
The Lorax is a picture book written by Dr. Seuss. This story delivers the hidden message of deforestations and it's effects. The Lorax is a character that advocates for the protection of his habitat and especially the truffula trees, which a company rapidly cuts down until there are none standing. The book ends with a message to students that nothing will change unless people like them care and make the effort to protect the Earth. You can buy The Lorax on Amazon.
|
This webpage is a fact sheet about ecosystem services. It explains ecosystem services in plain language that students would understand. This would be a good resource to use to create a student information sheet about ecosystem services. Once students have a strong understanding of the concept of an ecosystem service, they can then make the connection to services trees provide.
This kid-friendly website would be a great resource to use with your students. It was created for kids and talks about trees and forests, what is happening with deforestation, the negative effects and also talks about what we can do to help save the trees. This site explains concepts in language that students will understand and also has great pictures to help keep kids engaged. It is a great site to use as a transition to recycling.
This webpage from Discovery Kids is another explanation of why we need trees. This site has a printable page that can be handed out to students for them to take and share with their families. It is also in very simple language and brief.
|
Kids Ecology Corps has provided an awesome activity that can be used as an experiment in class. It gives a detailed explanation of how to make recycled paper from scratch. By making their own paper, students will be saving one tree at a time. Check out the activity here.
|
To the right is a video to show students that explains on a very basic level how trees are made into paper. It goes through the cutting process, bark removal, chipping, boiling, bleaching, and wringing processes that are required to make the final product. The video also mentions facts such as recycling 1 ton of paper can save 17 trees! This short clip has great animations that will capture students' attentions.
|
|
|
To the left is a downloadable lesson set on paper recycling. This three day lesson covers the essential question, "Why recycle paper?", how to make their own paper, and concludes the mini unit with a persuasive presentation. Students write scripts as partners and create the roles of a recycling advocate and a person that doesn't know why they should recycle. By the end of the skit, the advocate should persuade the acquaintance to start recycling paper.
|
This awesome lesson titled, We All Need Trees teaches students about the vast array of products that are produced from trees. It comes with a ready made student handout and gives detailed instruction for each in class activity as well as teacher prep instructions. The lesson is themed off of the book The Lorax, mentioned above. These two resources would go great paired together!
|
The clip to the left shows a time lapse of the deforestation in Brazil from 1975 to 2009. Students will clearly be able to see the difference in landscape over the thirty-four year period. Since the time lapse stops in 2009, this would be a good opportunity for student to use prediction to make an educated guess of what the landscape might look like today in 2014. To take this a step further, students could use Google Earth in the computer lab to zoom in on Brazil today and see what the landscape looks like or if they can identify any change.
|