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Past, Present, and Possible Future Trends in Illinois Forests
Provided by: US Forest Service |Published on: May 16, 2025
Scientific Reports
9101112AP
Synopsis
This 18-page report from the Illinois Native Plant Society details tree species from the past and present and makes predictions about what the future of Illinois trees will look like due to climate change.
Through text, tables, and maps, students will explore the potential of species to persist or migrate in the face of climate change.
Students have the opportunity to engage with scientific research and understand the process of scientific research and reporting.
Even though this report is extensive, the majority of the data presented is represented in graphs and tables that can easily be interpreted.
Prerequisites
This report can be downloaded and printed out for individual use.
Students should understand climate change basics and how climate change affects trees in particular.
Students should understand the basic format of a scientific research report prior to engaging with this resource. If they are inexperienced in scientific research, a lesson on the basic parts of scientific research and reports may be helpful.
Students should be comfortable with scientific terminology that is used extensively in scientific research reporting.
Preview the two scientific models used in this research so that students understand them prior to interacting with the data.
Differentiation & Implementation
Annotating a scientific report can be taught using this resource.
By reading the abstract, students can get a summary of the research described in the report.
Create a graphic organizer to give students ahead of time so that the report can be broken down into chunks, annotated, discussed, and interpreted before moving on to the next section.
This resource is best for advanced high school students. Lower-level readers will need additional scaffolding. Early high school grades can read this report as a class or break it into sections to allow for more support from the teacher in understanding the scientific concepts and data.
Students can practice the skill of data analysis by assigning small groups of students to discuss a certain graph or table and then report back to the class.
A timeline of forest composition trends due to climate change can be compiled to help summarize and visualize the changes in trees in Illinois forest over time.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Related Teaching Resources
All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.
