This captivating article describes how rainforests are formed and destroyed.
Interactive maps are embedded throughout the article to visualize tree cover, tree cover loss, carbon release from clear-cutting forests, and fire risk.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The article is easy to read, interspaced with illustrations, pictures, and interactive maps.
The interactive maps can be zoomed in and out to get analysis by country or by continent.
Additional Prerequisites
Students may need support navigating and interpreting the embedded maps.
Differentiation
As an extension of this activity, educators could encourage students to research more about rainforests and how they are connected to climate change.
Biology classes could further discuss rainforest ecosystems and how they are being harmed by rainforest destruction.
Scientist Notes
The resource will enable students to understand the different layers of tropical rainforest and the interactions within the forest ecosystem. It is suitable to equip students with the skills to map logging routes to understand the flow and intensity of logging in order to proffer solutions to indiscriminate logging within the forest and the surrounding forests. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
MS-ESS2-2 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.2.6-8 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.10 By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
