This article demonstrates the importance of protecting forests by describing how forests near and far can help maintain water quality in cities.
Students will learn that inner forests help in stormwater management and infiltration, nearby forests assist in flood control, and faraway forests play a part in the global water cycle.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This article thoroughly describes the connection between cities, forests, and water, making it a great read for teaching about the interconnectedness of people and the environment.
Visually appealing infographics demonstrate concepts of the water cycle, water treatment, infiltration, erosion, and flood control.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with the water cycle and associated vocabulary such as infiltration, runoff, evaporation, and precipitation.
Differentiation
To learn more about this topic, students can explore the many links to additional resources throughout the article and share their findings with the class.
Students can discuss nature-based solutions and brainstorm additional examples of these to protect water quality.
Students can identify forests in or near their community and research ways they can help protect them.
This resource explores the benefits of sponge cities and watershed management in restoring and treating urban water to sustain the environment and mitigate climate change. The resource is valid and recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
MS-ESS2-4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.9.9-12 Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on human migration and settlement patterns, resource use, and land uses at local-to-global scales.
