This brief reading introduces students to the ecosystem services that trees and forests provide, their importance to life on Earth, and how they are affected by climate change.
Beautiful images accompany the text, which instills an appreciation for nature, biodiversity, and symbiotic relationships within ecosystems.
Teaching Tips
Positives
By simplifying complex topics (like the carbon cycle) into a format that is easy to understand, this resource is both easy-to-read and engaging.
The resource reads like a story, describing aspects of trees and forests that one might overlook at first glance.
Additional Prerequisites
This reading is the first part of a four-part series on land.
Students can click on the "i" symbols in the text next to complex terms to see their definitions or learn more.
Differentiation
Although not mentioned in the text, deforestation due to land use changes for agriculture, infrastructure, and the industrial sector are major threats to forests and may be a topic worth exploring as a class.
The reading avoids scientific jargon, making it accessible to students of many classes.
The reading can be printed for those who do not have access to the internet but be mindful that a few lines of the text may be cut out.
This resource can also be used in health or social studies classes when learning about the health benefits of green spaces.
Scientist Notes
This resource clearly explains how living things interact and thrive in the forest ecosystem. This chain has existed for decades and living organisms have adapted to specific climatic conditions right from the Holocene period until recently; our climate system has changed so rapidly recently that some organisms are finding it difficult to adapt. Hence, this resource is comprehensive, suitable and recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-6 Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
HS-ESS2-7 Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth’s systems and life on Earth.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-3 Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.
