Exploring the Benefits of Forests: A Dynamic Learning Experience for Middle and High School Students - Alicia Carlson

Audience

Middle school and high school

Time

Approximately 2 class periods:

1. Day 1: Dive into readings and analyze charts and images from The World’s Forests 2.
2. Day 2: Use GLOBE resources to bring learning to life through hands-on exploration.

Materials

• The World’s Forests 2 (pdf), Inquiry 3
• Earth System Poster learning activities (pdf)
• Analyzing Global Patterns with the Earth System Satellite Images (see text for instructions)
• Optional: GLOBE Protocols
  • Surface Temperature
• Optional: My NASA Data mini lessons
  • Carbon Dioxide Production and Sequestration
  • Human Impact and the Creation of Urban Heat Islands

What do forests do for the world’s environment and its people?

Forests provide many benefits to people and the environment. Through this inquiry, your students will learn about how forests protect other natural systems, provide resources for humans, and offer social and economic benefits.

[Note: read the previous blog posts in this series to learn about the world’s forests and biodiversity.]

What’s Inside The World’s Forests 2, Inquiry 3

The third inquiry in The World’s Forests 2, on pages 25 to 30, asks “What do forests do for the world’s environment and its people?” Through this section, your students will learn about soil and water conservation, as well as other benefits, including outdoor recreation, research, and more.

As you lead your students through the text, the lesson plan for this inquiry, starting on page 53, is a useful guide for reflecting on previous lessons, analyzing data, and providing guiding questions for discussion.

GLOBE Resources: Connecting Vegetation and Surface Temperature

Your students can explore the connections between vegetation and surface temperature through the GLOBE Program’s Earth System Poster learning activities (pdf) Activity 3.

[Read more about the Earth System Poster activities in the first blog post in this series]

Images for the Earth System Poster learning activities have been updated through My NASA Data’s “Analyzing Global Patterns with the Earth System Satellite Images.” To complete this activity, you should download vegetation and surface temperature images from 2013, the year closest to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report.

If you completed the activity in the first or second blog post of this series, use the 2013 Vegetation images again. [If not, follow the instructions in the first blog post in this series.] Then:

• Open the copy of the “2013 Earth System Satellite Images-Global” slide deck in your Google Drive.
• Scroll to slide number 30 to find the series of six Surface Temperature slides.
• Follow the instructions in the Earth System Poster learning Activity 3, which explores relationships between two variables (vegetation and surface temperature).
• Note: you can use slides for additional variables, such as precipitation or aerosols, for Activity 3.

Optional: Extended Learning

My NASA Data

My NASA Data has two mini lessons (short lessons that can be used as "warm up" tasks that can be used as a hook, bell ringer, exit slip, etc.) that relate to the themes in Inquiry 3.

• Carbon Dioxide Production and Sequestration: Students will evaluate a Landsat image to determine the rate of carbon dioxide sequestration in a particular area.
• Human Impact and the Creation of Urban Heat Islands: Students will identify and describe the relationship between land cover classification and surface temperature as it relates to the urban heat island effect.

GLOBE Protocols

Students can use GLOBE measurement protocols to study their local ecosystem.

• With the Surface Temperature protocol, students use an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of Earth’s surface. Compare temperatures of a human-made surface (such as a paved parking lot) to a natural surface (such as grass).

Join GLOBE Campaigns

To contribute to a global measurement campaign, your students can participate in the Urban Heat Island Effect Intensive Observation Period every year during the months of October, December, and March. The main research question being answered through this campaign is, “How does surface cover affect surface temperature?” Many schools are participating in this campaign, and students can compare their data with other schools from around the world. 

Still Need to Be GLOBE Trained?

If you’re not yet trained in GLOBE or you aren’t familiar with the surface temperature protocol, I recommend that you take the eTraining associated with each protocol as well as the introductory training for the sphere the protocol is associated with.

• Surface Temperature eTraining with Introduction to Atmosphere eTraining, both found on the Atmosphere training page.

Upload Your Data to the GLOBE Database

Once you have completed a GLOBE training, you can add your students’ data to the GLOBE database. GLOBE’s database contains 30 years of data collected by GLOBE students, educators, and citizen scientists. Learn more about GLOBE Data Entry.

Up Next

After completing Inquiry 3, continue on to Inquiry 4 to learn about the role forests play in the carbon cycle.

Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by USDA Forest Service Eastern Region (Agreement no. 20-PA-11090100-026). Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDA Forest Service.

This blog post is part of the   GLOBE and the Natural Inquirer Crosswalk Project . Other blog posts are available on the   U.S. GLOBE Teacher Resources page .

Natural Inquirer issues can be downloaded, and classroom sets of many issues can be ordered from their website. Find the complete list of issues available and instructions for ordering on the  Natural Inquirer website .