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Forests for thought
This task will enable students to articulate their current understanding about issues relating to Australian forests.
Provide pairs of students with images of issues related to Australian forests located in the Image Gallery.
In pairs, students list thoughts stemming from the photographs of forests issues. Students use a cluster diagram to organise their responses.
Create a class list of key Australian forest issues and conduct a class vote to rank them in order of priority of concern. Analyse the priority list and decide on reasons for its ordering.
Guide questions:
- Why do some issues gain a greater response than others?
- Why are some issues considered more important than others?
- How is information conveyed about issues? Does this influence how people feel about the issue?
- How does knowledge influence personal decisions?
Discuss the role of information sharing in the community involving emotive issues.
Resources
Cluster Diagram
A cluster diagram helps organise and generate ideas based
upon a central topic by building on previous ideas with greater
detail.
Cluster
Diagram
How does human activity affect Australian native forests?
This task will enable students to consider the impact of human activity on the ecosystems of Australian native forests and forest management.
Display a list of the ways humans use and impact on forests.
A suggested list:
- Logging old growth forests
- Planting timber plantations
- Timber production
- Clearing - agriculture
- Urban spread
- Recreation and eco-tourism
- Introduced species
- Resources
Students identify how they think these human activities are affecting Australian forests. Students focus on human activity and write a Human Impact Statement to discuss what is happening to Australian native forest ecosystems as a result of this activity. They suggest ideas for improving the situation.
Guide questions:
- How are humans affecting the forest ecosystem via this activity?
- What are the social and economic benefits of this activity?
- Is it possible to sustain this activity and conserve the forest?
Resources
Land clearing, pp. 41 – 47
Introduced species, pp. 48 – 50
Urbanisation, pp. 55 – 58
The native forest harvesting industry, pp. 85 – 86.
What is the community saying about Australian forests?
This task will enable students to use a range of strategies to interpret, evaluate and appreciate web-based information sources.
This activity requires students to have internet access. As a class, discuss and develop criteria for interpreting and evaluating websites.
Guide questions:
- Who hosts the website – a government department, organisation, local group, or individual?
- How do you assess the accuracy of the information?
- Is the information purely factual or emotive?
- What is the text type and how is it used to inform or influence the reader?
Focusing on appropriate and effective internet search skills should be part of this discussion. For example, what words should be included in the search? How is the search refined?
Model the class-developed criteria to evaluate a website and test if the criteria are viable. Students suggest necessary changes.
In pairs, students use the criteria to evaluate a range of websites about Australian forests. Each pair composes a review article using their evaluation for supporting evidence.
Resources
Australia's system of reserves, pp. 28 – 33
Why are reserves critical?, pp. 30 – 33
Failure to make appropriate investment in our environment, pp. 72 – 78
Failure to achieve true sustainability by integrating production and conservation, pp. 79 – 89
The native forest harvesting industry, pp. 85 – 86.
Forest management – who is interested?
This task will enable students to role-play a local consultation meeting about forest management issues from different perspectives. They then prepare a management plan as a result of the process.
List different approaches to forest management – reserve, national park, state park, nature park. As a class, create a list of facts known about each category. Create a list of questions on what students want to know about each approach. These questions can assist with further research.
Students review appropriate websites in their state and establish an information bank. State-related websites are listed in the References section of this resource.
Guide questions:
- What do the different classifications mean? What are the significant features of the classification?
- How does each approach 'manage' the forest?
- Who provides funding?
- How is the park used? By whom? For what?
- How easy or difficult was it to find the relevant information?
Students consider issues in forest management that involve competing perspectives such as tourism, recreation, clearing and logging. They role-play a local consultation meeting about managing a conservation park, or a community meeting dealing with a local forest issue.
Decide on the focus of the role-play and organise students into small teams. Allocate each team a perspective from which they will argue or contribute to the consultation meeting.
Some possible perspectives:
- Park ranger
- Environmental scientist
- Day visitor from overseas
- Local resident
- Regular holiday-maker
- Wildlife volunteer
- Local councillor
Team members work together to develop their argument. They prepare a script or prompt-notes to be used in the role-play. In the role-play, they should clearly articulate issues related to the management of the forest from their perspective.
At the end of consultation process, the class develops a forest conservation plan that takes into consideration the arguments raised in the consultation role-play.