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Forests – Science

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Forests for thought

This task will enable students to articulate their current understanding about Australian forests, issues associated with forests, and demonstrate their understanding of key ideas about forest ecosystems.

Provide pairs of students with images of different types of Australian forests located in the Image Gallery.

Students discuss images and list observations such as: types of trees, shape, size, cold/dry/wet environment, thoughts and concerns about Australian forests. As a class, collate these ideas under key themes, for example: tree features, habitat and logging.

Students use themes and ideas to create a concept map about forests. Concept maps are shared with the class. Discuss similarities and differences between concept maps and why these may exist.

Following discussion, students generate a list of questions based on their interest in or concerns about Australia forests for further exploration in Science.

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Unique Australian native forests

This task will enable students to develop an understanding of different types of Australian forests, and demonstrate the relationships and interactions within a native forest environment.

Download the Australian Forest Profiles PDF files from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for use in this activity.

Organise students into small groups and allocate each group an Australian Forest Profile.

Small groups create a Ready reference guide for each forest profile using a class-agreed matrix for organising information. The class will need to decide key categories for the matrix. The following guide questions may stimulate discussion. From this discussion, the class develops the Ready reference guide matrix for groups to use while researching specific information about their forest type.

Guide questions:

• What does a tree need for survival?
• What are the key features of a tree that make it unique?
• What are the features of the forest's location?
• Who or what else may depend on this forest for survival?
• Do humans use the forest? If so, for what?

In addition to finding out about their forest type, students classify their forest using the following information.

Students use a visual thinking tool such as a thinking web, a concept map and their Australian forest Ready reference guide to show the relationships and interactions within the forest environment.

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What's living in that tree?

This task will enable students to investigate and explain the ecosystem of a woodland tree and apply this knowledge in a local setting.

Students will need access to the website Home sweet home: life in a woodland tree to complete this task. Alternatively, a free copy of the "Home Sweet Home: Life in a Woodland Tree" poster can be obtained from the Australian National University Fenner School. A highly recommended text is Woodlands: A Disappearing Landscape by David Lindenmayer, Mason Crane & Damian Michael.

Students work in small groups to create a large scale poster of a woodland tree using the information from the website. The poster should show and explain the relationships in this living system.

Using their knowledge of the living system of the woodland tree, students investigate trees and shrubs in the school grounds, local parks or a local forest for evidence of a living system. They use a range of techniques such as photography, drawing, descriptive observations etc., to gather evidence about the inhabitants of the system, such as animals, invertebrates. They analyse and discuss their evidence, present their findings and indicate ideas for possible further research.

Guide questions:

• What key information needs to be collected?
• How can we use technology to help gather evidence?
• How is information going to be recorded?
• What approach used is going to have least impact and create least disturbance?
• What safety measures need to be considered?

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Highly-prized housing

This task will enable students to develop an understanding of the significance of tree hollows for species survival.

Tree hollows are a significant source of housing for Australian wildlife. Students research and create a tree hollows register of all wildlife that uses hollows as their home. As a class, discuss research criteria to be used for each register entry.

Guide questions:

• What is a tree hollow?
• Why are tree hollows important?
• Is the size of the hollow important?
• Does the hollow's height from the ground affect its suitability as a home?
• What impact does proximity to food and water sources play in the selection process?
• How does the behaviour of other animals in the same tree influence the decision to use the hollow?
• Is there an issue with feral animals?
• Does human activity impact on tree hollows? How? What can be done?

Students present their findings. Discuss as a class why tree hollows are significant for wildlife conservation.

Additional
Students revisit their original Forest concept map.

As a result of new learning:

• What would they change?
• What would they add?
• What would they delete?
• What questions have been answered?
• Any new questions?

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