Last updated: December 31, 2020
Lesson Plan
Always Changing
- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Science
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 8.SL.5
- Additional Standards:
- NGSS MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Essential Question
How do forests change over time?
Objective
Students will be able to:
1. extract relevant information from reference materials on biology, ecology and succession
2. prepare and produce a drama showing succession in one of three forest types
Background
Forests change over time. Different kinds of plants and animals have different needs. Some grow well only in sunny openings; some grow well almost anywhere as long as they can get water. The forest architecture and the species composition of a forest change over time, a process called succession. But many things interrupt succession. A forest is a tremendous storehouse of carbon, which forest residents use for their own needs. Trees add to this huge carbon reserve every day as they capture the sun’s energy and store it in their tissues. But trees can’t keep carbon to themselves. Fungi consume wood (both living and dead) and roots. Insects feed on needles, tree cambium, and dead wood. Small mammals and birds eat seeds. Just as the forest is constantly changing, it is constantly accumulating carbon and its carbon is constantly being reused and recycled. Fire is the most dramatic recycler.
Preparation
- Art supplies,including paper or fabric, to create costumes or masks
- Copy of Assignment List and Drama in the Forest
- Copy of Pathways in Time booklet
- Copy of FireWorkds Notebook
Materials
Download Drama in the Forest, Ponderosa Pine/Douglas-fir
Download Drama in the Forest, Lodepole Pine/Subalpine Fir
Download Drama in the Forest, Whitebark Pine/Subalpine Fir
Procedure
- Explain: Students will work in teams to present a drama that describes three kinds of forest (ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, whitebark pine). Each team will present a play showing how this kind of forest looks and works now and what it was like right after a fire 100 years ago. The play should be about 15 minutes long.
- Ask each student to adopt an organism on the Assignment List (page 18) and record his or her choice on the list.
- Ask the three students depicting the three pine species to be “directors” of the three productions. Give each director a copy of Drama in the Forest, the handout for his or her forest community (page 19, 20 or 21), and ask him or her to use the assignment list to fill out this cast of characters.
- Give each team the Pathways in Time booklet for his or her forest community.
- Give each character the page from the FireWorks Notebook for his or her organism. Many characters will appear in only one drama, but others (elk, American marten, red-backed vole, and subalpine fir) will occur in more than one. Explain that these “shared” organisms must work with each team that provides habitat for them.
- Provide art materials for making masks or costumes.
- Have students plan their plays, research their plants and animals, write and rehearse.
- Have students produce their plays for one another and, if possible, for other classes.
Extension
- Learn how rocket science at the Kennedy NASA Space Center uses the science of wildland fire. Visit the Kennedy Space Center’s Internet site:
- atlas.ksc.nasa.gov/fire/fire.html
- Learn about current research in whitebark pine ecosystems from the Internet site of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, a group dedicated to protecting this unique ecosystem:
- www.whitebarkfound.org
- Use computer graphics to produce a slide show or presentation depicting how a forest changes over time and how it is changed by surface and crown fire.
Vocabulary
ecosystem, abiotic, biotic, observations, succession, canopy, density, accuracy, precise, monitor, inventory, light meter, plot, data, correlate, discotomous key, coniferous, deciduous.
Assessment Materials
Middle School level: Choose two of the three forest types. Write a paragraph that compares them in terms of one of these ideas:
• what kinds of fires were common in each forest type hundreds of years ago
• how fires hundreds of years ago affected specific plants and animals in each type
High School level: Think about how well an organism from one forest type would cope with life in one of the other types. Select an “organism-new habitat” pair from the list below and write a short essay answering these questions:
• What traits does the organism have that would work well in the new forest?
• What traits would make it difficult for the organism to survive or reproduce in the new habitat?
• Do you think the organism could become a permanent resident in the new environment? If not, how long do you think it would last?
Closure: Explain that students have investigated the story of fire in three kinds of forest, but there are hundreds of kinds of wildlands (forests, grasslands, shrublands, even swamps and estuaries) in North America where fire occurs. Fire’s story is different in each of these ecosystems, and the plants and animals in each have developed traits that enable them to survive fire or reproduce well after fire.