Tropical Rainforests - An Endangered Resource

Social Studies Online

TEACHER Jean Fisher

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:

1. Starter Activity
   Lunch Box Activity

2. What do you know?
   

   Diagnostic Assessments:
   Describe what a tropical rainforest is like. Where would you find one? What resources come from tropical rainforests? What animals, birds and other creatures would you see? What people live there? How are Rainforests different to the bush we see in our local communities? Make a list on a chart of all responses. Accept all answers.

3. Mubbles
   Choose a current issue in New Zealand relating to the topic. (For example, West Coast logging.)

   West Coast Logging
   

   Look at this site:

   • Native Rimu and Beech Logging to Halt in New Zealand's Public Lands

   Discuss:
   Divide students into small groups of three or four. Their task is to read the information then analyse the issue.

   What is the government's promise? Which groups are affected by this decision? How do different groups use the native forest resource on the West Coast?

   Your list could include forestry workers, hunters, craftspeople, trampers, miners, conservationists, DOC workers, tourists, forest owners, retailers, business community.

   Allocate one of the groups affected by the decision to each group. Students analyse the consequences of the decision for that group.

   Hand out a giant speech bubble to each group. Students write into the Mubble what they think the people might be saying or thinking about the issue.

   Discuss the reasons why people hold different views on the use of resources.

4. Charting Change
   In groups, create a chart to show how the development of technology has impacted on the lives of people living in rainforests. For example, how has the use of motorised tractors changed farming, the use of chainsaws and heavy machinery in forestry, and sealed roads in access? Share ideas with class. Record on charts for future reference.

5. Definition
   What is a tropical rainforest? Come up with a definition for "tropical rainforest".

   The following sites will help:

   • All About Rainforests

6. Mapping
   On a map (see Map Research) show where all the Tropical Rainforest areas are found in the world.
   • Where are tropical rainforests?

7. Mind Map
   Mind Map resources people get from tropical rainforests. Use these headings: food, medicine, forest products, minerals, household products, other.

8. Word Search
   Create your own word search on Puzzlemaker, or alternatively students could create their own word search this way using words they have chosen that relate to the topic.

   Words you could use include: tropical, rainforest, destruction, vegetation, biodiversity, greenhouse effect, deforestation, raw materials, slash and burn, sustainable, pharmaceuticals, species, bauxite, clear felling, agriculture, crops, medicinal, edible, indigenous.

9. Group Inquiry Activities
   Assessment Activity
   • Divide the class into groups of three or four, and allocate a topic to each group (see topics below.) Remind students that they are to explain: "How and why people view and use rainforest resources differently, and the consequences of this".

   • Frame at least four questions to focus inquiry.

   • Collect and record (see note taking) information from at least two sources, noting the sources. A selection of sites is listed under each topic, but where practical encourage students to conduct their own online search at Google. Discuss ways to evaluate sites.

   • Make a generalisation about the consequences of people viewing and using rainforests differently, and support this with evidence.

   • Report findings either as an oral presentation using a chart/poster, or as an electronic presentation using a programme such as PowerPoint. (See below.)

   Inquiry Topics

   1. Tropical Rainforest Animals

      Starter question
      Why should we do all we can to save the huge resource of animals found in our tropical rainforests and what are the consequences if we don't?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • Introduction to Rainforest Animals
      • Life on Land
      • Waterworld
      • Big Top
      • Making a Living

   2. Tropical Rainforest Plants

      Starter Question
      Why should we preserve the plants found in the Tropical Rainforest?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • Useful plants of the Amazon valley
      • Tropical Rainforests in our daily lives

   3. Indigenous People

      Starter question
      What factors have brought change to the lives of indigenous peoples of the tropical rainforests, and what are the consequences of these changes?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • Who are the Indigenous people?
      • Making a Living
      • Quichua farming

   4. Timber and Forestry

      Starter question
      What rainforest resources are valuable to forestry companies?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • Facts about Wood
      • Rainforest Facts
        Scroll down and find 'The Driving Forces of Destruction'.

   5. Agriculture

      Starter question
      How does agriculture affect the rainforest?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • Non commercial and commercial farming operations
      • Rubber Tappers
      • Cattle Raising

   6. Oil

      Starter question
      How has the search for oil affected the lives of those living in the rainforest?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • Facts about Oil

   7. Threatened species
      

      Starter question
      Why should we be concerned about the number of species under threat in our Tropical Rainforest and what are the consequences for us if we do nothing?

      (See Teacher Ideas)

      • The causes of rainforest destruction

   8. Conservation

      Starter Question
      What are people doing to conserve the remaining rainforests?

      • Steps for Kids to Take (Rainforest Action Network)
      • Greenpeace - Ancient Forests

   9. Tourism

      Starter Question
      How can tourism help protect rainforests?

      • Can ecotourism save the rainforests?

   Presenting and Reporting Information
   Each group reports their findings to the class. Remind students that the presentation must focus on: "How and why people view and use rainforest resources differently, and the consequences of this".

   • Groups include a summary sheet of the main points for the rest of the class in their report.

   • Self Evaluation

10. Reflecting
    Students complete this worksheet to summarise ways people use the rainforest and the consequences of this.

11. Think Pair Share
    

    Think Pair Share Topics

    1. What are the global consequences of deforestation?
       
       • What Happens When the Rainforests are Cut Down?

    2. Why are tropical rainforests being destroyed at ever increasing rates?
       
       • The Causes of Rainforest Destruction
         
       • Rates of Rainforest Loss
         
       • Rainforest Resources/Facts

12. Future perspective
    Brainstorm things people (and governments) can do to protect the rainforests of the world. Display your ideas on a tree collage on the classroom wall.

13. What can we do?
    Write a report for a magazine. In your report outline how people view and use rainforest resources differently, and the consequences of this. Suggest some possible solutions.

    The following sites will be helpful:

    • Rainforest Currency
      This gives an example of a report written by a student.
    • Steps for Kids to Take
    • What YOU can do!

14. Extra for Experts
    
    • Amazon Interactive
      A fun interactive site where students can take part in a simulation as well as gain information about the Amazon region.

15. Follow up:
    A Charter for the Future
    Draw up a Charter for the future of New Zealand's native forests. It should include at least five ideas that will ensure New Zealand's native forests survive for future generations. Present your charter to an appropriate person or group.

RESOURCES

Print

• Miller, Hene and Agopian, Lauri, 1995, Rainforest Extended Thematic Unit Teacher Created Materials Inc, P O Box 1040, Huntington Beach, California. USA
• Warren, Susan 1992 Manu and the Jungle That Isn't There World Vision Educational Resources. Email infocentre@worldvision.org.nz for details on how to purchase or borrow this video.

Electronic

• Rainforest Field Trip
• All About Rainforests
• Journey to Amazonia
• Tropical Rainforest Coalition

Other

• Video: Amazon Rainforest The Development Dilemma Classroom Video Manu and the Jungle World Vision

• Photographs: Wood, Beulah Manu's Jungle Pack World Vision (12 Colour Photographs)