Lesson Plans

As part of the WV Forest & Rail Trip, three lesson plans were developed that incorporates the mission of the trip. The lessons developed are 21st century lessons in which they focus on students to create and argue. The lessons incorporate three core classes from the WV content standards and include the common core for literacy and math. The goal of this lesson is to give students an understanding in ecology, with emphasis in biodiversity and the environmental affects to the ecosystem.

• Lesson Plan 1: Tree Identification - This lesson requires students to use a dichotomous key to identify 9 species of trees. Students will take pictures of the tree and incorporate a description and supply/demand of the tree in a Google spreadsheet. This will then published to the web and eventually the class blog so the community have information about the trees on school property.
• Lesson Plan 2: Determining Biodiversity - Students will design and implement a lab based off the following prompt: How does _____________________________ forest community compare to the biodiversity of other communities or ecosystems? Before students design the lab there is an ice breaker activity that will help students with the calculations.
• Lesson Plan 3: Clear Cutting Controversy - Students will research the aspect of clear cutting and learn the histroy behind West Virginia forests. By the end of the lesson students will have forum to discus the advantages and disadvantages of clear cutting using the Socratic Method.

Biodiversity Monitoring Project

Biodiversity Monitoring Project

Visit the link mentioned above for great resources for a ecology unit. Offer many lessons that cover a wide range of ecology topics that are adaptable for General Biology or an AP Biology class. The material is broken down so that a whole group of age ranges can understand the material. It also offers many ideas for hands on labs, field research, and alternate activities if one lacks resources for the lab.