Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Terrific trees

20 minutes

Find Out: From forest to fireplace

20 minutes

Take Action: Sustainable forests

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand the implications of human activity for the life cycle of a tree

Success criteria

Students can:

understand the impacts of sustainable/unsustainable firewood collection on the life cycle of a forest
identify different purposes of trees.

Tune In: Terrific trees

Step 1

Invite students to stand at their desks, arms by their sides. Ask students to take one deep breath and repeat three times. Direct students to sit down and explain to them that thanks to trees and their remarkable life cycles, we can breathe clean air, as trees produce the oxygen we need to survive!

Step 2

Watch the video with your students that discusses the life cycle of a tree.

How Trees Grow | Eco Facts | One Tree Planted - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYCO0dHMfk

Step 3

Provide each student with a copy of this handout. Using scissors and glue, students are to cut around the images and place them in the order of the life cycle diagram.

Step 4

Watch the following video with your students:

The Lion King: Grubs Scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YlaWmB5I-o

Once the video is finished, conduct a class discussion with your students about what they have seen in both videos using the following prompts:

What happens to the tree at the end of its life cycle or when it dies?
Is the dead tree worthless to nature and only good for firewood?
Do dead and fallen trees become habitats and food for animals?
In the video, what were the animals taking from the log?

Explain to students that dead trees begin to break down, creating food and habitat for biodiversity and forming an important part of the food chain in the forest ecosystem. Dead trees can also become important nesting and roosting sites for possums, owls, parrots, bats, gliders, etc. Eventually, a combination of fungi and small animals will break the tree down, returning it to soil (which is great for new young trees to grow in!).

Invite students to reflect on the video and what could have happened to the animal if people had removed the living and dead trees.

Find Out: From forest to fireplace

Step 1

Explain to students that when trees are removed from the environment for firewood, we also lose animal habitat, seeds, new plants, energy, and nutrients that are placed into the soil.

Watch the video with your students that discusses the rules around responsible firewood collection in Victoria.

Firewood - More than Fuel - vimeo.com/966229286/99f63821ac

Step 2.

Present the visual explainer to students to further explore the laws around responsible firewood collection in Victoria. After presenting, discuss the following questions with your students:

Why do we have these laws?
How do they protect our environment?
What do we lose when we remove trees for habitat for firewood?

Take Action: Sustainable forests

Step 1

In an open space, assign roles to each student:

Trees (a minimum of five students)
Animals (a minimum of fifteen students)

To introduce this game, explain to students that this activity will help us learn about what happens, showing the impacts of sustainable vs unsustainable firewood on forests.

Step 2

The students who are trees need to spread out in the space and stand with their arms outstretched like 2 branches and their legs wide like 2 tree trunks.

The students who are animals begin moving about at random around the space in the animal motion they have been assigned.

Step 3

Read out the scenario to students:

This round represents a sustainable firewood collection. This means people follow the correct rules and procedures when collecting firewood. They do not take old growth, leave seed trees, or harvest only from firewood collection areas.

Call the word “habitat” out to students, prompting all the students in the animal group to run quickly to find the limb of a tree to cling onto to call home. Each tree can hold a maximum of 4 animals at a time (two students per student arm tree limb).

Identify to students that there are enough trees for all animals to find a home in this round. However, once you call out the word “migrate”, all animals are to start moving to find a new habitat once you call the word “habitat” out to students.

Step 4

Read out the scenario to students:

This round represents unsustainable firewood collection. This means they collect firewood illegally without caring for habitat protection or biodiversity.

Select one student as a firewood collector. This student is to randomly select a tree limb (arm) and pretend to cut it down with a chainsaw. When this occurs, the student must lower their arm and hang by their side so no animal can attach to it. The firewood collector can choose to eliminate a tree, meaning that the student must sit down.

Call the word “habitat” again, prompting students to find a new habitat.

Invite the firewood collector to chop down one tree or limb each round and continue this process until there are fewer trees and tree limbs. Once students in the animal group cannot find a habitat, they are to sit down for the remainder of the game.

Identify to students how this represents the dangers of unsustainable firewood collection. Outline to students that those in the animal group couldn’t find a safe habitat for the threatened species these rules and regulations are designed to protect.

Reflection

After the game, sit students down and discuss all the reflections and learnings they came up with. Use the following prompts in your discussion:

What do trees provide us and the environment and why are they important?
Considering tree life cycles, why do you think protecting existing habitat (old trees) is important?
How is illegal firewood collection damaging to the environment?

Firewood: More Than Fuel

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Summary

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