Plants Field Study Curriculum Outline |
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Field Study Tour: Animals • Plants • Soil • Water
Next Generation Science Standards: Animals • Plants • Soil • Water |
Theme: COMPLEXITY
Course Concept: ADAPTATION
Plants have characteristics that best suit them for a specific environment. Conditions of sunlight, soil, and moisture aid in determining the species growing in an area. |
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Course Concept: DISPERSAL MECHANISM
Plants have different dispersal mechanisms that are essential for their distribution. |
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Course Concept: NUTRIENT CYCLE
Green plants have the role of producers, while fungi are decomposers that recycle nutrients and make them available for plant growth. |
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Course Concept: CLASSIFICATION
Plants can be identified and classified by similarities and differences. |
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Theme: ECOSYSTEMS
Course Concept: ENERGY FLOW
The sun’s energy is transferred to the animal world through photosynthesis. |
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Course Concept: SUCCESSION
Free from outside interference, plant communities and their environment slowly change over time. |
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Course Concept: COMMUNITY
Plants and animals occupy specific areas and function through interrelated trophic systems. |
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Theme: IMPORTANCE
Course Concept: HUMAN INFLUENCE
Individual and collective human behavior has profound and direct consequences for plant communities. |
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Course Concept: NATURAL RESOURCES
Plants and plant communities are of high value to humans economically and otherwise. Oregon’s economy has historically relied upon harvest of plants. |
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Course Concept: PRODUCERS
Plants have unique and important ecological roles which affect all living organisms and the environment: food and oxygen production; soil formation and stabilization; climatic regulation; water purification. |
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Course Concept: CAREERS
The study of plants offers a wide range of career opportunities. |
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Plants Field Study Activities
The following activities are typical of a day on Plants Field Study at Outdoor School. Actual activities will vary by site and season.
Coniferous Trees: Students learn to identify and categorize coniferous trees and discuss their place in forest succession and in the local economy.
Plant Adaptations: Students examine a variety of plants, their adaptations, and their niche in the forest community.
Plant Identification Hike: Students examine a variety of plants and use field guides and other resources to identify and categorize plants and fungi.
Dichotomous Key / Leaf Detectives: Students create a dichotomous key and use a key to identify plants.
Primitive Plants: Students identify fungi, lichens, ferns and moss and examine their adaptations and role in the forest ecosystem.
Flower parts: Students examine and dissect flowers and discuss the structure and function of flower parts.
Tree Parts: Students act out the internal parts of a tree and the function of each (outer bark, xylem, phloem, cambium, heartwood).
Succession and Disturbance: Students explore the process of forest succession, outline human and natural disturbances, and collect data to characterize a variety of sites as to their stage in succession.
Seed and Spore Dispersal: Students collect and identify seeds and spores and describe their dispersal techniques. Dispersal is linked to forest succession.
Tree Age: Students use a variety of techniques to determine tree age and estimate the age a forest stand.
Tree Height / Board Foot Volume: Students use geometric triangulation and forestry tools to calculate the height of a tree and then calculate the volume of lumber contained in a tree. Students discuss human use of wood products and how activities such as paper recycling can reduce the amount of trees harvested.
Forest Layers: Students examine and identify the various layers found in a forest ecosystem and discuss layers as a diversity of habitat for wildlife.
Logging Tools: Students learn how to use crosscut saws and other historic logging tools and look for historical signs of the use of such tools at the site.
Fire Ecology: Students identify signs of forest fire and discuss the impact of fire on a forest ecosystem.
Plant associations: Students characterize forest plots in terms of plants that are usually found together and analyze reasons for particular plant associations.
Ethnobotany: Students examine a variety of items made from plants and discuss the history of human use of plants in the Pacific Northwest.
Photosynthesis: Students explore the process of photosynthesis and relate the process to activities they do on field study.
Nurse Logs: Students examine decomposing logs and stumps and observe and analyze their role in a forest ecosystem.
The following activities are typical of a day on Plants Field Study at Outdoor School. Actual activities will vary by site and season.
Coniferous Trees: Students learn to identify and categorize coniferous trees and discuss their place in forest succession and in the local economy.
Plant Adaptations: Students examine a variety of plants, their adaptations, and their niche in the forest community.
Plant Identification Hike: Students examine a variety of plants and use field guides and other resources to identify and categorize plants and fungi.
Dichotomous Key / Leaf Detectives: Students create a dichotomous key and use a key to identify plants.
Primitive Plants: Students identify fungi, lichens, ferns and moss and examine their adaptations and role in the forest ecosystem.
Flower parts: Students examine and dissect flowers and discuss the structure and function of flower parts.
Tree Parts: Students act out the internal parts of a tree and the function of each (outer bark, xylem, phloem, cambium, heartwood).
Succession and Disturbance: Students explore the process of forest succession, outline human and natural disturbances, and collect data to characterize a variety of sites as to their stage in succession.
Seed and Spore Dispersal: Students collect and identify seeds and spores and describe their dispersal techniques. Dispersal is linked to forest succession.
Tree Age: Students use a variety of techniques to determine tree age and estimate the age a forest stand.
Tree Height / Board Foot Volume: Students use geometric triangulation and forestry tools to calculate the height of a tree and then calculate the volume of lumber contained in a tree. Students discuss human use of wood products and how activities such as paper recycling can reduce the amount of trees harvested.
Forest Layers: Students examine and identify the various layers found in a forest ecosystem and discuss layers as a diversity of habitat for wildlife.
Logging Tools: Students learn how to use crosscut saws and other historic logging tools and look for historical signs of the use of such tools at the site.
Fire Ecology: Students identify signs of forest fire and discuss the impact of fire on a forest ecosystem.
Plant associations: Students characterize forest plots in terms of plants that are usually found together and analyze reasons for particular plant associations.
Ethnobotany: Students examine a variety of items made from plants and discuss the history of human use of plants in the Pacific Northwest.
Photosynthesis: Students explore the process of photosynthesis and relate the process to activities they do on field study.
Nurse Logs: Students examine decomposing logs and stumps and observe and analyze their role in a forest ecosystem.