Lesson overview

In this lesson students will explore the distinguishing features of tropical rainforest and temperate forest biomes and go on to complete climate graphs for each.

Learning outcomes

• Explore the interrelationships between plants and animals in a forest ecosystem
• Create a landscape through speaking and listening
• Use graphs to develop an understanding of the relationship between climate and ecosystems

Lesson steps

1. Introduction (10 mins)
   Prior to this lesson students are to watch Magical Forest.
   Students write answers to the following questions immediately after watching.
   
   • Why does the tree need a fish?
   • Why does the Lynx need a caterpillar?
   • Why does a truffle fungus need a flying squirrel?
     
   In this lesson go through the answers with the students asking students to explain the different relationships shown in the video.
   
   Recap climate reminding students to use their climate graphs from the introductory lesson in this sequence. If students have not created climate graphs, they can locate these online.
2. Expedition (20 mins)
   Students explore the Temperate Forest. Nominate three students to read their description of the Temperate Forest from the previous lesson while the rest of the class remain freely exploring the expedition. These descriptions would have been written during the Introduction to biomes lesson. If students have not completed this, focus on the scene descriptions and points of interest, as well as the questions to deepen student understanding of these biomes.
   
   Students explore the Tropical Rainforest. Nominate three students to read their description of the Tropical Rainforest from the previous lesson while the rest of the class remain freely exploring the expedition (see the above note regarding the creation of these descriptions in the
   Introduction to biomes lesson).
3. Activity (30 mins)
   Students connect their climate graphs with their observations. If students have not created climate graphs, they can locate these online.
   Direct students to read their descriptions of what it would be like to be in the tropical rainforest and the temperate forest. Students state whether their climate graphs are consistent with what they described in their accounts.
4. Extension
   Students pick a tropical rainforest and create a food web for it.
   Students pick a temperate forest and create a food web for it.
   Students create a map showing the global distribution of both temperate forest and rainforests.

England

Key Stage 4 Geography

• Extended their locational knowledge of different environmental regions
• Understand physical processes relating different environmental regions
• Understand how human and physical processes interact to influence and change environments