Forest and Wildlife Ecology
Objectives
- Students explore nearby forest communities
- Students identify plants, animals, and other components that characterize different types of forest communities
- Students investigate factors necessary for the maintenance of forest communities
- Students discover how different disturbances affect forest community succession
- Students recognize the ecology of species living in the White Mountains
- Students consider the roles that animals play in the ecosystem
- Students investigate the importance of habitat for wildlife
- Students investigate the population dynamics of different species
- Students understand the importance of biodiversity within forests
- Students determine what forests provide wildlife and humans
- Students explore the history of forest use in the White Mountains
- Students reflect on their personal uses of forest and wildlife resources
- Students assess the future of forests, locally and globally, based on current human practices
Key Concepts
- Species identification and species inventory
- Habitat/s
- Life cycles
- Communities and ecosystems
- Energy input and output and energy flow within a community
- Producers, consumers and decomposers
- Disturbance
- Biodiversity
- Interdependence
- Eco-indicators of natural and mad-made impacts
- Food Chains, Food Webs and Energy transfer
- Forest resource use
- Recreational uses of forests
- Preservation, conservation and management of forests
- Impact of human activity on wildlife
Activities may include
- Tree identification
- Soil sampling
- Plot sampling
- Animal tracking
- Species identification
- Comparing form to function using animal skulls and skins
- Participation in one of AMC's Citizen Science programs
- Journal writing
- Interactive Games
- Student driven discussions
- Investigative hikes and exploration
Watershed and Water Conservation
Objectives
- Students understand and describe the properties of water and the water cycle
- Students use the scientific method and water monitoring kits to analyze the physical, chemical, and biological properties of a stream and draw conclusions about the health of the stream
- Students analyze the way water and other substances (such as nutrients, waste, and pollution) flow through watersheds
- Students compare and contrast White Mountain watersheds to their local watershed
- Students learn about natural factors that impact watersheds
- Students determine the importance of healthy watersheds to communities and discuss human impacts on watersheds
- Students describe water usage and analyze water conservation practices
Key Concepts
- pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen content, and aquatic plant and animal communities as indicators of water quality
- The Scientific Method of Inquiry and experiment design
- Watersheds as a complex system of interconnected parts
- The water cycle
- Water distribution
- Water and material flow through watersheds
- Natural and human impacts on watersheds, water quality, and aquatic communities
- Human impacts over time, including water use and future water availability and quality
- Water conservation
Activities may include
- In-depth stream study and water quality evaluation
- Interpretation of watershed maps
- Building small-scale simulated watersheds
- Town planning activity to debate land use impacts on a watershed
- Journal writing
- Interactive games
- Student driven discussions
- Investigative hikes and exploration
- Water conservation activities
Geology
Objectives
- Students learn about different rock types
- Students identify landforms
- Students describe the formation of the White Mountains and specific surrounding landforms
- Students examine the effects of weathering on rocks and landforms
- Students understand the way glaciers moved through and changed the mountains
- Students understand and appreciate the passage of time on a geological scale
- Students identify natural resources and analyze human's use of rocks and minerals
Key Concepts
- Characteristics and formation of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock
- Mountain building
- Plate tectonics
- Types of landforms
- Weathering and erosion
- Glaciation
- Geological events and a sense of geological time
- Human use of natural resources
Activities may include
- Landform identification
- Small-scale simulation of mountain building events
- Predicting landscape changes
- Journal writing
- Interactive games and ativities
- Student driven discussions
- Investigative hikes and exploration
Mountain Weather and Meteorology
Mountain weather and meteorology are offered as a curriculum focus for WINTER programs; however, some aspects of this program can be incorporated year-round.
Objectives
- Students describe the difference between weather and climate
- Students identify the forces that cause and affect weather and climate
- Students understand and describe the properties of high and low pressure systems
- Students understand and describe the properties of warm and cold fronts
- Students understand the relationship between pressure systems and fronts
- Students understand how clouds and precipitation form
- Students identify and describe different types of clouds and precipitation
- Students understand the factors that affect weather in the mountains
- Students describe the way weather changes as a result of mountain landforms and increased elevation
- Students learn about and use some of the tools used for weather observation and forecasting
- Students learn to read and create weather maps
- Students track recent weather patterns and create and present a weather forecast
Key Concepts
- Weather
- Climate
- Pressure systems
- Fronts
- Clouds and precipitation
- Mountain weather patterns
- Forecasting
Activities may include
- Weather observation
- Cloud identification
- Interactive activities and weather simulations (cloud formation, fronts, etc.)
- Use of weather forecasting tools
- Weather map interpretation
- Forecasting the weather
- Creating a weather map
- Student-driven discussions
Climate and Climate Change
Objectives
- Students will develop an understanding of how climate influences and shapes biotic communities.
- Students will understand that change is an essential part of ecology and that at current, ecological change is happening at exponential rate.
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of the carbon cycle.
- Students will understand the effects climate change poses to local ecosystems.
- Students will understand that they have the power to make positive changes for themselves.
- Students will demonstrate understanding of both green house gases and the green house effect.
Key Concepts
- Climate
- Climate change
- Carbon cycle/Carbon sinks
- Ecosystem/Community
- Green house gasses
- Natural vs. human caused change
Activities may include
- Globe and differential heating
- Carbon Cycle Game
- Ecosystem or forest community mapping
- Climate in a Bottle
- Carbon Dioxide Tag Date collection and graphing Web of life
Winter Ecology
Objectives
- Students understand the challenges that winter presents to plant, animal, and human communities
- Students explore the ways plants, animals, and humans have adapted to survive harsh winter conditions
- Students explore the characteristics of snow and understand the effects of snow on winter ecosystems
- Students study animal tracks and signs and draw conclusions about animals' activities in the winter
- Students understand how energy flow changes in the winter ecosystem
- Students enjoy exploring the forest in the quiet of the winter, on snowshoes when conditions permit
Key Concepts
- Plant and animal adaptations to winter
- Human adaptations to winter in the past and present
- Interrelationships
- Seasonal changes in energy flow in the White Mountain ecosystem
- Hibernation, dormancy
- Snow and the subnivean environment
Activities may include
- Animal tracking
- Snowshoe hikes
- Snowshelter history and construction
- Snowflake/snowpack study
- Observation and journal writing
- Winter tree identification
- Student-driven discussions
