Curriculum Support CD-ROM for Standard Grade and Higher Biology and Geography

The Forest Education Initiative (FEI) aims to increase the understanding and appreciation, particularly among young people, of the environmental, social, and economic potential of trees, woodlands and forests and of the link between the tree and everyday wood products. The need for such a greater understanding is vital. Woodlands provide environmentally sustainable building materials and many other products essential to daily life. Wood products require less energy to manufacture and maintain than other non-renewable materials and they can be easily recycled. Woodlands benefit our environment and provide a great setting for education and recreation, as well as much-needed jobs in the rural economy.
FEI brings this information to young people - in their homes, in schools and in colleges. Where possible, we encourage the public, especially young people, to use trees, timber and the forest environment for learning and gaining skills within their natural environment.

In order to support the 5-14 Environmental Studies Curriculum, in 2003 the Scottish Borders cluster group of FEI produced a CD-ROM of PowerPoint SlideShows based on “Woodlands” aimed at upper primary pupils.

The CD-ROM was shown to secondary teachers and they recognised that with a little modification, the slide shows would be a valuable resource to support the Standard Grade Biology and Geography curricula. Accordingly, in 2006, the slide shows were revised for secondary age pupils, an additional slide show comparing upland and lowland forestry was included along with worksheets based on the Standard Grade curricula to support the slide shows.

The feedback from both Geography and Biology was that additional slide shows would be very useful and these have now been completed along with further revision of the original shows.

Each slide show on this CD is in two versions:

“Auto” the sequence within each slide advances automatically - the forward key or the spacebar on the keyboard is needed to advance to the next slide.

“Click” the sequence within each slide and between slides advances using either the forward key or the spacebar on the keyboard.

The enclosed CD-ROM contains the following:

New Curriculum support slide shows for Biology & Geography:

·  World Biomes and Variety in Plants

·  Climate Change

·  Flowering Plant Life Cycle

·  Non-flowering Plants

Revised “Woodlands” based slide shows:

·  Woodlands Past and Present

·  The Forest Cycle from Seed to Harvest

·  The Multi-purpose Forest

·  How our Wood is Used

·  A Comparison of Upland and Lowland Forestry

·  A Glossary of Woodland Words

Biology specific worksheets (in pdf form) for:

·  Woodlands Past and Present

·  The Forest Cycle from Seed to Harvest

·  The Multi-purpose Forest

·  How our Wood is Used

Geography specific worksheets (in pdf form) for:

·  Woodlands Past and Present

·  The Forest Cycle from Seed to Harvest

·  The Multi-purpose Forest

·  How our Wood is Used

·  A Comparison of Upland and Lowland Forestry

General Worksheets (in pdf form) for:

·  World Biomes and Variety in Plants

·  Climate Change

·  Flowering Plant Life Cycle

·  Non-flowering Plants

Adobe® Reader® is required to view the worksheets.

If you do not have this, it can be downloaded free at:

http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

Acknowledgements:

Our thanks go to the following:

Ron Sutherland – Principal Teacher of Geography, Selkirk High School, for reviewing the slide shows for relevance to the geography curriculum and author of the geography worksheets.

Dr. Brian Barrie - Principal Teacher of Biology and the Biology staff, Hawick High School, for reviewing the slide shows and the worksheets for relevance to the biology curriculum.

David Warburton – Preparation of the PowerPoint SlideShows and author of the Biology & General worksheets

We hope that you find this a valuable resource.

FEI Borders Cluster Group – April 2009