@PABLOEALARCON

Teaching in the
Rainforest
Some lesson plans for teaching natural
history in tropical environments
Pablo Alarcón
10/01/2002

These lesson plans were made in 2002 for training nature tourist guides by a novel educator
(me).
 Natural History Lesson Plan
Adaptation, Evolution and Natural Selection
Objectives: By the end of this lesson, SWBAT (students will be able to):
Define the concept of evolution.
Describe the process of natural selection.
Describe the speciation mechanism.
Define adaptation.
Relate 10 organisms’ adaptations to their environment.

Materials:
Props for teachers’ costumes of doctor, teacher and police officer.
3 sets of flashcards with illustrations of plants, insects, mice, snakes,
hawks, and bacteria.
Flashcards with illustration about organism characteristics or
adaptations.
Markers.
Color pencils.
Poster paper.
Diagrams about Natural Selection and Speciation.

Time: 4 – 5 hours.

Warm up:

Review:

1- Niche:
a) Skit: The teachers represent different roles with costumes. They
explain the importance of each role in the society. For example:

Teacher 1: Doctor
Teacher 2: Teacher
Teacher 3: Police officer

Teacher 1: I am a doctor. With no doctors, all the people become ill and
die.
Teacher 2: I am a teacher. With no teachers, no education, etc, etc.
Teacher 3: I am a police officer. With no police officers, violence, death,
etc.
All the teachers: We are a food chain.

b) Then the teachers explain the roles and importance of each organism
in an ecosystem. The teacher should use at least one example of each
part of the food chain (producers, consumers – herbivore, carnivore,
omnivore - and decomposers), showing flashcards of those organisms
used in the past lesson. Example:

Insect: I’m a plant. My niche is , with no plants, no .

 Fish: I’m a fish. My niche is , with no fish, no .
Crocodile:
Bacteria:
All the characters: We are a food chain.

c) Make 3 groups. Each group has a set of flashcards with illustrations

of a plant, insect, mouse, snake, hawk, and bacteria. The students
have to act or explain the importance of each organism in the
ecosystem, and their niche. At the end of this activity the Naturalist
starts a discussion about the balance in the ecosystems.

2- Ecological Organization: Class activity. The teacher review and asks the
students the terms: organism – population – community – ecosystem – biome –
biosphere. The same example of the last lesson could be used.

Adaptation and Evolution

Presentation: Adaptation and Evolution. The teacher explains the advantages of

different parts of the body of several organisms. The examples could be:
Giraffe and its neck.
Elephant and its proboscis.
Owl and its big eyes, and rotating head.

Practice 1: Make 3 groups. The teacher assigns to the students a set of organisms.
They can be a howler monkey, a crocodile, an armadillo, a horse, a
jaguar and a hummingbird. Each group of students makes a poster and
draw the organisms and explain their adaptations.

Practice 2: Fantasy species. This activity requires an extra teacher. Make 4 groups.
The purpose is to give a set of characteristics to each group, they have to
draw in a poster a fantasy organism with those characteristics (that are
the organism’s adaptations), and present to the entire class why those
characteristics are important for their survival. The characteristics can be
separated in several categories:

Characteristic Example
Teeth Fangs, no teeth, flat teeth
Color Blue, Pink, Back, Green
Eyes Cat like, round pupil
Legs Jumping legs, running legs

Before the students start with the activity, the teacher should model first
how to make the fantasy species, and show them one picture pre made of
a crazy animal with, for example, cat like eyes, black skin, jumping legs,
and fangs; and explain why this animal has all these adaptations.
Another fun addition is to assign crazy names to those species.

Presentation: Plan adaptation. Teacher explains that not only the animals but also the
plants have adaptations. Example: the coconut palm has flexible trunk
 for wind, and its coconuts can float, so the sea can disperse them. The
cactus has spines to protect itself for predators and avoid water loss in
arid conditions.

Practice 1: In pairs the students go out, find 2 plants, and sketch them in their
notebooks.

Production: The students present their sketches and the adaptations to the class.

Natural Selection

Presentation: Natural Selection. This could be covered with a story of diagrams about
how some individuals that have some advantage can survive and the
other that don’t have it, die. Example: We have a group of rabbits of the
same species; most of them have short legs and short ears, and some of
them have long legs and long ears. It seems that these characteristics are
irrelevant, but when a predator appears, these factors are so important:
the long ears are a good advantage to notice the predator, and the long
legs are crucial to escape running. The key phrase is: “How the natural
selection works? If you have good adaptation, you are alive; if you
don’t have good adaptations, you are dead.”

Practice 1: Relay race. Make pair and tie their legs to make 3-legged couples vs.
free legs or jumping students. Another students could be predators.
Then compare these characteristics.

Practice 2: Suppose that the fact of curling the tongue is crucial for survival (i.e. you
are a frog). How many students can curl their tongues? How many
could survive in these conditions?

Practice 3: Relay race. Three groups: one group walking backwards, other crawling,
and the last jumping. Who wins?

Closure: Teacher explains that the birds come from the dinosaurs. Some
illustrations are important to explain these. The dinosaurs are absent
nowadays, but they changed with several adaptations, and today these
organisms modified are the birds with another adaptations.

Presentation: Speciation. Continuing with the example of the rabbits, the teacher can
explain that in every generation the rabbits change until the first ones
could be totally different with the last ones. This process of change and
“creation” of new species is “speciation”.

Practice 1: Take the entire class. Act a skit to represent a natural disaster. The class
is splitting in 2 with an imaginary barrier between them. Then separate
each group by different characteristics: green subgroup, black subgroup,
tongue curlers, non – tongue curlers.
Closure: Clarify the concept. One example could be the story of lizards that cross
a river through a log. Then the log falls in the river, and the lizards start
to change in each shore of the river. After millions of years, the two
groups of lizards are totally different and can be considered two species.

Comments: This last part of the lesson was difficult in the NGTP (Nature Guide
Training Program) – Tikal program in Guatemala. The creation Bible
concepts, the low English level in this part of the course, and the abstract
meanings are some reasons to complicate the teacher labor teaching
evolution and speciation. These topics could be clarified in a nigh lesson
a NH (Natural History) discussion in the local language.
 Natural History Lesson Plan
Forest Succession and Stratification;
Values of Tropical Rainforest
Objectives: Students will be able to…
Explain the process of forest succession (disturbance, colonization,
secondary forest, old growth forest)
The two principal types of disturbances (human-induced vs. natural),
and the vertical stratification of canopy layers in old growth forest
(emergent trees, canopy, subcanopy, understory).
Students will also be able to understand the values of tropical
rainforest: soil retention, water recharge, climate control, carbon
sink.

Materials:
Succession posters
Succession classification cards
Possible props for models or demonstrations
Tarps or layers to use as canopy layers
Photographs of jungle canopy, if available
Wheel to rotate forest stratification positions
Role cards for creation of canopy
Supplies for making a canopy
Water
Flashlight
Sets of cotton and dirt and preprepared cotton in ziplock for values of
tropical rainforest presentation and practice.

Time: 4 hours

Presentation: Forest Succession. Ask the class, “What is succession?” And present
the four stages, starting with disturbances, by using four posters with big
drawings of each stage. Divide disturbances into human-induced vs.
natural and have the class brainstorm a list of each type. Go on a mini-
tour around the site, discussing examples of each stage.

Practice: In groups of four, pass out sets of flashcards, jumbled. Each set
contains: four colored cards, each with a name of a forest stage on it;
and 17 or so examples to arrange under each of the four categories.
(Another Forest Succession lesson plan has more details on this.) When
each group has finished classifying the cards under the stage headings,
discuss and clarify.

Production: Also in groups of four (perhaps different groups), each group is assigned
a type of disturbance (e.g. slash-and-burn, hurricane, clear cutting) and a
small working area. Students create a model of old growth forest and
represent their specific disturbance with props or a theater skit. Each skit
 continues at least through the creation of old growth forest again.
Everyone in each group must take an active role in the presentation.

Wrap-up: Let students discuss the concepts enough that they could explain it to a
tourist.

Presentation: Stratification.
Using sheets, tarps, whatever, have the class help create a model of a
triple canopy. Discuss how there is less light under each successive layer
(and have students stand under each layer as you build it, from the top
down.) Add a few emergent trees (branches poking above) to the scene.
Show pictures of the canopy from above, if available, to demonstrate the
layer-like aspect of it. Emphasize that these are the layers within the old-
growth stage. In the classroom, brainstorm a list of species typically
found in each layer. Discuss the characteristics of some species as a way
of getting to general truths about each layer – e.g. leaves in the canopy
tend to be smaller, and leaves in the understory larger, because of light
and water availability. Discuss leaf size and shape, the nature of
different habitats, etc.

Practice: Assign four positions to each of the layers: standing stretching up for
emergent trees, arms in a T for the canopy, arms in a T and squatting for
the subcanopy, and crouching in a ball for the understory. Call out a
layer and have the class all do that position and repeat the layer name.
Switch it up. Have student callers. Make it an elimination game.
Assign numbers 1-4 to the students, and with a wheel in front of the
class, rotate which role each number plays, so you have a 4-level forest
all the time, but with different students playing different roles at different
times.

Presentation: Biological Importance of Canopy

(1) With a t-shirt, shine a flashlight through the fabric to demonstrate
that the light gets filtered. Two layers filters the light that much
more, three layers more, etc. Discuss the benefits and effects of this.
(2) Pour water through the shirt to show how a fast rain is slowed by the
canopy into a manageable drip underneath. Discuss effects and
benefits.
(3) Brainstorm the different habitats that are created for all sorts of
different species by the canopy

Practice: A skit to create the canopy. Assign roles to the students by passing out
cards: maybe three birds, five trees of different sorts, a vine, a monkey,
three insects, an epiphyte, two frogs, a bat, an anteater, etc. Create a
canopy by having each student act out his role in a set space. Mayhem
no doubt ensues. Change roles if the students are up for repeating it.

Production: Create a diorama. In small groups, students create a 4-layered canopy

with whatever materials they feel like using: clay, paper and glue, leaves
and sticks, all of the above. Each diorama must have 4 layers, perhaps
even with specific species or characteristics, and maybe each must have
 specific habitats for animals and plants, and each must get subjected to
the flashlight test and the water test for light and water penetration.

Presentation: Values of Tropical Rainforest. Using a “sponge” of cotton, demonstrate

the four values we teach. The concepts here are more important for the
students than the terms for each:
(1) Soil retention: hold the cotton above a pile of dirt and pour water on
it; the dirt stays. Compare with pouring the water at the same speed
directly on the dirt. Lo and behold, the dirt gets blasted away
without protection. Discuss with students: what does this mean for
the forest?
(2) Water recharge: gently squeeze the cotton; water drips out slowly
now. The dirt pile below can handle it. Repeat the water pouring
and recharging demonstration with the sounds “sluuuuuuurp [cotton
absorbing], drip drip drip [water recharge on squeeze], ahhhhhhh
[dirt taking the water no problem].” Have the class practice a
sluuurp drip drip drip ahhhhhh song and dance, maybe, and have
them explain the importance of each step of it.
(3) Climate control: put the wet cotton in a ziplock back with plenty of
air and seal it. Then, cooking-show style, pull out another ziplock
with wet cotton inside that you-ve already let sit in the sun for a big.
Discuss the condensation: what might this mean for a rainforest?
Yes, more rain.
(4) Carbon sink: use the cotton as a rag to wipe up all the dirt. Clean!
Explain that the forest cleans the air for us; maybe demonstrate a
simple carbon cycle by having one teacher be a plant and another a
person, and when one gives a big breath out, the other takes a big
breath in, lovin’ it, and then they switch on the next breath. Class
can be divided into teams or groups and practice this clean happy
breathing.
(5) Brief discussion, if necessary, to review the values of biodiversity:
e.g. uses (like medicine, construction, food) and benefits from the
beauty (tourism, $$$, etc.)

Practice: Students, with their own cotton and water and dirt and ziplocks, repeat
the presentation on their own, in small groups, explaining to each other
what is going on.

Production: In small groups, assign a value (e.g. carbon sink) to each group and have
them, after some preparation, perform a skit to the rest of the class,
which demonstrates and explains that value. Everyone must take an
active role in each presentation.
 Natural History Lesson Plan
Geology
Objectives: SWBAT
Name the seven continents and map a general map of the world
Name the 4 layers of the earth and their characteristics
Understand the terms plate tectonics
Understand the formation of volcanoes
Understand the formation of faults and earthquakes

Time: 4 hours

Materials:
Watermelon with a “world” drawn upon it with permanent marker
Flashcards of the seven individual continents and their shapes
Flashcards with each of the earths different layers on it
Long rope
Students country big map
Tub of water
Volcano model (clay worked well)
4 geologic puzzle maps – on sheets of stiff cardboard, draw the earth
as it is today, and as it was at different time periods, 50million years
ago, 100mya, 200mya. Then cut these maps into puzzle pieces (be
sure to keep the pieces separate or they are useless)

Presentation: A world map would be great. But essentially walk them through the
seven continents and give them the location of a few main countries in
the world.

Practice: Have them break into pairs and practice naming the seven continents
with the flashcards.

Production: On a blank piece of paper, have them take 20mins to copy the world map
to the best of their abilities. Make sure they label the continents, and
then have them glue it into their notebooks.

Presentation: The layers of the earth. Explain to them the earth is like a watermelon
with different layers. Take a small slice of the watermelon earth and tell
them the thin green part is the crust, the white part is the mantle, the red
part with no seeds is the outer core and the red part with seeds is the
inner core. Explain to them the basic characteristics of each layer, as
described in the NH curriculum.

Practice 1: With the layer flashcards break them up into different partners for
practice.
Practice 2: On four separate pieces of paper have the characteristics of the layers
written. Lay the papers out on the ground with lots of space in between.
The teacher or a volunteer student has to call out a layer and all the
 students have to run to the correct characteristic sheet. This should be
done in small groups.

Production: On another sheet of paper, have them draw a cross section of the Earth
with the 4 layers and their characteristics. Have them glue it into their
notebook.

Presentation: Plate tectonics. Good luck, this one takes creativity as many of them
have never even conceived of this idea. Take the watermelon and try to
cut it into the various major plates of the world, North American, South
American, African, Australian. Scoop out the meat and leave only the
crust with the drawings on it. Float them in the tub of water. With this
as your main prop, explain to them that the plates are huge pieces of land
that are floating on the surface of the mantle. Like the pieces of
watermelon crust, they are moving very slowly. The Earth looked
different in the past because of this motion. This will be very difficult
for them to grasp, so this presentation will take a long time.

Practice 1: With the puzzle maps of the Earth at different geologic periods, break
them into four groups and have them reassemble each puzzle

Production: When they have all finished, each group has to make a presentation of
their Earth, describing where each of the continents was located and how
it was changing.

Presentation: Volcanoes. With plate tectonics in mind, explain that a volcano is a

mountain with lava inside. Sometimes there are eruptions. Explain that
they are caused when two plates hit and push large amounts of the crust
up into the air. Lava comes up from the mantle and explodes out. The
use of the volcano model will help a lot, and drawings on poster board
will help a lot also.

Production: They have a half hour to prepare a presentation on the life of a volcano.
It can be a skit, a clay model, a drawing, a song, but it needs to be
narrated and include all aspects the teacher explained.

Presentation: Earthquakes. Earthquakes occur when there is lateral movement along

two plates (sliding along two plates). Explain that a fault is the contact
spot between two plates. There is a lot of tension building up over the
years, and then suddenly there is a release…an earthquake. This can be
demonstrated sliding a rug (a plate) with some house models on it.
When the rug is shacked they can see the movement and imagine and
earthquake.

Practice 1: Have the students in two lines facing each other. The students are
shoulder to shoulder. Grab the hands of the person facing you. Slowly,
one line moves in one direction, shuffling sideways, the other line moves
the opposing way. Make sure no one lets go of the hands! This is to
explain how tension builds up over time and eventually, someone will
release, an earthquake.
Practice 2: Tug of war with the rope. A fun way of explaining tension forces and
sudden releases.

Production: With the teachers help, the students try to draw a large scale geologic
map of their country. It should include the main plates, the main
volcanic areas, the main faults, and anything else the teachers feel worth
mentioning. Then have them glue it in their books.

Comments: For our students this was a huge complex lesson. Before the class, they
didn’t know the name of the planet they lived on, nor could they name a
continent. And due to their creationist beliefs, telling them the world is
changing and is 4 billion years old was anti-religion. There are many
obstacles so the teachers need to be patient and creative, but realize that
some students may well understand, but might choose not to believe a
word you say.
 Natural History Lesson Plan
Astronomy
Objectives: Students will be able to…name this planet and the sun, understand the
daily spinning of the earth and its rotation around the sun once a year,
understand the makeup of our solar system, with other planets, say two
reasons why the earth is the only known planet with life, and understand
how stars are different from planets.

Materials: One very large paper/cardboard cutout sun, flashlight and model sphere
for earth (tennis ball will do), cards for morning noon afternoon evening
and night, table-top solar system chart with month labels for earth’s
orbit; materials for illustrating the months; a set of month cards for each
group (4 or 5), space to make a big solar system and hold running
activities, one chair, two bottles of water.

Time: 4 hours

Presentation: With the big cardboard sun, and of course the real sun, introduce the
concepts that the sun is “very, very, very, very big”, “very, very, very,
very, very hot”, and “very, very, very far” from earth. Demonstrate day
and night with a light shined against a spinning globe: half is light, half
is dark.

Practice: Put the big sun off to one side. Have everyone form a circle, with their
backs to the center, and link arms. Have the circle rotate slowly to the
left, with each student noticing when he can see the sun and when he
cannot. Put signs on the ground at points outside the circle
corresponding to “morning” “noon” “afternoon” “evening” and “night.”
Spin the circle a few times so students get used to seeing the relative
movement of the big sun, even though it’s actually staying still.

Presentation: Earth’s rotation around the sun. With a big table chart, perhaps with 3D
objects representing Earth and the Sun, demonstrate how the earth rotates
around the sun once a year. Use signs to label each month’s area in
space as the earth passes through, arriving back at January.

Practice: (optional) Have the students draw pictures for each month, complete
with the local weather conditions. Lay the pictures in a big circle around
the big sun, and have each member of the class walk around and describe
the weather to someone standing by the sun and asking, at each month,
“How is the weather?”

Practice: Distribute to small groups a complete set of month labels. Have the
groups lay them in a circle in the proper order, and have one person stand
in the center as a sun (maybe with golden props, booming voice,
whatever). The others in the group space themselves out and play Earth,
rotating around. The Sun asks “How’s the weather?” Each of the Earths
in each group then replies based on what month he’s in. Then they
 advance. (Perhaps a musical chairs variation would work here to make
this a little more fun?)

Production: Combine the motions of daily spinning and annual rotation: In a big
space, put the sun down in the center. Demonstrate going around the sun
in a big orbit while also spinning on your axis counter-clockwise.
Demonstrate, counting each day and moving 1/12 of the way around, a
typical January. Then have fun with it: everyone takes a turn seeing if
they can make it to 365 spins in one orbit, as fast as they can. Everyone
makes it until about 20, looks ridiculous, gets absurdly dizzy, falls
pathetically, and has a lot of respect for all the movements of the planet.

Presentation: The solar system. With the big table-top model and props, demonstrate
how other planets are going around the sun the same as earth, only with
smaller or bigger orbits.

Practice: In groups of two, students are assigned planets and have to make paper
cutouts of them. Help each group with the characteristics of whatever
planet they’ve been assigned. Have them draw on their cutout to convey
atmosphere, weather, temperature, anything about their planet. (When
we did this, accuracy of the information was not terribly valued – only
the idea that other planets have very different characteristics from Earth,
from gassy and stormy to rocky and frozen.)

Production: Each group presents its planet to the others, and everyone forms a big
solar system with lots of concentric orbits of different sizes.

Presentation: Reasons for Life. Have the class brainstorm why Earth is the only
known planet with life: what is essential for all life? Demonstrate with a
cooking stove or fire that too close is too hot, too far is too cold, and just
right is just right for life. Also, use a bottle of water to demonstrate that
all known life needs water.

Practice: (optional) In a big area, have the group find the happy temperature spot
relative to the sun, and ask them what else they need (water).

Production: Race: In a big solar system, groups of three students have to race all the
way to one end to get one of two bottles of water, and then they have to
race back and try to sit in the one chair that’s located the right distance
from the sun. (So three students, two water bottles, and one chair. A
winner has both water and the chair. If you don’t get the water, you can
still try to prevent the other two from winning.) After each race, the
group determines if life is possible: does the student who made it into
the chair also have water? This proved to be a fun race, if a little violent.
You might pass a “you-can’t-move-the-chair” rule, since that makes
more sense with the whole lesson. On the other hand, it’s awfully funny
when they can pull the chair out from under the sitter at the last
minute…
Presentation: Stars. Present the word “star” to the class, in case they don’t all know it.
Do a guided discovery to learn what a star is: How’s it different from a
planet? What’s the closest start? How does the sun look so different
from a star? Demonstrate with the big sun cutout, first pressed right into
the students faces, and then 50 meters away. So every star is big and hot;
but only the sun is close enough for us to notice. The other stars are
“very very very very very very very [etc] far.”

Practice/Production: Go out at night with the class, looking at stars (and planets, etc.).

Comments/Variations:
This is all a little basic, depending on your group. Constellations are left
for a different lesson. A fun lesson, and though it’s not the most packed
with information, for at least a few of our students these were mind-
blowing (and therefore quite difficult) concepts. For others, of course,
the whole thing was a joke.
 Natural History Lesson Plan
Considering Different Points of View
Objectives: SWBAT look at an environmental issue from all perspectives and be able
to give valid arguments for all positions.

Time: 4 hours

Materials: Very little, only a cue card for each student, describing who they are
going to act out.

Presentation: An environmental issue. Get the students to come up with some of the
environmental issues from their region. Deforestation, pollution,
hunting, whatever they come up with, write it on the board. Now explain
how some people see issues differently, and help them through this.
Explain that to some families, hunting animals is the only source of
income, so they think it is OK, etc…

Practice: For one of the issues above, on two blank pieces of paper, write For and
Against. Do the same for a different issue. Split the class into four
groups. Each group gets one piece of paper. They have to come up with
arguments defending and attacking both sides of the two chosen issues.
Every five minutes have the papers rotate so that each group gets to write
on all four perspectives. Have them make presentations at the end
talking about all the arguments raised.

Production: Mock trial. The idea is to make a mock trial of an environmental issue.
Every student will have a role, some are prosecuting lawyers, some
defending lawyers, some are witnesses, some are the accused. The
teachers need to think in advance of a role for everyone and write it out
on the cue cards. The topics can be wide ranging. E.g. two people are
accused of cutting trees within park boundaries. A man is accused of
hunting and killing endangered animals. An industry is accused of
polluting a river. Anything. Explain the way a court works to the
students and the order of events, with cross-examinations, and witnesses,
etc…Then give them a couple of hours to prepare, with the teachers
circulating every once in awhile to help out, give advice. When they are
ready, the teachers become the judges and jury and they call court to
session.

Comments: This is a great class because it is so student centered. They really get
into it, with costumes, material evidence, props etc…Just make sure they
stay focused on the subject at hand.