This project guide will get students involved in their communities by locating places to plant new trees, advocating for trees in those places, and planting trees.
Students will learn about the importance of green spaces, especially in urban communities, and how activists can change the world around them.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This seven-page project guide is ready to use and is an excellent framework for getting students engaged in improving their community.
The stories, graphics, and links add to the richness of the resource and will engage students easily.
Additional Prerequisites
A glossary provides domain-specific vocabulary that will be helpful for students.
This resource is suggested for urban or suburban schools, but rural schools may find it valuable as well.
To complete the project, the class will have to reach out to community leaders and local businesses. Teachers should make sure that contact information is available and that students have permission to contact people outside of their school.
Differentiation
Science classes could use this project as a follow-up activity to a lesson or discussion on the importance of green spaces, urban heat islands, and environmental justice.
This activity lends itself best to a whole class project. Larger classes could consider creating groups to tackle each section of the project.
As an extension, have students record their work on this project and turn it into a persuasive piece to convince people to plant more trees in their communities.
Other related resources include this animated video about what would happen if we cut down all the trees in a city, this interactive tool that tracks environmental and demographic indicators, and this interactive map that provides a tree equity score.
Scientist Notes
The resource is suitable to inspire students to address climate change impacts wreaking havoc in their community. It features good examples to enable them to learn and improve their skills in conservation and climate activism. This is highly recommended for the classroom.
Standards
Science
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
6.ESS3.5 Ask clarifying questions based on evidence about the factors that have caused climate change over the past century.
Social Sciences
Historical Thinking (K-12)
6.23 Explain and analyze the historical context of key people, cultures, products, events, and ideas over time including the examination of different perspectives from Indigenous people, ethnic and religious groups, and other traditionally marginalized groups throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Social Science Analysis (K-12)
6.27 Assess individual and collective capacities to take action to address local and regional issues, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
8.34 Analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.
