Case Study of a Deforested Island Watershed

Terrace Farming and Soil Loss is a gentle start with a table and a bar graph. Save Deforestation and the Carbon Balance and Find a Pollution Source With Water Test Data for later, since both ask students to calculate and reason across several steps.

Graph forest cover and river silt on a made-up island, then rank three plans to protect the bay. The directions on the page read: Read the case study and the table. Then answer item 1 on the lines. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 7th grade Earth systems, and it works the same at home or at school. At home, a student can work through it alone and then go over it with you, which shows quickly what is solid and what needs another look. In class it works as independent practice, homework or a warm-up, and you can print one copy or a full set.

Tree roots hold soil in place, and leaves and leaf litter slow falling rain. When trees are cleared, more bare soil washes off steep slopes. Case Study of a Deforested Island Watershed graphs forest cover and silt for a made-up island.

Forests store carbon in wood, leaves, roots and soil. When trees are burned, their carbon returns to the air as carbon dioxide within hours. Deforestation and the Carbon Balance has students total carbon stored and released under three plans.

It is a large city that is warmer than the farmland around it. Dark roads and roofs absorb sunlight, and asphalt, concrete and brick store heat and release it after sunset. Urban Heat Island Data Analysis graphs city and farm temperatures at 3 pm and 9 pm.

A reading that jumps between two stations points to something located between them. Find a Pollution Source With Water Test Data has students record the change from the station just upstream and tell a point source from a nonpoint source.