Human Heritage: A World History

Chapter 1: Geography and History

Web Activity Lesson Plans

“Saving the Rain Forest”

Introduction
Students have read about how natural resources affect the location and growth of communities. In this lesson, students will learn more about endangered rain forest regions and how human activity can either help or hurt these landscapes.

Lesson Description
Students will visit the Rainforest Action Network Web site to learn more about the indigenous people and plant and animal life of the rain forest. They will also explore different actions that they can take to help protect the rain forest. After answering several questions about the content on the site, students will create a poster designed to encourage others to take part in saving the rain forest.

Instruction Objectives

1. Students will be able to describe the importance of the rain forest to the indigenous peoples that inhabit it.
2. Students will be able to identify how the destruction of the rain forest affects plant and animal life.
3. Students will be able to apply information from the Web site to create a poster that will encourage others to protect the rain forest.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. These children do not go to schools like those in the United States. Instead, they learn about the forest from their parents and other people in their community. They are taught how to survive in the forest. They learn how to hunt and fish, and which plants are useful as medicines or food.
2. Scientists believe that there is a great diversity of animals because rain forests are the oldest ecosystems on Earth. The last Ice Age did not reach the rain forests, allowing them to continue to evolve. Also, the warm year-round temperatures and abundant water are good for animal and plant life.
3. Animals are traded illegally on the international market, pollution from mining kills many fish populations, and humans change the animals' habitats too quickly for the animals to adapt and survive.
4. Answers may include using less paper, gasoline, and plastic; eating less red meat; fundraising for the rain forest; writing letters; and learning more about the importance of the rain forest.
5. Students' posters will vary.