Activity 1

le contents of the Illinois Trees resources trunk includepreserved leaves and seeds. Have the students look at theseitems. What are leaves? Where are they found on a tree?

How are the leaves alike? How are theydifferent? Look atthe tree seeds. What

are seeds? What kindsof shapes do you see?What structures do

you see on theseeds? What

do you thinkthey might be usedfor? Look at the field

guides, the Illinois’ NaturalResources Trading Cards

and the Biodiver-sity of Illinois

CD-ROM series inthe trunk to see more types ofseeds and leaves and to look atother external features of

trees. Take the students outdoors to examine trees,if possible.

Activity 2

l Tree cookies are also included in the Illinois Trees re-sources trunk. Ask the students to look at the bark onthe tree cookies. Have them describe the bark. If thereare trees in your schoolyard, have them look at thebark on the trees. What similarities and differences dothey see in the bark on different trees? What func-tions might the bark have for a tree?

1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem bymimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to helpthem survive, grow, and meet their needs.

BACKGROUND: See the Background Information section.

OBJECTIVE: Students will use Illinois-specific tree resources to observe, drawconclusions, develop a plan and design a solution.

MATERIALS: Illinois Trees resources trunk

ILLINOIS: NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

Suggested Activities

Illinois Trees

l From what you have learned in looking at these items,how could you as a human be helped by some of thesefeatures that trees possess? What are some problemsthat humans have that could be helped by developingstructures or traits that are more like those of trees? Forexample, if you had leaves, how could that help you? Ifyou could make your own food, how would that helpyou? Would these changes cause problems as well?

l Talk about someproblems that hu-mans have. Are

there any prob-lems that could be

solved by develop-ing something like

a feature foundon trees? For example, trees cankeep growing taller throughouttheir life. Would it help humans to beable to keep growing taller throughout their life? Treeshave tough bark. How could we be helped by a toughouter coating? Have each student select a human prob-lem that could be solved by copying some feature that atree possesses. e student should design and makesome representation of what this new feature would look

like, what tree feature he/she chose to copy and be ableto explain its benefit. Each student should also talkabout any problems that might arise from having thisnew feature.

STEM Connections: EvaluationsScience:All of the activities shown above are science-basedand can be used for evaluations.

Technology: Students can use the Biodiversity of IllinoisCD-ROMs to look for features in Illinois trees that mightbe beneficial to humans.

Engineering: Activity four is engineering-based and canbe used for evaluations.

Mathematics: Students could research the heights of afew trees and represent those heights comparatively andvisually in some manner (graphing; measuring and mark-ing the distance in the school yard or hallway; etc.).

TrainingAdditional training about Illinois trees and woodlands andon implementing this topic to support performance ex-pectation 1-LS1-1 can be obtained through ENTICE (En-vironment and Nature Training Institute for ConservationEducation) workshops from the IDNR. Illinois Woodlands101 is an example of a related workshop. See the “Re-sources” page for more information. e IDNR Division ofEducation also provides training sessions at teacher con-ferences throughout the state.

Equal opportunity to participate in programs of the Illinois Department ofNatural Resources (IDNR) and those funded by the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService and other agencies is available to all individuals regardless of race, sex,national origin, disability, age, religion or other non-merit factors. If youbelieve you have been discriminated against, contact the funding source’scivil rights office and/or the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer, IDNR,

One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271; 217/785-0067; TTY 217/782-9175.is information may be provided in an alternative format if required. Contact the DNRClearinghouse at 217/782-7498 for assistance.

Next Generation Science Standards © 2013, Illinois Department of Natural ResourcesDNR 44 – 10/13 • IOCI 14-0162

ILLINOIS: NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

Activity 3

Activity 4