Structure & Function 

Under development  (Allison Saranow)

 Structure & Function (CCC-6) (SEP-7)- Review the activities that deal with structure and function in chapter 12 of the Sourcebook for Teaching Science.  Create a unique activity that requires students to develop explanations regarding the structure & function of something relevant to your teaching interests.  Your activity should include a minimum of 3 questions, relevant graphics, and correct answers. 

The activity will start with a short introduction about the structure and function of forests and canopy structure. The structure of forests represents the horizontal and vertical arrangement of tree crowns. The horizontal structure shows how close the trees are to each other, and the vertical structure refers to the different heights of plants. The highest plants are emergent trees, then canopy trees, then closer to the ground is the understory and small shrubs/grasses. The role/function of the canopy structure is affected by its structure. It affects light interception under the canopy, temperatures under the canopy, and wind and rain interception. The structure creates niches due to the variance of conditions, and structural diversity affects the ability of different species to survive in the forest. The structure therefore directly affects the functioning and biodiversity of the forest ecosystem. 

In this activity, students will work together with a partner to try to place a species in the spot where it is typically found in the forest canopy structure on their copy of a collaborative Google Slide presentation. The students will move images of species into the part of the canopy where they suspect it is often found based on the information about the species provided on the first two slides of the presentation. The correct configuration is on the last slide in the presentation. They will fill out the first question on their copy of this Google Doc worksheet while working on the activity and then the rest of the questions after finishing the Google Slide presentation. 

Presentation link (with answers): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KazfnM-WfrntfDoGUkASPb337U-isfYM80OUEpvLrxE/edit?usp=sharing 

Worksheet link (with answers): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZmC4C-TRChOjuUK97GVeLCBbVeJcmvh1WmZo_5Zikek/edit?usp=sharing