Forests toolkit #7 – Providing a multitude of forest ecosystem services for society – a balancing act
This activity aims to sensitise students to the multitude of ecosystem services that forests provide to society as well as the challenges of meeting the needs of many different interest groups. The activity uses outdoor learning sites known as “marteloscopes”. Marteloscopes are delineated forest areas where data has been recorded for all standing trees. The data is made available to students via an innovative, easy-to-use, educational software (“I+ Trainer” software) running on mobile devices (tablets/mobile phones).
Given guidance, pupils can experience not only forests hands-on and observe trees closely. They can also gain an understanding of how and why forests are managed, why biodiversity in forest ecosystems is important, and how to come to solutions if forests should meet multiple demands such as providing wood for valuable wood products, be a place for recreation, and serve as a home for plants and animals.
Age
- 06
- 07
- 08
- 09
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
Topic
- Forest use Vs. Forest protection
Duration
- Between 2-5 hours
What is a marteloscope?
Marteloscopes are forest training sites where all trees are marked, measured and located on a digital map. The recorded site information can then be visualised using a software running on mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones and in this way find application for education and training directly in the forest. Marteloscopes, which means “to look closely at tree selections”, can be used in many ways and for different age groups to support their learning process.
Marteloscopes as outdoor classrooms
Here we present an exercise conducted with 8th-grade students (14 years) in a marteloscope site in Germany near the City of Bonn. The exercise can be reproduced in any other marteloscope of the Integrate Network, encompassing over 200 training sites in Europe.
For the field visit to the marteloscope, it is recommended to invite a forest scientist and/or a forest manager who can support/guide/lead the field event. To conclude the activity, it is recommended that students reflect back at school on what they have learned in the course of the activity.
For younger students, other activities can include recognising tree species, identifying tree microhabitats and which forest-dwelling species depend on them, or what products are made from wood, etc.
Students learn how to make nature assessments
Immerse yourself in the forest with our students and join their training session in a “marteloscope” site in Bonn, Germany.
