Urban Forestry Laboratory Exercises

"The curriculum in this program has been developed for the elementary, middle and high school levels. Each level builds on the other, and forms a thread of skills that are upgraded at each level. Each exercise is complete, enabling students to gather data about Urban Forests. The program has been divided into two components. The first component is for the development of your schools own arboretum, or tree walk, and herbarium. Tree planting should take place around Arbor Day in your state.

"The second component of the program is the ability tiered curriculum presented in the form of student laboratory exercises and accompanying teachers guides (Elementary school exercise format is altered slightly). Extrapolations called BLOWOUTS for each exercise are noted, including a bibliography and source notation. Each of these exercises can be done on your school site. Repeated data collection on the same trees and shrubs is possible. An urban school site is not a natural habitat, but it is still an environment worthy of in-depth study. Students can measure dynamic growth of trees within the changing patterns of human habitation. The guide has five areas of activity:

Tree identification and inventor

Characteristics of the trees

Soil conditions for trees

Condition of the tree

Tree care and planting

Urban Forestry Laboratory Exercises