Topic: Vegetation in Poland. Significance of forests

Written by: Magdalena Jankun

Target group

7th‑grade student of primary school

Core curriculum

IX. Poland’s natural environment in European perspective: (...) forests in Poland.

Student:

12) distinguishes types of forests in Poland (based on a video, a picture or while in the field) and explains spatial diversity of woodlands indicator in Poland.

Purpose of the lesson

The Students characterise forest types in Poland and discuss their functions.

Conditions to be met to succeed

• to indicate the largest forest complexes and plant communities in Poland;

• to specify provinces with the highest and the lowest woodlands indicator;

• to discuss the range of selected species of trees (beech, pine, spruce) and explain why the climate affects their appearance;

• to characterise natural and economic functions of forests;

• to present methods of forest protection.

Key competences

• communication in native language;

• communication in a non‑native language;

• IT competences;

• ability to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Methods/forms of work

5Q method, work with text and multimedia, and work with a map.

Individual work, work in pairs and work in groups.

Teaching accessories

• an abstract;

• an interactive or traditional writing board;

• a multimedia projector;

• tablets/computers;

• a physical map of Poland;

• geographical atlases;

• statistical yearbooks;

• videos available on the internet “Types of forest habitats - coniferous forests” and “Forest functions”.

Lesson plan

Introduction

1. The teacher gives the subject and the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. Students perform an interactive exercise consisting in placing a picture of a deciduous forest from the puzzle and determining the species of trees on the photograph (beeches).

Realization

1. The teacher explains the concept of forest cover. He asks pupils to search in the Statistical Yearbooks for data on forest cover in Poland in individual provinces. Students do the job by working in pairs. Next, the volunteers present the collected information on the class forum. On the physical map of Poland, the most and the least forested are indicated.

2. Students make a bar graph in relation to the forest cover of individual provinces.

3. Students, using the Statistical Yearbooks, compare the forest cover of Poland with the forest cover of other European countries (for example, Finland, Germany, Belarus, France, Great Britain and the Czech Republic).

4. Students, working in pairs, search in various source materials for information on the distribution of the largest forest complexes and plant communities in Poland. Students selected by the teacher point them to the wall map of Poland.

5. The teacher discusses the range of selected tree species in Poland: beech, pine and spruce. Explains the impact of climate on their occurrence.

6. Students perform an interactive exercise: they recognize tree species presented in the pictures.

7. Students work in pairs. Based on the abstract, they develop the following issues:

• forest habitat types;

• main tree species;

• their place of occurrence.

Next, the volunteers present the results of their work on the class forum, pointing to the physical map of Poland, the places where the forests, alder forests, alder forests and oak‑hornbeam forests occur.

8. Students perform interactive exercises:

• checking the ability to recognize the forest habitat types in the pictures;

• consisting in combining the names of individual types of forest habitats   with the corresponding descriptions.

9. The teacher divides the students into 4 groups. Each team uses the „5Q” method to consider ways to increase the forest area.

To this end, he answers five questions:

• What can we stop doing to achieve the goal?

• What can we do more to achieve the goal?

• What can we do less to achieve the goal?

• What can we do differently to achieve the goal?

• What can we start to do to achieve the goal?

After completing the task, each group presents their suggestions on the class forum.

Summary

1. Students perform interactive exercises, ordering knowledge gained during the lesson:

• determine the percentage share of forests in individual countries;

• voivodships with the largest afforestation mark on the map of Poland;

• indicate the occurrence of selected plant complexes.

2. The teacher assesses the students' work during the classes, taking into account their activity and individual possibilities.

Homework

The students' task is to search the Internet resources and watch the movie titled „Forest functions”.

At the next lesson, the students present on the class forum the conclusions recorded in the course of the educational film being watched.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Vegetation in Poland. The importance of forests

In warm climates of the temperate zone, the natural vegetation consists of deciduous forests, which grow mainly on brown soils. Towards the north, deciduous forests gradually shift into mixed forests and then into coniferous forests. These, on the other hand, grow on weak albeluvisols and alfisoils. In Poland, there are mutual relations between climate, soils and vegetation.

Depending on the natural environment of forming and the dominating tree species, the types of forest sites in Poland were designated:

Meadows and pastures are areas permanently covered with dense grassy vegetation. Their occurrence is more or less even throughout the country. The largest complexes of meadows are in Masuria and Polesie and in Urstromtäler. The vast majority of them were artificially created in places of forest clearance. As natural vegetation, meadows have been preserved only in the mountains, above the forest border, e.g. halls in the Tatra Mountains or połoninas in the Bieszczady Mountains.

Fields are artificial plant communities that arise as a result of a human activity. They are a significant component of Polish vegetation, as they occupy over 45% of the country's area. Their types depend not only on human activities, but also on natural conditions - mostly on the quality of soils, and also on water and climate.
In cities and other settlements, humans create urban greening (parks, gardens, squares, lawns, etc.).

Forests occupy about 30% of Poland. This is an average value for European conditions – there are more and less forested countries. Afforestation rate is the rate of the forest area in the total area of the country, province, etc.

Locate  and analize the map in the e‑textbook presents the percentage share of forests in the total area of poviats in Poland.

The forest is a plant formation consisting of a layer of groundcover, understory and trees. It is a large plant community, at the same time being a living habitat for many animals and other organisms. The forest plays an important role in human’s live – e.g. supplies wood, mushrooms and forest fruits.

Wood harvesting is the largest benefit from the forest for the economy. Today wood is mainly used for the production of paper and furniture, and still in construction. For all these purposes, large forest areas were cut down until they were less than 30%. It was not until the 1990s that more care was taken for Polish forests. Actions aimed at afforestation of new areas and renewal of impoverished stands have been undertaken on a large scale. As a result, despite the constantly growing wood harvesting, forest areas are gradually increasing. It is planned that by 2020, the afforestation rate will exceed 30% in Poland, and in 2050, it will amount to 33%.

• The natural vegetation in Poland is mainly forests - deciduous, mixed and coniferous. Nowadays, coniferous forests predominate

• Most forests cover north‑western Poland, and the least central Poland.

• Other natural vegetation are mires and meadows. Artificial plant formations, i.e. created by humans, are fields and urban greening.

• Wood harvesting has the greatest importance in forestry management.

• In Poland, afforestation is gradually increasing every year.