Identifying Trees & Their Benefits with Card Games

This resource helps Primary School pupils learn about tree identification, their benefits, and biodiversity through two interactive card games.

Background:
The resource was originally developed for local P7 pupils in Edinburgh, based on an OER (Open Educational Resource) by Erica Zaja https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/identifying-british-trees-lesson-packs-12701457 and https://open.ed.ac.uk/identifying-british-trees/ as part of the Geoscience Outreach Course at the University of Edinburgh.

Overview and How to Make Use of This Resource:
While this resource is designed for a 45-minute class for P7 at a local primary school in Edinburgh, it is highly flexible and can easily be adapted by teachers. The resource includes two videos and “Development Plan” slides, to make the class interactive and discussion-based, as well as two games to help pupils learn about trees and their benefits. Teachers can choose to leave the Edinburgh-based lesson materials and to create their own or use the resource fully to prompt discussion in the classroom. The games include tree species common in Scotland, but teachers can also add other species as our PowerPoint slides are easily adaptable.

Objectives:
By the end of the session, learners should be able to:

1. Recall some facts about common trees (Bloom’s ‘Remember’)
2. Identify common trees in Scotland by leaf and tree shape (Bloom’s ‘Understand’)
3. Interpret the importance of trees in Scotland (Bloom’s ‘Apply’)
4. Justify why trees should not be cut down (Bloom’s ‘Evaluate’)

Experiences and Outcomes:
SCN 2-01a – I can identify and classify examples of living things, past and present, to help me appreciate their diversity. I can relate physical and behavioural characteristics to their survival or extinction.
SCN 2-02b – Through carrying out practical activities and investigations, I can show how plants have benefited society.
LIT 2-25a - I can use my notes and other types of writing to help me understand information and ideas, explore problems, make decisions, generate and develop ideas or create new text.

**This Pack Includes: **

• Introduction/Development Plan Slides (a copy used in the first video, pptx/pdf)
• Tree Matching Cards (pptx/pdf)
• Tree Board Game Cards and Board Template (pptx/pdf)
• Tree Counters (word docx/pdf)
• Tree ID Worksheet (word docx/pdf)
• Tree Benefits Worksheet (word docx/pdf)
• Guide for the Resource (this document)
• How to Play the Games (word docx/pdf)
• Links to two Videos from Mr. Frederick (See details in the Lesson Plan section below)

Author: Erica Zaja, Frederick Madsen, Kay Douglas, adapted by Mayu Ishimoto, 2024, the University of Edinburgh.
The Resource is under CC BY-SA license unless otherwise stated.