Task 1 - Create your own "living" map of Earth's geobiomes
INTRODUCTORY MOTIVATION PART:
The activity is carried out outdoors. Each participant is assigned one white canvas with the outline of the continents; they have at their disposal a School World Atlas and a tablet with Google Earth. The task is to first use the natural materials found in the surroundings to assemble the Earth's vegetation belts (geobiomes) and then to define and talk together about possible climate processes that affect (positively/negatively) the local landscape and life in it. Participants create the map independently. The activity takes place "in situ" and "in time" and constitutes the motivational part of the module, which through experiential learning, but also the transmission of scientific procedures to the general public, while the process of unintentional learning takes place.
Procedure or how to do it?
1. Prepare a large square of paper (A1) or a large white canvas (an old sheet) or come up with any other original way of displaying a map with the outlines of individual continents, anywhere in outdoor spaces (however, an indoor option is also possible, but you must collect the necessary natural materials in advance). We recommend the bigger the canvas the better.
Fig. 1 An example ofprepared canvases with outlines of continents
Source: Kiš (2023)
2. Open an atlas or map of the world's geobiomes (vegetation belts) in Google Earth. You can find inspiration at the National Geographic Education: MapMaker - Biomes.
3. The task is now to assemble the Earth's vegetation belts (geobiomes) into a prepared contour map using natural materials found in the surroundings
Fig. 2: An example of a geobiome map created from natural materials
Source: Karvánková (2023)
Fig. 3: An example of a geobiome map created from natural materials
Source: Karvánková (2023)
4. Then record a short video with your methodical commentary on the created map (try to define possible climate processes that affect (positively/negatively) the local landscape and life in it).
5. You will subsequently present your own video at a joint online meeting, which will also include a retrospective reflection of the created materials and a discussion of all course participants.
The activity takes place "in situ" and "in time" and forms the motivational part of the module, which through experiential learning, while the process of unintentional learning takes place.
MAIN PART: Now each participant will be given one of the materials from the Toolkit to study, after reading which they must incorporate his thoughts in the form of own wordclouds, which he will then present to the other participants (see Fig. 3).
Fig. 4 Worldcloud example about climate change
Source: https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/climate-change-word-cloud.html (2023)
FINAL PART: Presentation of own maps from nature materials to other participants, including a discussion of the effect of climate change on selected geobiomes. Presentation of topics from Toolkit materials in the form of created wordclouds.
Finally, create your own reflection Activity 1 according to the I.N.S.E.R.T methodology (you can find the questionnaire in the materials below).