Activities With Tree Rings
Dendrochronology is the study of dating events or climatic changes using tree rings. Tree rings mark the passage of time because trees add a new layer of wood for every year they grow, forming a series of light and dark rings. Students can use ring pattern recognition and observation to make conclusions about the trees themselves; for example, a tree's age can be determined by counting the dark rings, if the cross section of the trunk (also known as a "tree cookie") is complete. Classrooms, scout troops or groups interested in dendrochronology can conduct tree ring activities.
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Read a Tree Ring
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Teachers can explain how scientists use tree rings to study the passage of time and climate patterns around the world. Students will learn how shape, color and thickness reveal clues about the past. Once students have learned the background of the process, they can practice it. Adults can secure core samples or "tree cookies" from trees by purchasing them or contacting their local forest services, parks or other organizations, which often have these items available for lending. Students can work in groups to count tree rings to determine the ages of the core they are given. If tree-ring samples are not available, students can draw and shade sample slices using the trunks of neighborhood trees that have been cut down.
Create a Tree Ring Timeline
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Using alternating shades of brown, cream and tan construction paper or colored pencils and markers, students can simulate their own tree cores. After getting information on how colors alternate in tree rings, students can create their own rings that have 20 to 30 darker sections inside. They should then use strips of paper to make labels for their projects, highlighting specific events in the lives of the trees and local history.
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Events That Affect Tree Rings
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Before beginning this activity, teachers can explain the effects that climate, natural disasters and other phenomena have on the growth of trees. They can discuss how these things affect the look of the tree rings. Using tree cores or "tree cookie" samples that vary, groups of students can identify possible wildfires, climate changes and damage from insects. They can create labels to identify these items and then present their findings to the class. Students can also create museum-type displays of their analysis.
First-Person Tree Stories
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After students have analyzed tree rings for dates and/or damage, they can make a chronological list of things that might have happened to the tree. Taking a first-person ("I") point of view and speaking for the trees, students can write stories about their lives and things that have happened to them. For example, they may talk about a wildfire that they narrowly escaped before they went through a time when they were very thirsty due to extreme drought.
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References
- Photo Credit tree rings 4 image by Watt from Fotolia.com
