CER Practice: Climate Change Deforestation and Restoration (Biology)

Description

This free activity is the front door to the Beyond the Brains deforestation line — and to the S.E.E.D. Framework itself. Forests store carbon, shelter biodiversity, and regulate water, and they are still being cleared. Restoration is the counter-move: deliberate strategies to bring forest back. Students evaluate forest restoration strategies as a real-world deforestation solution, using scientific evidence to decide what deserves support.

What’s inside

Per the current listing, this free S.E.E.D. activity has students evaluate forest restoration strategies using scientific evidence and build an evidence-based conclusion. The exact component list (readings, data sets, page count, answer key) is not enumerated in the current listing and should be confirmed before this section is expanded.

How it runs in class

Use it as a standalone lesson on restoration, as the opening move of a deforestation sequence, or as a low-stakes way to introduce the evaluation routine before students meet the paid activities in this line. Students frame the problem, work the evidence, and write a recommendation — a complete pass through the process in a single free resource, which also makes it the easiest way to see whether the S.E.E.D. approach fits your classroom before you build on it.

Built on the S.E.E.D. Framework

This activity runs the S.E.E.D. Framework: State the Problem, Examine the Evidence, Evaluate Feasibility, Determine a Recommendation. Restoration is a fitting first case — the solutions are concrete, the evidence is accessible, and the recommendation students write is a genuine judgment call.

Standards alignment

NGSS: HS-LS2-6, HS-ESS3-4. Grades 8–12 · Biology, Earth Sciences, Environment.

Restoration is also the most hopeful entry point in the catalog: students who have spent a unit on loss get to evaluate repair. If your region has its own restoration projects — a replanted woodland, a recovering wetland — students will make the connection themselves, and the recommendation they write about global strategies will carry a local echo that makes it better.

Ready for the full line? The Deforestation CER Bundle evaluates drone tree planting and agroforestry in depth — or start with the Drone Tree Planting activity. More free resources live in the Free Library.