Student Worksheet 1.1 Which biome are you in?

Do you know what biome you are in? Can you list five ways in which you are linked to the biosphere? Answering these questions is what this activity is all about.

Before you come to class the next time, remember to bring something from your home that represents or symbolizes a biome. You may think of anything from a house plant, to a type of fruit, to photographs of animals, to items made out of a natural fabric or material, and so forth.

During the class session you will present the thing(s) you brought in to your classmates and tell them a bit about it:

• (If it's not obvious) What is it?
• What is it made of?
• What is it used for? What does it mean to you?
• How does it relate to the biome?
• What can you say about the biome judging from this item/plant/animal? (For example, you may think about how and where the animal lives or the plant grows and how that is a form of adaptation to the biome it represents.)

Student Worksheet 1.2 What's this got to do with me?

Many of us live a kind of life that is very much protected from the natural environment. If it's 110 ºF outside, we can crank up the air conditioner and stay in a comfortable 70 ºF. Most of us don't grow our own food, and thus we don't have to contend with early or late frost, drought or floods that may destroy our crops, or any of the other vagueries of nature. In fact, sometimes we don't even know exactly where the food that we find in the grocery store comes from. And hardly anyone wonders where the clothing that we wear comes from, or the furniture we have in our houses. How was it produced? How did the production process affect the natural environment. Our culture, the technologies we have at our hands, and our choice of lifestyle have removed us quite a bit from the natural environment.

In this activity, we will see how we are connected to different biomes, i.e., where some of the products that we use in our daily lives come from. And we will investigate the implications of using and producing these items.

Your instructor will bring in a bag full of "stuff" that represents a certain biome, and it's your job to figure out what biome you're dealing with. Think of yourself as a "biome detective." If you do this in small groups, discuss among yourselves how the items were produced and how the environment was affected in that process. Think also about who produces these materials and how you are connected to the people who produced them.

Here is an example: You might find a can of coffee in your bag; so it's about coffee (forget the can for a moment). Where is coffee grown? How is it grown? Are a lot of fertilizers and pesticides used in the process? How much water is needed? And who grows it? Are these rich people? Poor people? Do the people who grow the coffee earn a good living from it? And so on.

Notice how what you eat, wear, and use has far-reaching implications, socially and environmentally. You just may find yourself connected to the rest of the world!

Student Worksheet 1.5 Writing a Biome Biography - Drawing a Biome Profile

In this activity, you will either choose or be assigned to one biome, and you will familiarize yourself with it as much as possible. Your task is to write a biome biography -- describe and explain a biome to the best of your ability.

You may use whatever information source you can find: maps, atlases, textbooks, journal articles, the Internet or World Wide Web, field guides, slides, photographs, items that represent the biome, cultural artifacts, tapes, and so on. Be creative but don't overwhelm people with too much information. Just assume that your classmates know nothing about this biome, that you will introduce them to it, and that you want them to remember it. So your biome biography has got to be special!

Examples of things you may want to include in your biography are issues like:

Your instructor may ask you to prepare a summary of this information for everyone in your class.