Tree Ring Project

Barbara Thomas
Summer 2004
Project Paper
Benton City, WA

Project:
Using the “Hands-On” approach demonstrated through the many activities throughout the Summer Institute program, this lesson is geared towards engaging Washington State History students, in a meaningful way, in the scientific method of counting tree rings.

Objective:
Students will be able to gather information about a tree by studying the rings.

Materials:
A one inch thick tree slice for each student is ideal. (A neighbor gave me some wood from her woodpile and the maintenance shop cut them for me.)

Lesson:
Pass out the tree slices and ask students what they can ascertain by looking at them. If none of the students know that the rings indicate the age of the tree, pass this information on to them. Let students know that there is a way to determine which side of the tree of the tree was pointing north. (The rings on the north side of the tree grow closer together because it is colder. Also, there may be moss on the north side.) Also, the width of the rings is an indicator for good weather years and bad weather years. (Trees grow faster when the weather is moderate.)

Assignment:
Instruct students to mark the following information on their ring: The type of tree they have, North, South, East, and West, and the age of the tree, and 5-year increments of rings. Next, they should count backwards and mark the ring that was growing when Mount Saint Helens blew up and their birthday.

Assessment:
Grades can be assessed for completeness of the information and the neatness of the work.