Among the most challenging of topics for the IB Environmental Systems and Societies students to fully understand is productivity--a measure of the rate at which photosynthesis converts sunlight energy to a chemical form that organisms on earth can use.After guiding the students through this concept, I will have students relate all they knew about productivity to this image. I expected they would see:
1) there is a lot of green biomass
2) the water is green-photosynthesis is occuring there
3) the birds in the air get energy by eating organisms which get energy from photosynthesis
4) the 'smoke' in the air relates to carbon dioxide which is used for photosynthesis
5) some plants are dead (brown colored)-dry biomass
6) some plants are reddish
7) wood biomass feeds termites
8) fungi decompose all the forest biomass for their energy
Creative Commons image from Tangent~Artifact, here sometimes :)
And an image that cannot be forgotten! I'm sure after showing and analyzing this image as it relates to the concept of productivity, students will have a much deeper, connected and retainable understanding of productivity. This image and the concept will stick together in my mind and I'm sure their minds as well. Great choice, Harvey!
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