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Focusing on culture
Warm-up: Work in groups and brainstorm.
1.What is this?
2. Look at the picture. What do you think these circles mean?
? scar from forest fire
? first year growth
? rainy season
? dry season
It is a tree trunk.
first year growth
rainy season
dry season
scar from forest fire
The memories of trees
Do trees have memories? This may seem like a strange question, but trees can actually tell us things about the past. When a tree is cut down, you can see something special inside: rings. These rings are the memories of trees. Tree rings contain lots of secrets from the forest.
Every year the tree grows, there is a new ring. Scientists can count the rings to tell the age of the tree. They also study tree rings to learn about the climate and the environment. Tree rings are a record of the climate. Some rings are quite wide. This is a good sign as it means the tree grew well and was healthy. This happens when the tree gets enough sun and rain. When it doesn’t rain enough, the tree won’t grow as much, and the rings are narrow. Thanks to this, scientists can look at the tree ring patterns to learn about climate change in a particular place.
Scientists also look at tree rings to study natural disasters. For example, sometimes there is a black area on a tree ring. This usually means there was a forest fire. If scientists count the rings from the black area, they can answer difficult questions, such as “When did the fire happen?” and “How common are forest fires?”
Tree rings can also help us understand human history. For example, scientists can use tree ring patterns to learn the age of old buildings. Nowadays, they can even look at the chemistry of each tree ring to figure out exactly when the tree was cut down. Thanks to this new method, a team of archaeologists discovered that a Viking village in Canada was built in the year 1021 CE.
It’s amazing that trees can tell us so much, even though they cannot talk!
Focusing on culture
Reading: Read the article and answer the questions.
What is the main idea of the article?
What are tree rings, and why are they called the “memories of trees”
How do tree rings help us understand the past?
How can scientists tell the age of a tree by looking at its tree rings?
What do wide tree rings show?
What do narrow tree rings mean?
What does a black area on a tree ring mean?
How do tree rings help us understand human history?
Focusing on culture
Reading: Read the article and answer the questions.
1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. What are tree rings, and why are they called the “memories of trees”?
3. How do tree rings help us understand the past?
Tree rings can tell us things about the past.
Tree rings are the circles inside a tree trunk. Each year a tree grows, there is a new ring. The writer calls them the “memories of trees” because they contain information about the past. For example, they are a record of natural events and climate in the past.
Scientists can look at tree rings and learn about past climate change and natural disasters such as forest fires. They can also use tree rings to learn about human history. For example, scientists can study old wood and find out when the tree was cut down. They can also use it to to tell the age of old buildings.
Focusing on culture
Reading: Read the article and answer the questions.
4. How can scientists tell the age of a tree by looking at its tree rings?
5. What do wide tree rings show?
6. What do narrow tree rings mean?
Scientists can tell the age of a tree by counting the rings inside the tree trunk.
A wide tree ring shows that the tree grew well that year. This happens when the tree gets enough sun and rain.
A narrow tree ring means that the tree did not grow as much that year. This can happen when a tree doesn’t get enough water.
Focusing on culture
Reading: Read the article and answer the questions.
7. What does a black area on a tree ring mean?
8. How do tree rings help us understand human history?
A black area on a tree ring usually means there was a forest fire. Scientists can count the rings from the black area to determine when the fire happened.
Tree rings help us understand human history by showing the age of old buildings and even revealing when trees were cut down. For example, scientists used tree ring patterns to discover that a Viking village in Canada was built in the year 1021 CE.
Focusing on culture
Why are tree rings useful? How do scientists make use of them? Complete the mind map below with the information from the article on page 110.
are a record of climate change
provide information about natural disasters
help us understand human history
Scientists look at the tree ring patterns to learn about climate change in a particular place.
Scientists look at tree rings to study natural disasters.
Scientists use tree ring patterns to learn the age of old buildings.
Focusing on culture
Focusing on culture
Find the words and phrases in the article and match them with their meanings.
Discussion
Imagine you are a 100-year-old tree. What kind of “memories” would you have in your tree rings?
Do you ever forget things you have studied?
What do you think the graph below shows?
The Forgetting Curve
1.?Who was Hermann Ebbinghaus, and what did he study?
2.?What is the “forgetting curve,” and what does it show?
Scientists have done experiments to discover how memory works and why it fails. Let’s explore how we can remember better.
Read the article from a science magazine about some findings on memory.
Hermann Ebbinghaus was the first person to study learning and memory by doing experiments on himself.
The forgetting curve is a pattern that shows how quickly people forget information. It starts with a sharp drop in the first few hours, followed by a gentle curve over time.
3. What did Ebbinghaus discover about relearning forgotten information compared to learning new things?
Ebbinghaus found that it is easier to relearn things that have been forgotten than to learn completely new things.
4. Why is it easier to remember meaningful things than meaningless ones?
Meaningful things are remembered about ten times longer than meaningless ones because they make sense and have meaning.
5. How does studying over longer periods of time affect memory?
If you study over long periods of time, in many learning sessions, it will be easier to remember things.
Discussion
1.Why is the forgetting curve important for students?
It shows that it is important to review things. Unless we review what we have studied, we will quickly forget most of it.
2.How can Ebbinghaus’s findings help you improve your study habits?
Ebbinghaus’s findings suggest that we should study in many sessions over time, focus on meaningful information, and review material within the first few hours to avoid forgetting.
评价内容
评分（1–5）
1. 我能理解树木年轮的主要信息，包括形成、作用及其在科学研究中的应用。
1 2 3 4 5
2. 我能够通过分析树木年轮的宽度、颜色等特征，推断气候变化和自然灾害等历史事件。
1 2 3 4 5
3. 我能理解艾宾豪斯关于记忆规律的发现，并能在实际学习中运用艾宾豪斯遗忘曲线。
1 2 3 4 5
4. 我能通过了解树木年轮的奥秘和记忆规律，增强对自然科学和心理学探索的兴趣。
1 2 3 4 5
Self-assessment
Homework
基础作业
制作大树的记忆密码本。
Step 1
画出同心圆模拟年轮，每层颜色代表不同“记忆”：
棕色：正常年份（标注年份与气候，如“2005—Sunny & Rainy”）
红色：极端高温（用火焰贴纸装饰）
黑色：森林火灾（画闪电符号）
特别窄的绿色环：干旱年份（标注“Drought”）
特别宽的蓝色环：降雨充沛年份（标注“Rainy”）
Step 2
为每层“年轮”添加英文标签，如：This wide tree ring is from the rainy summer of 2018.
拓展作业
小组合作，每组选择一个与树木年轮相关的研究主题（如“树木年轮与气候变化”“树木年轮与历史事件”等）。各组通过查阅资料、分析树木年轮图片等方式进行研究，并将研究成果制作成幻灯片进行展示。
contain /kRn9teIn/ v. 包含；含有
Fruit juice contains a lot of vitamins.
particular /pR9tIkjRlR(r)/ adj. 专指的；特指的

Our science teacher asked us to use a particular type of battery in the experiment.
scar /skA:/ n. 伤疤；痕迹
A black scar on a tree ring might mean there was a fire that year.
chemistry /9kemIstri/ n. 化学性质；化学
In today’s chemistry class, our teacher told us about the chemistry of life.
natural disaster 自然灾害
Earthquakes and typhoons are examples of natural disasters.
figure out 弄懂；弄清楚
It took me a while to figure out how to solve the maths problem.
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