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  • How Now Round Crown? Predicting the Energy Future of Tree Crowns
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How Now Round Crown? Predicting the Energy Future of Tree Crowns

  • Article
  • Middle School
  • 1 Classroom Period
  • Engineering and Forest Products
  • Wilderness
  • Energy
  • Fertilizer
  • Forest management
  • Tree Crown
Illustration of two kids, standing back to back, both writing on notebooks. In the background are two other kids that are measuring the trunk width of two trees.
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Pine trees cover much of the Southeastern United States. When older pine trees are cut for making wood products, only the trees’ boles are used. The scientists in this study wondered if there might be a use for the trees’ crowns as well. In particular, they wondered whether the trees’ crowns might one day be a source of energy.

How Now Round Crown? Predicting the Energy Future of Tree Crowns

Part Of

Bioenergy - Vol. 9 No. 1

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  • The questions you will answer with this activity are: Why are trees managed differently? What are some of the differences in managed trees versus unmanaged trees? Materials: Blank sheet of...

    FACTivity – How Now Round Crown

    • Activity
    • Middle School
    • 1 Classroom Period
    • Engineering and Forest Products
    • Class Discussion
    • Creative Activity
    • Outdoor Activity
    The questions you will answer with this activity are: Why are trees managed differently? What are some of the differences in managed trees versus unmanaged trees? Materials: Blank sheet of...
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    • Download FACTivity
    • Explore Activity
    • Download FACTivity

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    How Now Round Crown? Predicting the Energy Future of Tree Crowns

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Glossary

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  • average

    (av (ǝ) rij): A value that is computed by dividing the sum of a set of terms by the number of terms.

  • biomass

    (bī ō mas): The amount of living matter (in a unit area or volume of habitat).

  • data

    (dā tǝ or da tǝ): Factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation.

  • economically

    (e ko nom ik le): Having to do with the management of money in a home, business, or government.

  • forest manager

    (fȯr ǝst ma ni jǝr): A person who manages a forest; in the Forest Service, forest managers focus on managing vegetation, restoring ecosystems, reducing hazards, and maintaining forest health (definition from USDA Forest Service).

  • hectare

    (hek tär): A unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters.

  • megagram

    (meg uh gram): A unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 grams. A megagram is equal to 1.1 ton, or 2,200 pounds. Symbol: Mg

  • megawatt hours

    (meg uh wat ow ürs): one joule of energy per second. If a 100-watt light bulb is turned on for 1 hour, the energy used is 100 watt-hours.

  • net

    (net): An amount, profit, weight, price, result, that is left after another amount is subtracted.

  • renewable

    (ri nü ǝ bǝl): Capable of being replaced by natural ecological cycles or sound management practices.

  • resource

    (rē sȯrs): A usable stock or supply (as of money, products, or energy).

  • Andy Scott working in the field

    Andy Scott

    Soil Scientist

    I enjoy science because I get to continually learn about things and help others learn. Every experiment has three great parts for me. First, each experiment means I’m doing something...
    View Profile
  • Natural Inquirer bee with a magnifying glass

    Tom Dean

    Soil Scientist

    My favorite science experience is discovering how trees work: how they stand up, how they grow, and how they withstand changes in the environment year after year.
    View Profile

Jump To

  • Education Standards
  • Educator Guide
  • Lesson Plans
  • Education Files

Standards addressed in this Article:

Social Studies Standards

Social Studies Standards are educational guidelines outlining the essential knowledge, skills, and concepts students should learn in subjects such as history, geography, civics, and economics, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of societal structures, historical events, and global perspectives.
  • Civic Ideals and Practices
  • Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
  • People, Places, and Environments
  • Production, Distribution, and Consumption
  • Time, Continuity, and Change

Note To Educators

The Forest Service's Mission

The Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. For more than 100 years, our motto has been “caring for the land and serving people.” The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), recognizes its responsibility to be engaged in efforts to connect youth to nature and to promote the development of science-based conservation education programs and materials nationwide.

USDA and Forest Service Logos

What Is the Natural Inquirer?

Natural Inquirer is a science education resource journal to be used by students in grade 6 and up. Natural Inquirer contains articles describing environmental and natural resource research conducted by Forest Service scientists and their cooperators. These scientific journal articles have been reformatted to meet the needs of middle school students. The articles are easy to understand, are aesthetically pleasing to the eye, contain glossaries, and include hands-on activities. The goal of Natural Inquirer is to stimulate critical reading and thinking about scientific inquiry and investigation while teaching about ecology, the natural environment, and natural resources.

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  • Meet the Scientists

    Introduces students to the scientists who did the research. This section may be used in a discussion about careers in science.

  • What Kinds of Scientist Did This Research?

    Introduces students to the scientific disciplines of the scientists who conducted the research.

  • Thinking About Science

    Introduces something new about the scientific process, such as a scientific habit of mind or procedures used in scientific studies.

  • Thinking About the Environment

    Introduces the environmental topic being addressed in the research.

  • Introduction

    Introduces the problem or question that the research addresses.

  • Method

    Describes the method the scientists used to collect and analyze their data.

  • Findings & Discussion

    Describes the results of the analysis. Addresses the findings and places them into the context of the original problem or question.

  • Reflection Section

    Presents questions aimed at stimulating critical thinking about what has been read or predicting what might be presented in the next section. These questions are placed at the end of each of the main article sections.

  • Number Crunches

    Presents an easy math problem related to the research.

  • Glossary

    Defines potentially new scientific or other terms to students. The first occurrence of a glossary word is bold in the text.

  • Citation

    Gives the original article citation with an internet link to the original article.

  • FACTivity

    Presents a hands-on activity that emphasizes something presented in the article.


Science Education Standards

You will find a listing of education standards which are addressed by each article at the back of each publication and on our website.


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    Director, Natural Inquirer program

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Lessons

  • In this lesson plan, students learn about bioenergy, then stage a debate in a town considering switching from fossil fuels to biomass.

    Bioenergy Lesson Plan

    • Lesson Plan
    • Middle School
    • 2-3 Classroom Periods
    • Biomass
    • Class Discussion
    • Debate
    • Fossil Fuels
    • Group Project
    In this lesson plan, students learn about bioenergy, then stage a debate in a town considering switching from fossil fuels to biomass.
    • Explore Lesson Plan
    • Downloan Lesson Plan (PDF)
    • Explore Lesson Plan
    • Downloan Lesson Plan (PDF)

    Part Of

    A Chip Off the Old Block: Using Wood Energy to Heat Schools

  • The goal of this lesson plan is to help students identify key concepts and develop their own interpretations of what they read. It includes 42 open-ended questions for them to...

    Lesson Plan – Questions Only

    • Lesson Plan
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • 2-3 Classroom Periods
    • Agriculture
    • Carbon
    • Citizen Science
    • Climate
    • Engineering and Forest Products
    • Fire
    • Insects
    • Pollinators
    • Pollution
    • Recreation
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    • Water
    • Wilderness
    • Wildlife
    • Class Discussion
    • Interpretation
    • Questions
    The goal of this lesson plan is to help students identify key concepts and develop their own interpretations of what they read. It includes 42 open-ended questions for them to...
    • Explore Lesson Plan
    • Download Lesson Plan (PDF)
    • Explore Lesson Plan
    • Download Lesson Plan (PDF)

    Part Of

    Bioenergy - Vol. 9 No. 1

Education Files

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