Peatlands
Teachers' notes
Peat is an organic deposit formed when dead plant material fails to decay because it is constantly or intermittently waterlogged. The living communities towards the surface become increasingly separated from the influence of underlying soils by the accumulating peat. The resulting formation is known as peatland or 'mire', the general term for a peat-forming habitat.
There are two main types of peat bog in Scotland, blanket bog and raised bog. A peat formation may extend for no more than a few metres around a spring outflow, or may drape across entire landscapes of hundreds of square kilometres. It has been estimated that blanket peat of greater than 1 metre depth covers 14 per cent of Scotland. Blanket bog and peat bog together cover more than one million hectares... two thirds of the total bogland in Britain!
Downloads
SNH Publications: Education and Teachers Resources series (free downloadable resources)
The Peatlands Pack
This provides topic-based activity sheets for fieldwork on peatlands. The pack also provides guidelines to assist teachers (or other leaders) in planning school excursions for fieldwork activities in the countryside. Extracts of some activities are shown below.
Further activities can be found in the pack: Schools Out - Fieldwork made easy: Peatlands http://www.snh.org.uk/pubs/results.asp?o=title&c=-1&id=137
Wild, Wet and Wonderful
A teaching pack for peat bog projects. This A4 loose-leaf folder is full of factual information and activities designed to introduce students and teachers to the wonders of peat bogs. The pack includes clear 5-14 and secondary school curricular links, good fact sheets - which include some historical case studies - and well presented food web diagrams to help teachers and pupils understand the importance of this little known habitat. The activity sheets include simple ideas to bring a bog to life in the classroom! Also available is the website compiled by Scottish Natural Heritage to accompany the Wild, Wet & Wonderful touring exhibition.
http://www.snh.org.uk/pubs/results.asp?o=title&c=-1&id=138
Education Advances Poster Series
http://www.snh.org.uk/pubs/results.asp?o=title&c=-1&id=139An innovative series of A2 posters which brings teachers up to date with the latest advances in a range of natural heritage research areas in Scotland. Free teachers notes are available on request to accompany most of the posters. Standard/Higher Grade.
No. 6 Mapping the Old with the New
Satellite images improving our knowledge of peatlands. Find out how they are used and how they are helping us to value the ancient peatland resource of Scotland.
SNH ‘All About’ poster series, in particular:
All About... Factsheets and Posters - Common Frog
All
About... Factsheets and Posters - Emperor Moth
All
About... Factsheets and Posters - Midges
All
About... Factsheets and Posters - Slow Worms & Adders
All
About... Factsheets and Posters - Sphagnum Moss