Positives

• This piece will show students the importance of reconstructing past climates so scientists understand how the environment responds to global warming.
• The data points and colors will help students visualize the migration and spread of the spruce tree through northern Europe as temperatures rose over the past several thousand years.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be familiar with scatter point data and how it visually represents information.
• Students should understand that human activity has contributed to rising temperatures.

Differentiation

• This resource works equally well in a science class, where students use the data to learn about changing habitats, or in an art classroom, where students can discuss the piece's structure and how people can convey information through art.
• Social studies or language arts classes can make cross-curricular connections by discussing different parts of the world and how they have changed through history or using art as a prompt for writing.
• This piece can be an inspiration piece for students to create their own artistic representation of data. Consider using data about habitat changes near you or another concept your class is working on.
• As an extension, have students use the data to predict the future migration of spruce trees.