Iwerks® Film: Tropical Rainforest
Description:
Filmed in Australia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, and Malaysia, this global film examines the long evolution
of the rain forest, the rapid and recent destruction of this habitat as a consequence of human
intervention, and the scientific efforts to understand tropical rain forests even as they disappear. The
film captures the incredible diversity of species that have evolved throughout the long history of tropical
biology – insects, gaudy frogs, birds, primates, exotic plants, and flowers.
Basic Information:




Age Level: General Audience
Maximum participants per session: 175
Running Time: 45 minutes
Teacher’s activities guide
available.
Components:
 We survey the biological
diversity of the rain forests and
examine the need to
understand them in terms of
deep evolutionary time instead
of short-term human
experience.
 The film’s pace is linked with the
appearance of plants and
animals as they have evolved
through time.
 Close-up scenes of small and
large animals that a casual
visitor might miss include leaf-cutting ants inside their nest, colorful butterflies, hummingbirds,
orchids, and monkeys high in the forest canopy.
 We see researchers at work as they meet the challenges of studying life over ten stories above the
ground, using climbing gear and even portable research stations dropped on the very top of the rain
forest with blimps.
 Biologists in the film emphasize that we know virtually nothing about tropical rain forests, which
contain over 90 percent of the life-forms inhabiting our planet’s land surface.
 Angles and perspectives other than the point of view of a person at ground level furnish unique views
into the structure and workings of rain forests.
 Human impact, such as logging and the felling of trees can radically change, or destroy, the rain forest
and its plant and animal life.
Tropical Rain Forest - Page 2 of 3
Sunshine State Standards Addressed:
Kindergarten:
Big Idea #5 - The Earth in Space and Time
• K.E.5.1 Explore the Law of Gravity by showing how objects are pulled to the ground unless
something holds them up.
• K.E.5.2 Recognize the repeating patterns of day & night.
•
Big Idea #8 – Properties o f Matter
K.P.8.1 Sort objects by observable properties such as size, shape, color, temperature, weight &
texture.
•
Big Idea #10 – Forms of Energy
K.P.10.1 Observe that things that make sound vibrate.
•
Big Idea #12 – Motion of Objects
K.P.12.1 Investigate that things move in different ways, such as fast and slow.
•
Big Idea #14 – Organization and Development of Living Organisms
K.L.14.3 Observe plants & animals; note how they are alike and different in appearance and
behavior.
1st Grade:
Big Idea #6 – Earth Structures
• 1.E.6.1 Recognize that water, rocks, soil & living organisms are found on Earth’s surface.
• 1.E.6.3 Recognize that some things in the world around us happen fast and some happen slowly.
•
•
•
Big Idea #8 – Properties o f Matter
1.P.8.1 Sort objects by observable properties such as size, shape, color, temperature, weight &
texture.
Big Idea #14 – Organization and Development of Living Organisms
1.L.14.3 Differentiate between living and nonliving things.
Big Idea #17 – Interdependence
1.L.17.1 Recognize that all plants & animals need the basic necessities of air, water, food &
space.
2nd Grade:
Big Idea #6 – Earth Structures
• 2.E.6.1 Recognize that Earth is made up of rocks; rocks come in many sizes and shapes.
Big Idea #7 – Earth Systems and Patterns
Tropical Rain Forest - Page 3 of 3
•
•
2.E.7.1 Compare & describe changing & repeating patterns in nature like weather, temperature,
precipitation, day to day and season to season.
2.E.7.4 Investigate that air is all around us and moving air is wind.
•
Big Idea #16 – Heredity and Reproduction
2.L.16.1 Observe & describe the major stages in the life cycles of plants & animals.
•
•
Big Idea #17 – Interdependence
2.L.17.1 Compare & contrast the basic needs that all living things have for survival.
2.L.17.2 Recognize & explain that living things are found all over Earth but each requires a
certain habitat.
3rd Grade:
Big Idea #15 –Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
• 3.L.15.1 Classify animals into major groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish,
vertebrates, invertebrates, those giving live birth, those laying eggs) according to their physical
characteristics and behaviors.
• 3.L.15.2 Classify flowering and non-flowering plants into major groups, such as those that
produce seeds, according to their physical characteristics.
•
•
Big Idea #17 – Interdependence
3.L.17.1 Describe how animals and plants respond to changing seasons.
3.L.17.2 Recognize that plants use air, water and energy from the Sun to make their own food.
9th – 12th Grade:
Big Idea #15 –Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
• 912.L.15.4 Describe how & why organisms are hierarchically classified & based on evolutionary
relationships.