Science Worksheet · Grades 5–8
Forests of the World Worksheet
A printable science worksheet for grades 5-8 on the world’s major forest types. Students read a one-page passage on six forest biomes — and two corrections to common misconceptions, that trees cannot grow at the true poles and that rainforests are not really the source of most of Earth’s oxygen — then answer four multiple-choice questions, six true-or-false statements, and six fill-ins. A complete answer key is included.
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Subject
Science
Grades
Grades 5–8
Skill Focus
Forests of the World, life science
Lesson Length
40 minutes
Learning Objective
Students will name and describe six major forest types and correct two persistent myths about forests.
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
This worksheet teaches six commonly grouped forest types — temperate, boreal, montane, Mediterranean, tropical rainforest, and subtropical — and corrects two ideas about forests that are easy for students to get backwards.
The first is about the poles. It’s tempting to picture the cold, hardy boreal forest growing all the way to the top and bottom of the Earth, but no tree grows at either true pole: the northernmost trees on Earth stand hundreds of miles south of the North Pole, and Antarctica has no trees at all. What survives that far north is real and worth knowing — an enormous belt of conifers built for months of bitter cold and frozen ground — it just belongs to the cold subarctic, not the pole itself.
The second is a famous myth: that rainforests ‘provide much of the world’s oxygen.’ A mature forest’s own decomposition and respiration consume nearly as much oxygen as its plants produce, so a grown forest’s net contribution over time is close to zero — most of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen accumulated from ocean life over hundreds of millions of years. What rainforests genuinely do — store enormous amounts of carbon and shelter roughly half of the world’s known species — is reason enough to care about them.
Page 2 asks sixteen questions in three forms; page 3 is a complete answer key.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the passage on page 1.
Answer the four multiple-choice questions in Section A.
Mark each Section B statement TRUE or FALSE, and be ready to say why.
Write the missing word in each Section C sentence.
Use the answer key on page 3 for self-check or grading.
Discuss why a popular claim about the environment can be well-intentioned and still not be accurate.
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Forests of the World Worksheet
A printable science worksheet for grades 5-8 on the world’s major forest types. Students read a one-page passage on six forest biomes — and two corrections to common misconceptions, that trees cannot grow at the true poles and that rainforests are not really the source of most of Earth’s oxygen — then answer four multiple-choice questions, six true-or-false statements, and six fill-ins. A complete answer key is included.
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