Educational Media Reviews Online

The Teakettle Experiment is on ongoing research project in the Teakettle Experimental Watershed, California, directed by Dr. Malcolm North of the Sierra Nevada Research Center, University of California, Davis. The main feature, Fire and Forest Health, presents an extensive overview of Sierra Nevada forest ecology and recommendations resulting from the first ten years of the Experiment. In the past, the chief killer of small trees in the Sierra Nevada was fire. Now the chief killers are insect pests such as the pine bark beetle. In depth forest research is brought together in the special features and the resources made available to forest managers (with permission) and to teachers on the DVD itself and through links to resources on the web.

Researchers selected 18 similar plots of natural old-growth forest and treated the plots with fire, thinning, or a combination of fire and thinning. Their goal was to determine the effects of fire and thinning on forest health. The resulting DVD presents exceptionally good descriptions of competition for water resources within a semi-arid forest ecosystem and the connectivity between players (full-growth conifers, spotted owls, flying squirrels, truffles) within the ecosystem. The topic is so well explained, so well photographed, and so well edited, that forest ecology becomes a fascinating subject for all viewers, not just professional foresters or budding ecologists. In-depth further exploration of subtopics, “Small mammals and forest ecology,” “Climate change and forest management,” “Science and forest management,” “Pests, pathogens, and drought,” and “Forest restoration” provide avenues for further exploration of the Sierra Nevada ecosystem.

Teaching resources are exceptional. Pop-up subtitles within the feature and special features reference topics and sections in the interactive resource guide. The Teakettle Experiment website provides up-to-date information on publications and presentations of the research as well as general information on the experiment and research site. This video is highly recommended in support of middle school, high school, and college curricula in environmental studies. It is an exceptional introduction to forest ecology. Teacher resources include lesson plans, study guides and suggestions for adapting one’s teaching of the videos to non-Sierra Nevada ecosystems.