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Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique,
Africa is an exciting and relevant case study
in conservation biology and sustainability.
The Gorongosa Interactive Timeline is a supplemental resource
to the short film “The Guide,” which features biologist E.O.
Wilson, and tells the story of the restoration effort in Gorongosa
from the eyes of a young Mozambican man.
After watching the film, students
use the timeline to literally click & learn about the events
that have shaped the park since 300,000 B.C.
In my classroom,
students use the timeline to investigate the positive
and the negative human impacts on the park.
I show them two graphs from the timeline:
one showing a drastic decline
in wildlife number from 1972 to 2000,
and one showing wildlife numbers on the rise from 2000 to 2014.
Students must then use the timeline to find at least three events
that could explain the data trend and defend their answers.
This requires students to make connections between the past
and the present by using data,
and helps reveal the complex relationships
between human action and environmental impact.