ALL IN THE FOREST

Introduction

The course "Totally in the forest" is a teaching course in history, mathematics and nature/technology for the middle school. Based on the exhibition "STORT - man and the forest", we go on a journey through the history of the forest in Denmark and learn more about how we humans have used wood as a vital resource throughout time.

There is, among other things, the opportunity to try out the technique of a wood measurer and try your hand at being a historical forester and sawing with a two-man saw.

The teaching process takes place both indoors and outdoors.

 

Contents

The educational course "Fully in the forest" includes a dialogue-based guided tour of the Green Museum's exhibition "BIG - man and the forest", where 800 m2 of attic space has been transformed into a forest. Here, you can experience and hear about the aurochs from the hunter-gatherer Stone Age, mechanization, and large grazers, such as elk, and the concept of biodiversity.

Afterwards, there is the opportunity to explore the history of the forest yourself. Cut your own Swedish measuring stick and try out the technique as a timber measurer. You can also learn about the units of measurement that were used in Denmark before the metric system was introduced in 1907, find the difference between forest cubic meters and box cubic meters, and use forest mathematics, like another forester, to calculate the volume and prices of selected tree trunks. Finally, there is also the opportunity to try your hand as a historical forest worker and try sawing with a two-man saw.

 

Background

Denmark is a forest country, and wood has always been a vital resource throughout our history. Today, most of us use the forest for recreational purposes, and in Denmark we use wood for everything from matches to fuel, furniture and paper. Forests and wood are thus a natural part of our everyday lives.

But at the beginning of the 19th century, the forest in Denmark was almost extinct due to human overexploitation. The forest area was approximately 3%.

Today, the forest area is approximately 14%, and the Danish Parliament decided in 1989 that the forest area in the year 2100 should be 20 – 25%.

After the end of the ice age, animals, people and forests migrated to the area that we now call Denmark. Virtually the entire country would be covered in primeval forest today if we had done nothing. But we have done something, and for the past few thousand years there has been no untouched forest in Denmark. We have exploited the forest's resources and increasingly changed its composition to meet our needs.

Forests are just as constructed as farmland and urban areas. We say we are going out into nature when we go into the forest. We are, but it is man-made nature, not natural nature. It would look different.