Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Skeletons Reveal Human and Chimpanzee Evolution
Ardipithecus ramidus shares features with both humans and chimpanzees. Learn about where Ardi, humans, and chimps fit in the tree of life by comparing anatomical features including the foot, pelvis, and teeth. After exploring those...
Curated OER
Bite on This!
Different types of teeth have different roles. Third graders study how molars, incisors, and canines function in a rabbit skull and a cat skull. After answering some questions about the teeth of herbivores and carnivores, kids...
Curated OER
Animal Skeletons
Medium-quality photographs of different animal skeletons make up this presentation. It is designed to first show the skeleton, and then with another click of the mouse, the name of the animal appears. Use it as a guessing game for upper...
eSkeletons
Matching: Adult, Homo Sapiens
Looking for a basic skeleton-system-matching worksheet? You've found it! Kids color in the skeleton bones with different colors before matching each bone to its correct name. The vocabulary isn't simple here; learners are locating the...
eSkeletons
Skeleton Scramble Puzzle: Suborder Prosimians
Explore the finer details of primate skulls with these puzzles, incorporating advanced scientific analysis of two suborders- Prosimians and Anthropoidea- and one superfamily- Hominoidea. Learners read about the unique characteristics of...
Curated OER
Moving and Growing
Students learn to understand the role of both skeletons and exoskeletons. In this lesson on exoskeletons, students locate and label bones on diagram of a human skeleton, and observe and discuss bones of chicken and fish. Students then...
Curated OER
Studying Fossils
Students compare and contrast key skeletal differences between chimpanzees and humans: brain size, teeth, hand and thumb, trunk, pelvis, lower limb, foot and big toe. They then sort and group a set of mixed "fossil bones" of chimpanzee...
Curated OER
Levers and Wedges in the Human Body
Young biologists identify parts of the body that serve as wedges (teeth and fingernails), and as levers (jaw, arms, and legs). The hands-on activities described here should be exciting for learners to perform, and should also lead to a...
Curated OER
Levers and Wedges in the Human Body
Students identify the various parts of the body that serve as wedges and levers, identifying the fulcrum for each body lever. They bite into carrots and apples to analyze how their jaws and teeth work, then complete three worksheets that...
Curated OER
Moving and Growing
Students work with a partner to brainstorm a list of as many human body parts as possible. Using that list, they circle any one of those that are bones. They are shown a model of the human skeleton and practice locating various bones. ...
American Museum of Natural History
Living Large
Get to know all about sauropods from a paleontologist, Jonah. Following an introductory video, scholars choose from five fossils to learn more about. Each fossil begins with a video, provides information from several different...
Curated OER
Moving and Growing
Pupils know that humans and some other animals have bony skeletons inside their body. They know that other animals have skeletons on the outside of their bodies. They explain the role of both kinds of skeletons.
Curated OER
Archaeological Detectives
Students, in groups, examine in depth one aspect of forensic archaeology to determine the skeleton's age, gender, and possible cause of death. To do so, students must first explain what is involved in each aspect of forensic archaeology.
Curated OER
What Do We Learn From Fossils?
Students investigate what a fossil is and how it came to be. In this fossil lesson, students examine pictures of skeletons and identify characteristics that can and cannot be determined by a fossil. Students complete diagrams of a...
Curated OER
Dissecting Owl Pellets
Students dissect owl pellets. In this dissecting owl pellets activity, students discuss birds of prey and make predictions about what they may find during the investigation. Students tease out skull and bones and try to make a complete...
Project SMART
Dinosaur Trek
Second graders investigate dinosaurs. They explore various websites, submit questions to a paleontologist online, construct cut and paste model dinosaur skeletons, develop a graph to compare dinosaurs, and label pictures from online...
Time Warp Trio
The Caveman Catastrophe
Young archaeologists study the development of human history, and work in groups to create a timeline that traces the development of humans. Additionally, the groups utilize a very clever graphic organizer embedded in the plan in order to...
Curated OER
Fossil Find
Students investigate the practice of digging for fossils. They participate in a mock dig of fossils using real bones and other artifacts. Then students dig through sand in order to go through the simulation. Students make observations...
Curated OER
EEEK! A Spider!
Youngsters complete a unit of lessons based on the story "Little Miss Muffet." They predict what will happen in the story, and use context clues to look for meaning in the words. They research information about spiders using the Internet...
Curated OER
Bug's Eye View
Investigate the life of bugs and how they interact with the environment in this integrated science and language arts lesson. Young scientists construct mini environments in cages in order to make observations. This data forms the basis...
American Museum of Natural History
What Do You Know About T. Rex?
There's so much to learn about dinosaurs. A 10-question quiz tests knowledge of the more detailed characteristics of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. As individuals complete the quiz, they better understand how fossil records helped define some of...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Primate Biology
High schoolers examine why humans are classified as primates and what features they share with other members of the order. For this investigative lesson students divide into groups and complete their lab station.
Curated OER
Bat Ecology
Students, through hands on games and activities, discover how bats live and how bats benefit ecosystems. They play a game designed to show them how echolocation works and another to show how mother bats locate their young through their...
Curated OER
Dolphins or Sharks?
In this dolphins and sharks comparison worksheet, learners complete a web on each animal and choose from a list the attributes that fit each one. Students create a poster promoting conservation of our ocean friends.