American Museum of Natural History
Endangered Species Game
Multiple factors affect the survival of endangered species. A hands-on activity has learners explore those factors. They play a board game that highlights factors such as human influence, habitat availability, and new species introduction.
Curated OER
Let's go to the Video Tape!
Using actual data from a deep-sea video survey, high school marine biologists consider the biodiversity, compare species richness between two communities, and learn to calculate the diversity index. The lesson plan is all-inclusive,...
Curated OER
Animal Species Richness in Tioga County, PA
Students compile an extensive list of animal species seen throughout Tioga County. In this data collecting activity, students report daily any animal species seen during the course of their travels and adventures outdoors in Tioga County...
Curated OER
National Marine Sanctuaries Fish
Information is provided on Gray's Reef, Florida Keys, and Flower Garden Banks marine sanctuaries. Young marine biologists then visit the FishBase and REEF databases to collect fish species information for each location. They then...
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – How Diverse is That?
When judging diversity of an ecosystem, both species evenness and species richness must contribute. After a discussion of diversity and a guided example using the Shannon-Weaver function, scholars use the same function on two other...
Curated OER
Saving An Endangered Species
Second graders participate in a fundraiser for an endangered species. They evaluate websites for animal adoption/sponsorship, select an endangered species, and develop, advertise, and implement a fund-raising plan for their selected...
Curated OER
Down, Dung and Dirty
Students observe the changes seen in succession and the biodiversity of a community through its species richness and evenness. They create a dung culture in a clear plastic cup from horse, goat or cow dung then observe the numbers of...
Curated OER
Species and Specimens: Exploring Local Biodiversity
Students practice skills essential to all scientific investigation: carefully observing and collecting data. They become field biologists in a series of hands-on activities to collect and identify specimens, and survey and calculate the...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
After reviewing biodiversity, learners work in small groups to analyze actual species distribution data. They learn to calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for different communities. Though not particularly engaging, the content...
American Museum of Natural History
Web of Life Game
Get caught in a web of learning. Classmates play a game to build a web to model the interaction of species that live in a specific ecosystem. They each assume the role of one species and work together, passing a ball of twine to indicate...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa
Take your biology class' understanding of biodiversity to a whole new level! Ecology scholars use data to calculate three different diversity indices based on the organisms in the Gorongosa National Park. The four-part activity uses an...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Keep Away
As of 2015, there are 53,481 oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Scholars determine how species diversity is impacted based on the ecosystem's distance from a drilling platform. It focuses on finding the mean of data sets and creating bar...
Curated OER
Worm Compost & Vermicomposting
Students explore vermicomposting, the species of worms needed and the proper climate for it. In this composting lesson plan students make their own worm compost bin.
Curated OER
Web of Life Game: Trout
Students explore the concept of food webs. In this food web lesson, students demonstarte the connection between species. Students use a ball of string show how the food web works, then have a class discussion.
American Museum of Natural History
What do you know about Biodiversity?
What do your classes know about biodiversity? A 10-question online quiz asks questions related to biodiversity and species groups. As learners answer questions, they click on links to additional information. The lesson could be an option...
American Museum of Natural History
Life in the City
Believe it or not, biodiversity exists even in areas of disturbed habitat. An interactive activity challenges learners to look for species with a magnifying lens in an image of a city habitat. Pop-up images and descriptions explain how...
Curated OER
Galapagos - Discover the Diversity
Pretend you are exploring a newly discovered species of fish in the Galapagos. Your budding marine biologists access FishBase Database's list of marine/brackish fishes and choose one to research. The link through this website does not...
Curated OER
Down, Dung and Dirty
Students investigate the stages of succession in animal dung communities. They create a dung culture using fresh cow, goat or horse dung then record data on the fungal species that appear over a two week period.
Curated OER
Field Experiments on Succession
Student develop a hypothesis regarding the effects of either mowing or fertilizer upon the diversity of plant species in a grassland ecosystem. They set up experiment field plots and measure species richness.
Curated OER
Endangered Species of PA
Students research and publish information about an endangered species on the school's web site. In this endangered species lesson, students choose an at-risk species to research. They publish their research information on the school's...
Curated OER
Galapagos Adaptations
Young scholars examine photographs of closely related species found in the Gal??pagos environment, observe differences and similarities between species, and form hypotheses about species differences and the relationship to the...
Curated OER
Measuring Biodiversity
Students collect species data from a mock intertidal community. In this biology lesson, students graph their data and analyze the species in it. They construct a species accumulation curve and present it to class.
Curated OER
Analyzing Intertidal and Deep Sea Vent Communities
Students study how scientists measure diversity. In this diversity lesson students look at marine communities and look at data to calculate diversity in 3 different ways.
Curated OER
Hey - It's a Rainy Forest Out There!
Elementary schoolers take part in a very good lesson which has them watch video, conduct experiments, complete hands-on activities, and work in cooperative groups. The educationally-rich activities are clearly-explained, and the group...