Biodiversity Teacher Resources

New ReviewLook into the future with a instructional activity on biodiversity and natural habitats. Learners read articles about different perspectives when it comes to planning future development, and decide which angle is the highest priority in...

Introduce ecology classes to biodiversity and interdependence in ecosystems with a PowerPoint presentation. Then, they get up-close and personal with the invertebrate world by collecting insects, classifying them, and graphing their...

There are millions of plant and animal species on the planet, but why do we need so many? Follow along with this short video as it explains how biodiversity helps strengthen ecosystems, allowing them to adapt to change so that life...

New ReviewBiodiversity is essential for every habitat, but many species are at risk due to pollution and other factors. Explore several different species native to Illinois in a gallery walk with posters that learners have created after research...

Here is a well-designed lesson on biodiversity that should intrigue your charges. In it, pupils compare a natural desert area to a school field to see how habitat destruction affects species diversity. Groups set up transects and collect...

Online activities make learning about wetland biodiversity interactive! First, ecologists navigate through National Geographic's 56-page "GeoStory" about US wetland ecosystems. They use the FieldScope tool to investigate the Barataria...

Four intriguing and scientific activities invite learners to explore the natural resources of their town. The activities cover concepts such as genetic traits, organizing species in a taxonomy, the differences between different species...

Explore soil, genetic traits, natural resources, and pollution in a series of lessons that focus on biodiversity. Kids complete experiments to learn more about the importance of varied genes and organisms in an ecosystem.

Learners examine the amount of biodiversity in the state of Illinois. They practice using new vocabulary and listening to stories about animals. After given time to reflect, they write their own haiku. They work together to create a...

Eighth graders write a short report in first person about any plant or animal found on a list of Illinois species. They become the character of the plant or animal and give a short report describing the plant or animal.

Learn about dichotomous keys, plant identification, and how to care for the planet with a lesson plan that includes several hands-on and innovative activities. Kids go on a plant scavenger hunt and classify the plants that they find...

Young scholars define and discuss biodiversity as most serious environmental threat facing Earth, estimate number of species of plants and animals in world, consider why might it be important to protect a species even though it may have...

Compare various types of biological diversity in a coral reef and calculate a numeric indicator that describes the diversity found in coral communities. Your class can work in groups to look at the abundance and distribution data of...

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,...

Coral reefs contain some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Introduce reef residents to youngsters with a three-minute video. While the content is educational, it is not particularly engaging or clear. You may choose to skip the...

Fifth graders decide how one uses resources within a particular bioregion.  In this decision making instructional activity, 5th graders consider the biodiversity and complexity of the ecosystem.  Students select a resource (water, paper,...

High schoolers investigate the biodiversity in estuaries. In this estuary lesson plan, students use Google Earth to explore the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. They produce a biodiversity concept map and portray the life...

Can you imagine Washington DC and London as close neighbors occupying the same continent? Learners will be fascinated as they step back in time and discover the evolution of the earth's continents and oceans from 4.5 billion years ago to...

Students identify habitats in Arizona. Theys define and illustrate a food web, and explain the importance fo 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...

Students are introduced to biodiversiy. They use a simulation of two forests, one planted with only Douglas Fir trees, and one with diverse species of trees. Students also use the simulation of two forests, one a monoculture of only one...

How do you classify a newly discovered species? Learners view a presentation and complete research about biodiversity and the classification hierarchy. The lesson includes activities with dichotomous keys and work on classifying both...

How diverse is the world we live in compared to the way things used to be? Young biologists explore diverse organisms and relate the structure of each organism to its ability to survive in our current environmental conditions....

Begin by comparing land biodiversity to ocean biodiversity, consider the balance between speciation and extinction, and then focus on the coral reef habitat. This PowerPoint presentation is more of a lesson on coral reefs than it is on...