Berkeley Engineering and Mentors
Darwin's Finches
Try a twist on the old finch beak and chopsticks activity by using M&Ms on a Twister mat. Spoons, knives, forks, and chopsticks represent beaks and are randomly assigned to your little birds, who must collect as much food as possible...
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Reptile Adaptations
Students research animal adaptations. In this adaptations lesson, students research the physical and behavioral adaptations of animals. Students create a diagram of their animal labeling it's adaptations.
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Evolution Number Two
Are you looking for evidence that your high schoolers are adapting to the concepts of natural selection and evolution? Assess their knowledge with a pretest and posttest. Naturally, you can select and adapt the activity to be the fittest...
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Bird Buffet
Fifth graders investigate how birds use their beaks. In this agriculture lesson, 5th graders use tools to simulate how birds gather food with their beaks. They then draw conclusions about certain types of beaks and what types of food a...
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Blending Butterflies
Students create camouflage butterflies. In this camouflage lesson plan, students read about the different types of camouflage. Each student in the class chooses a spot in the classroom and creates a camouflaged butterfly. They hang up...
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Create a New Animal
Students understand what physical adaptations are and how they help an animal to survive. In this adaptations lesson, students research four animals and then make an original animal that has adaptations to make them survive.
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Who Am I Like?
Students examine family structures. In this family structure lesson, students discover things about their own families and those of their classmates. They make a chart as they discuss nature versus nurture, complete a worksheet about who...
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Preying on Beans
Students act as predators searching for prey (beans) in two different settings to demonstrate the processes of adaptation and selection.
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Cold and Warm Blooded Animals
Middle schoolers research facts about a cold or warm-blooded animal in order to designa report either as PowerPoint or word processed document. They use online resources and insert images in to the report. They include the specified...
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Sibling Relationships in the Animal World
Students research sibling relationships in the animal world. In this animal science lesson, students read the book, Sisters and Brothers: Sibling Relationships in the Animal World and discuss the sibling relationships. Students choose an...
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Tadpoles
Students examine tadpoles at various stages of development. Questions in observation category assess students' ability to use a variety of senses to observe data in a certain way-scientific way.
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Panther Trivia Pursuit
Sixth graders design trivia game about panthers. In this panther trivia game lesson plan, 6th graders use the Internet to research interesting information about panthers, write the facts on note cards, and create a game based on the ...
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Exploring Learned and Innate Behavior
Compare and contrast learned and innate behaviors between humans and primates. Your biology class members read articles and participate in discussions about the use of tools and communication methods. That's about it, you'll probably...
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Natural Selection and Evidence Worksheet
Matching and fill-in-the-blank exercises give biology whizzes a chance to practice vocabulary associated with evolution. Terms to be reviewed focus on evidence for evolution, natural selection concepts, and some genetics words. You could...
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Peanut Butter Broccoli
Fifth graders explore food production by viewing DNA presentations. In this genetic engineering lesson, 5th graders discuss the foods they typically eat at home and how many common foods are engineered in a way that can produce a bigger...
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Classification of Animals
Sixth graders examine two-way classification systems using four mutually exclusive groups and two dimensions simultaneously. They then are given a set of plastic animals, asked to create a two-way classification system, then asked to...
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Tadpoles
Students examine tadpoles at various stages of development. They make careful scientific observations and compare the changes that occur at five different phases of a frog's life.
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Animal Games
Students explore a variety of games on the Internet that will teach them about animals; they focus on the Florida panther. Students choose the activity that is of interest to them, and then rotate between the games online and the games...
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The Plains Native Americans
Students read The Buffalo Woman by Paul Goble and explore several aspects of Plains Indians cultures. They view historical photos of items from Plains cultures, reference maps and complete worksheets in small groups.
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Panther Scavenger Hunt
Students research a website to learn about the Florida panther. In this animal research lesson plan, students use the scavenger hunt directions to search a website about Florida panthers. Students also solve word puzzles within the...
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Become an Expert
Young scholars practice their researching techniques by preparing a presentation with little notice. In this information research lesson, students utilize the Internet to research one of several subtopics concerning panthers. Young...
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Crazy Critters
Eighth graders visit a local park to collect insects. They record the habitats, identify the insect and write a report including the kingdom, phylum, class, and order.
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Natural Selection in Protected And Unprotected Populations
Studnets compare how two elephant seal populations fare during successive generations. They participate in a simulation using a card game to look at the differences in two populations, one that is protected from mortality by human...
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Evolution
In this evolution worksheet, young scholars review genetic variability, gene mutations, biodiversity and adaptations. This worksheet has 22 fill in the blank and 10 short answer questions.