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Plant Diversity and Distribution
Students construct a defined plot on school grounds and observed patterns in plant life. They count trees, shrubs, cacti and record on a data sheet. They compare data and generate a plant diversity overlook for their school.
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Changing Planet: Withering Plants - Stressing Over Lost Water
Expectant earth scientists examine the bottom side of a leaf and learn the role of the stomata. They consider the gas exchange that occurs through these structures and relate how the climate is changing to its impact on food crops. This...
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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...
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Creating a School Herbarium
Students develop working knowledge of common plants and awareness of plant diversity by starting a school herbarium.
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How Toxic Is It?
Students participate in an activity in which they investigate the scientific method and seed germination as well as practice graphing and metric measuring skills. Students examine toxicity by exposing Wisconsin Fast Plants seeds to toxic...
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Prairie Math
Students work together to build models of prairie plants. Using the model, they estimate the height and then measure them using metric and standard units. They write a fraction to represent their part of the whole set and compare and...
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Cloning Animals and Plants: Any Difference?
Learners examine the process in which plants and animals are cloned. They compare and contrast the two procedures and determine if there is a difference. They share their views on cloning to the class.
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Populations- The Survival of the Fittest
Students examine the ways that populations become diverse and how mutation changes the diversity of a population. In this exploratory lesson students study natural selection by completing a lab activity and discussing what they learned.
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Plants in Your Gas Tank: From Photosynthesis to Ethanol
Explore ethanol and how it is produced. Young scientists investigate photosynthesis and fermentation to the concept of conservation of energy and mass. They discuss the environmental and economical benefits of ethanol as a fuel additive.
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Invasive Aquatic Plant Identification
Young scholars observe aquatic plants and animals and identify their systems. In this plants and animals lesson plan, students compare systems of organisms and orally express how plants and animals rely on each other.
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Measuring Biodiversity
Students explore a few key concepts associated with measuring biodiversity. They are told that biodiversity can be measured in a number of ways. Genetic diversity is a measure of the genes represented in the sample. Ecosystem...
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Renewable Energy Plants in Your Gas Tank: From Photosynthesis to Ethanol
Students examine the role photosynthesis plays in plant survival. In this renewable energy lesson students document their observations and analyze and interpret their results.
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Wetland Transects
Students lay out transect lines beside a local stream or river. There they record species of plants and insects living around the stream. By doing so, students explore how to use transect sampling techniques, use a variety of methods to...
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Diversity of Life
Students study fungi and its characteristics. In this fungi instructional activity students collect and observe fungi then answer questions on what they saw.
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Biodiversity Study -- A Unit Study
Students sample a site with low human impact, one with moderate human impact, and a third with high human impact. Students chart the data for each site and then compare the sites and discuss.
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Environmental Justice in Chester, PA
Over several days, learners communicate and defend an argument regarding environmental justice issues in Chester, PA. After discussing the issue and viewing a video about the location of several toxic waste facilities in Chester, they...
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Introduction To Floral Morphology
Pupils create a model of the four basic whorls of flowers using a water bottle, construction paper and Q-tips. They then examine fresh flower specimens to see how the basic structure can vary in different species of flowering plants.
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Looking for Biodiversity
Students explore habitats and see that there are a variety of plants that can be found and that biodiversity is an important characteristic. In this biodiversity lesson students complete an activity that explains how to perform a plant...
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Rain Reasons
Pupils explore how climatic factors influence the growth of plants. They create an experiment to find how variations in water, light, and temperature affect plant growth and describe how precipitation and geography can affect the growth...
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Understanding Science Vocabulary And Categorization
Young scholars explore and examine scientific language and categorization as related to commonly known plants and animals. They hypothesize about a specific plant or animal, how it was scientifically named, what concepts and vocabulary...
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Flowering Phenology: How Do Plants Know When To Flower?
Learners explore the biotic and abiotic factors that affect plant reproduction and the potential consequences of human activities on plant populations. The effects of urbanization are discussed as an influence in the consequences.
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We are where and what we eat
Students explore concepts of plants they eat, where and how they grow and are introduced to genetic diversity. They examine seed characteristics, look at their different sizes, shapes and germination time. They also set up seeds to...
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TE Lesson: How Clean is that Water?
Middle schoolers examine the factors the affect water quality, and allow for animals and plants to live. They look at how engineers apply water quality information when making stream modifications in order to ensure drinking water...
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Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms
Eighth graders discover how animals adapt to their surroundings. They identify physical traits and behaviors that are important to survival. They examine the results of an organism's failure to adapt.