Curated OER
Creating a Dichotomous Key for Families of Idaho Butterflies
Students are shown how to use the butterfly section of the Digital Altals of Idaho. They discuss how to make a dichotomous key. Students use their skills of observation and recognize defining characteristics that distinguish different...
Curated OER
Reptile Identification Exercise
Young scholars are shown how to use the Digital Atlas of Idaho. They use a dichotomous key to identify species of Idaho reptiles. Students describe some basic life characteristics of reptiles. They use th visual key to identify the...
Curated OER
Pheed the World: Edible Phyla
Students discuss the contributions of different organisms to our world. In this biology instructional activity, students research countries with limited food supply. They create an improvement plan for a fictitious country assigned to them.
Curated OER
Animal Kingdom: Phylum Chordata
Students use a dichotomous key to classify various vertebrate jar speciments into classes. They examine the speciments for general characteristics of each class and fill in a corresponding chart and then complete a few final assessment...
Curated OER
Paleoecology of "Fossilized" Owl Pellets
Students examine fossilized owl pellets to determine how a species environmental preferences allow us to reconstruct probable past environments. Differences in anatomy are used to identify species in this lesson.
Curated OER
The Physiological Tolerance of Two Species of Protozoans
Students examine the differences in pH tolerance between the two species and relate these differences to their respective niches.
Curated OER
Diversity of Life
Learners explore the diversity of life forms and the role that interdependency plays in our world through a mult-segmented unit. This segment introduces the unit.
Curated OER
Natural Selection Simulation
Students simulate the changes in a natural population of birds or other species. They establish baseline data of population fluctuation for a closed population with a stable food supply. They graph the data to complete their mutations.
Curated OER
Invasive Species
Students explore invasive species. In this species analysis lesson, students observe invasive species and review the impact the species have on the environment. Students work in groups to investigate the species in varying habitats....
Curated OER
What's in Our Woods?
Students observe their local forest and document the change that occurs over the school year. For this forestry lesson, students utilize a GPS to mark a certain area of the woods as their study area for the remainder of the year....
NOAA
Invertebrates
Crabs and lobsters ... yum! The 18th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program focuses on invertebrate marine life. After the lecture slideshow, learners conduct an activity to sample...
Curated OER
All in the Family: Calculating Cousins
Students view pictures of distant "cousins" to humans. They place them in order by their distance from humans. Students receive a packet of six pages featuring graphics and a cousins summary page. They work in groups to complete 5 cousin...
Virginia Department of Education
Adaptation and Evolution
Um may be the atomic symbol for confusion, but it won't be needed in this instructional activity. Scholars rotate through seven stations completing experiments, hands-on activities, writing exercises, and analysis. Stations include...
Curated OER
Charles Darwin's Hardware Shop
Using an assortment of hardware, junior biologists explore the theory of evolution. They consider how simple pieces of hardware might be changed into similar items and display their discoveries on a poster. The lesson would be...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
City Animals
High schoolers identify some of the most important native and introduced species of animals in the United States. They describe how animals populations of cities have changed over time, outline the benefits and problems associated with...
Curated OER
Embryology as Evidence of Evolution
Students observe the two major developmental pathways (protostome and deuterostome). They analyze data regarding differences in nucleotide sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree. They observe the similar evolutionary history shared...
Virginia Department of Education
A Designed Organism
How can you encourage pupils to demonstrate creativity while still meeting the objective of applying technical knowledge? This activity is your answer! Scientists will create an imaginary creature and prepare a graphic organizer with...
Curated OER
What's The Big Deal About Accutane?
High schoolers take on the role of epidemiologists. They investigate an "outbreak" in serious birth defects that occur in infants born to teenage girls. students discover a link between the use of the acne drug called Accutane and birth...
Curated OER
Supermarkets, Sustenance and Sustainability
Students investigate jungles and the people who depend upon them. In this sustainability lesson, students research wild life conservation and discover the importance of a jungle to Amazonian people. Students create a group presentation...
Curated OER
The Illusion of Race
This is mostly an exploration of race through an interactive website, class readings, and discussion. Individuals take an online quiz about race, they answer questions on a worksheet by visiting another website, and discover that race is...
Curated OER
A Journey with a Scientist
Learners work in groups as they read chapters of Charles Darwin's, Voyage of the Beagle. They take notes on the chapter and in their group make a timeline of the chapter. They tape the timelines together in order to depict the entire...
Curated OER
Allosaur Survival Game
Students uses this game to see how difficult survival is even for a fierce predator, especially when it is young. It stresses: How much energy it takes to keep a large animal alive or a small one growing, The differences in the fauna...
Curated OER
Species and Spaces - At Risk at Home
Eleventh graders explore and compare Canadian biomes and investigate species at risk. They describe population growth and eco-regions in terms of climate and geography. They research and create presentations about the natural history and...