Curated OER
SORTING ALL SORTS
Students examine how the method of classification is used. In this sorting instructional activity students take a pre-test, classify organisms and complete a crossword puzzle.
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Where Should We Place Archaeopteryx?
Students classify Archaeopteryx using pictures of actual fossils and scientist representations of how the animal might have looked. They compare Archaeopteryx's characteristics to those of the five extant vertebrate groups to...
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Understanding the Geologic Timescale
Students identify and analyze how the geologic time scale was developed by investigating 11 periods of time and the vast expanse of time of the Earth's existence. They study their period, determine the important factors indicative to...
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Fossils-Where Should We Place Archaeopteryx?
Students explore an interactive computer activity that provides the opportunity to look at features of various groups of animals and determine where an extinct organism might be classified.
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Hominoid Cranium Comparison
Students describe, measure and compare cranial casts from contemporary apes (chimpanzees and gorillas, typically), modern humans and fossil "hominids" (erect and bipedal forms evolutionarily separated from apes).
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Carbon Monoxide and Population Density
Tenth graders investigate the carbon monoxide level at a fixed latitude to determine if there is a relationship to population density. They download data sets and generate a graph, and find locations using the Earth's coordinate system....
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Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Students recognize that they haven't seen a dinosaur because they no longer exist. In this dinosaur lesson, students view videos and understand what the dinosaur habitat was like. Students role play dinosaurs. Students explore dinosaur...
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Introduction to Paleontology Lab
Students engage in a lab which introduces them to fossils and paleontology. They examine eleven numbered boxes containing fossils which are related to the questions on this lab then answer questions on a lab sheet imbedded in this plan.
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Superbugs and Antibiotic Resistance
Students complete experiments on antibiotics and antimicrobials. In groups, they explain how antibiotics affect the evolution of microorganisms. They test various types of bacteria to discover how much resistance they have to antibiotics.
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Why do we need Vitamin C in our diet? Or Why do we carry old inactive genes in our genome?
Students explore and explain how mutations in the DNA sequence of a gene may be silent or result in phenotypic change in an organism and in its offspring. They analyze how evolution and biodiversity are the result of genetic changes that...
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What came first?
Students sequence events in their own lives and assign each a numerical time, students use the same process to sequence actual events in the evolution of life on Earth.
LABScI
Taxonomy: Who is in My family?
Find similarities in seemingly unlike organisms. The second instructional activity in a series of 12 builds the concept of a taxonomy and explores the use of a dichotomous key. Learners begin in part one by attempting to group a set of...
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Sun and Weather
How is the Earth's weather created? Middle schoolers will explain how the Sun's energy is transformed into different forms. They will perform mathematical calculations of volume, mass, and temperature. They they will explain the...
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Australian Mammals: Evolutionary Development as a Result of Geographic Isolation
Learners comprehend the difference between monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals. They are able to compare and contrast these organisms (Australian mammals) with other mammals. Students are able to identify Australian mammals.
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Candy Bar Subsurface Geology
Students are introduced to drawing and interpreting topographical maps. They each cut through there Jell-o mountain at regular height intervals, and trace around the shape of the Jell-o cut off at the height, overlaying the different...
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Half Life Lab
Seventh graders model radioactive decay using pennies, collect data from their model, apply scientific visualization techniques to their data and create animated models explaining the concept of radioactive half-life.
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Asteroids
Students examine a potential asteroid impact site. They describe evidence and theories for extinction events.
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Hominoid Skull Comparison
Students are provided with evidence used to support evolutionary theory. They are introduced to classification by using primates as an example. Students read article related to Hominoid Skull Comparison and write a summary about the...
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Plants of the Past
Fourth graders explore ecosystems by examining plants of the past. They discuss ways in which we interact with plants in our daily lives. Students discuss the role plants play in providing food for animals and the significance they had...
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Biology: Natural Selection
Students explore evolutionary processes and theories using the spotted fish applet. They observe what happens to fish in a closed environment with both food and predators. Students run the model several times and answer questions about...
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Linkages Between Surface Temperature And Tropospheric Ozone
Students organize and analyze data regarding changes in tropospheric ozone and then hypothesize about the consequences of these changes.