Curated OER
Field Guide to Schoolyard Insects and Their Relatives
Sometimes all you need to complete your perfect lesson plan is an awesome hands-on learning experience. Here is an extension activity that is sure to excite your learners. They'll head outside to observe the local insect community. When...
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Raising an Animal
Students observe reproduction and behavior in several types of animals and nurture a sense of responsibility and cooperation. They then examine external features of several different types of animal groups.
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Investigative Case - Living in an Alkaline Environment
Students are shown many ways in which Mono Lake water and distilled water are different. They demonstrate that the survival of common soil bacteria declines as pH increases. Students examine the behaviors, adaptations, energy transfer,...
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Tread Lightly: Where We Stand
Students explore the concept of ecological footprints. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students calculate their ecological footprints and consider how to reduce them.
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Bat Ecology
Students, through hands on games and activities, discover how bats live and how bats benefit ecosystems. They play a game designed to show them how echolocation works and another to show how mother bats locate their young through their...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
A Deadly Passion
Depending on the level of maturity of your class, the case study presented here could be fascinating. It focuses on the mating behavior and post-mating rituals of the Australian redback spider, which involves the female eating the male...
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Ecology
Students gain an understanding of necessary components required within a healthy, sustainable environment and ways human actions can impact that balance while discovering how to recognize and analyze explanations and models used in...
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Ecology - Biodiversity Lab
Studnents examine the degree of biodiversity that exists in one's everyday environment, in order to develop an understanding of how scientists classify organisms and to explain why biodiversity is important for living things.
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Nature Tribute
Students explore parts of nature. In this environmental lesson, students discuss how their actions can affect the environment and design a plan to clean up a specified area. Students practice good hygiene during the cleanup project.
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High School EcoHouse Curriculum
How has the level of carbon dioxide changed over recent years, and what is contributing it? Groups work together to research and present their findings in a creative way. Also built into the lesson is a visit to a sustainable house, but...
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Radical Raptors
Students define raptor, explain why raptors are important, describe unique physical characteristics of various types of raptors, and explain life cycle of raptors. Students then play Habitat Game, describe food and hunting habits of...
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Cool Corals
Students explore corals and polyps. In this coral reef activity students divide into groups and prepare a written report.
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The Basics: Life Science
Pupils develop an understanding of the different fields of study that are encompassed by the term, life science. They view and discuss a video on the topic. In small groups they focus on on of the examples shown in the video to create a...
Channel Islands Film
Human Impact on the Food Web of Santa Cruz Island
What happens when a non-native species is introduced onto an island? Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Island chain located off the coast of southern California, provides the perfect laboratory for young environmental scientists to...
National Park Service
What Can We Do?
Motivate young conservationists to stand up and make a change. After learning about the efforts in Cascade Nation Park to reduce carbon emissions in order to preserve the wilderness, learners work in groups creating action plans for...
Virginia Department of Education
Ecosystem Dynamics
Searching for an eccentric way to enhance lessons on ecosystems while ensuring pupils remain creative and motivated? Upon viewing The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, designated groups design and construct a pop-up book that depicts the specific ways...
Curated OER
Deer Tracks
Students use satellite images to track to movement patterns of deer and examine deer behavior. They write stories about a day in the life of a field scientist.
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Termite Lab
Students examine insect behavior in a lab activity. Students explore the idea of chemical specificity and the reactions of termites to a chemical found in their trail pheromone. Students watch a demonstration with termites before...
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Home on the Range
Students use maps and mathematics to determine the appropriate panther population in a given area. In this Florida ecology lesson, students research the area requirements of male and female panther and use a map to help calculate how...
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Pika Chew
Students work in collaborative teams with specific roles, use the Internet to research the behavior and ecology of pikas, make predictions about survival rates of pikas in different habitats and organize their data in graphs.
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Frozen Seas
Students research animal life in the frozen seas. In this researched based lesson, students use the Internet to create a poster about an animal that lives in an Arctic or Antarctic environment. Students will focus on the behavioral and...
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Wildlife Track Identification
Even though the PowerPoint slides for this lesson are not included, you may find it useful for the wildlife track preservation instructions provided. After demonstrating the steps for making track casts, take your class outdoors to make...
Curated OER
Earthworm Movement and Landscape Structure
Students describe differences in animal usage of habitats depending upon successional status of site. They also design other experiments to test movement patterns of animals through habitats of differing structure.
Curated OER
A Walk in the Woods
Students observe an environment, ask questions about what they observe. and design experiments to answer one question they came up with in this upper-level High School or college lesson. The lesson requires an outdoor exploration or...