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Tracy Aviary Wetland Restoration Module - WEST

For Teachers K - 12th
Students become engaged in wetland conservation as they take part throughout the school year in restoring a small wetland at the Tracy Aviary. They visit the Tracy Aviary wetland at various times during the year and become involved in...
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Pattern

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars describe examples of the relationship between structure and function in living systems, particularly with regard to specialized tissues and organs. They describe examples of biological diversity and adaptation of organisms...
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GMOs: Should We Grow Them?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine the ethics of biotechnology and genetically modifying various organisms. They complete various activities and labs on GMOs and then write a position paper regarding their individual opinions on the subject.
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Photojournalism: Documenting the Four Greatest Threats to Global Sustainability

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study global sustainability by viewing photos.  In this environment instructional activity students work in groups and create their own photo gallery.
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Conductivity of salt Solutions

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Learners investigate the concentration level of solutions. In this math/science lesson plan, students identify three different ionic compounds. They predict the conductivity of each using their collected data.
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Hominoid Skull Comparison

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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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Ocean Life

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners examine the fossil remains of ancient sea creatures. They create casts of fossils and identify how sea fossils are formed and consider what type of information fossils can give to scientists.
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Water Cycle in a Bottle

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students study the water cycle. In this water science lesson, students complete a water cycle experiment using soda bottles.
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Laws of the Jungle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students build a video game on predator-prey relationship. In this biology lesson, students identify the variables that affect this relationship. They write a short description and play each other's game. 
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Ourselves

For Teachers K - 1st
Students use a website to name and compare external body parts of humans and other animals.
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Camouflage in Animal Habitats

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate how animals in an ecosystem interact with a nonliving environment through camouflage. They work in cooperative groups to "go fishing" and record how many of each color of fish they "catch." After entering data on a...
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Plant Power

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders discuss the role of plants on Earth's biological system. In this life science lesson, 7th graders explain the process of transpiration and its importance in establishing Earth's climate patterns.
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2005 Submarine Ring of Fire Expedition: What's for Dinner?

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students compare and contrast photosynthesis and chemosynthesis as sources of primary production for biological communities, and describe sources of primary production observed in biological communities associated with volcanoes of the...
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Our Universe: Designed or Evolved?

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Students brainstorm and write arguments for Evolution and Intelligent Design. They research the history of each of these ideas. They also examine the controversy of teaching one or both ideas in schools.
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Diversity of Life

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students compare the different classifications and explore how organisms are grouped.  In this classification lesson students study images of organisms and answer questions. 
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Charting Diversity

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students organize different species of plans and animals according to various characteristics. Students then determine what characteristics enable them to survive in their habitat. Game ideas and activities are included.
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Trouble in the Troposphere

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create graphs using NASA data, compare ozone levels of several U.S. cities, analyze and evaluate the data and predict trends based on the data, and discuss and describe how human activities have modified Earth's air quality.
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A Reef of Your Own

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers study the reproductive strategies of reef building corals.  In this coral reef instructional activity students describe the behaviors of reef building corals and their nutritional strategies. 
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Circle of Life

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students consider why we eat and where our food obtains its energy. They illustrate food chains that might be found on an open field, dissect owl pellets, identify the remains of animals in the pellets, watch videos and participate in...
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Let's Get Specific

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore how different species thrive.  For this speciation lesson students research and complete a lab activity.
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Making The Geologic Time Scale Real

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students are assigned significant geologic events in Earth's history. They convert the date of the events into distances and then space themselves (on an outside playing field) away from other groups, to represent time between various...
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One Tough Worm

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students explain the process of chemosynthesis and its relevance to biological communities. In this investigative lesson students discuss chemosynthetic communities, then in groups they are assigned a species and are to calculate the gas...
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Let's Go to the Video Tape!

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students examine biological diversity and see how it relates to the concepts of variety and relative abundance.  In this investigative lesson students view a video on biodiversity and complete an activity. 
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Space Exploration to Find Habitable Planets

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students explore space science by reviewing scientific vocabulary terms. In this planet identification lesson, students identify the nine planets in our solar system and discuss which ones could potentially harbor life at some point....