Curated OER
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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Backyard Bugs
Explore the concept of scientific classification and the similarities and differences between plant and animal species. Your class will participate in hands-on activities by investigating dichotomous keys and classifying their shoes. To...
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Science: Fossil of a Carbonized Plant
Students classify leaves by shape and margins and use them to create models of plant fossils. By using paper over a leaf, they simulate fossilization of organisms onto sedimentary rocks. Following instructions on worksheets, students...
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Costa Rican Food Chain
Discuss the animals and plants in the rainforest food chain using this lesson. Learners talk about and do research on the top predators from the Costa Rican region and create a model of one of them in class. They also make a visual model...
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Soil Stories
Tenth graders collect and analyze soil samples and extrapolate the characteristics needed to support different types of plant life. They research different types of prairie soil and how it supports plant and animal life.
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Prairie Predator and Prey
Fifth graders brainstorm a list of animals that live on the prairie, and classify them as predators and prey. They conduct interviews where they ask the animals what they need to look out for to sustain life on the prairie.
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Classification of Life
For this classification of life worksheet, students use an on line source to answer questions about how species are classified, named and grouped. They give the classification of a bear, an orchid and a sea cucumber.
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Classifying Living Things
In this classification activity, students read a description of how all living things are related and describe a diagram showing how this taxonomy works. Students answer five questions related to their reading.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section One: What is Biodiversity?
Four intriguing and scientific activities invite learners to explore the natural resources of their town. The activities cover concepts such as genetic traits, organizing species in a taxonomy, the differences between different species...
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Variation
Students participate in an online lesson to reinforce the similarities and differences in plants and animals. They classify living things according to observable characteristics.
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The Key To Classifying Animals
Explorers of the environment construct a dichotomous key for a variety of organisms and design a key to classify Galapagos animals based on descriptions and images. The lesson includes a link to an animal gallery and the worksheet for...
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Animals, Soil, Trees
Fourth graders describe the various kinds of soils and how plants and animals are affected by them. They describe the baic needs of plants, scoring at least a 3 or 4 on a 4-point rubic. Students are able to predict and/or infer what...
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Mini-Ponds
In this mini pond worksheet, students create a mini-pond ecosystem with soil, water, and plant life. Students let their ecosystem sit for a day and they observe a sample the next day. Students identify all the pond water microorganisms...
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Classification and Identification
Learners, after exploring and analyzing diagrammatic and taxonomic keys and their association to marine sciences, identify and classify objects and organisms based on visual attributes/characteristics. They research and create their own...
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Create a Critter Collage
Learners create a collage. In this animal classification lesson, students discuss why and how scientists classify animals. Learners view pictures of different animals and decide which class each animal belongs to. Students compare...
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Understanding Science Vocabulary and Categorization
Students analyze scientific vocabulary words. In this life science vocabulary activity, students complete a worksheet using VisualThesaurus as they evaluate words related to plants and animals and how the words are used.
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Seeds of Wetland Life
Students participate in several activities on seed exploration. In this biology lesson, students classify seeds according to their dispersal method. They explain the different adaptations plant have to disperse their seeds.
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Classification of Cerealites
Middle schoolers create a dichotomous key. For this categorizing lesson, students create a dichotomous key for different types of cereal. Middle schoolers classify the cereal into groups such as flakes and cereal with holes. Students...
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Chicago: The City in Art, 1995-2000
Students examine a mural of animals and talk about animal classification. They act as scientists and keep a record, called a Jungle Journal, of plants and animals they observe while studying the rainforest.
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What's Your Genus? Scientific Classification and the VT
Students learn about binomial nomenclature, the scientific system of classification. In this scientific classification instructional activity, students work cooperatively to complete a binomial scavenger hunt using the internet and a...
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Focus on Food Chains
Third graders collect and analyze data about food chains. They conduct Internet research about the habitat of a selected organism, write a narrative, and create a computer slideshow using Kid Pix computer software that illustrates the...
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Ecosystems of the World
Students are able to list different ecosystems and describe their environment and organisms. They have an understanding about the function and balance of the ecosystems. Students are able to tell what type of ecosystem the St. Mary's...
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What's Your Genus? Scientific Classification and the VT
Young scholars understand the definition of binomial nomenclature. For this binomial nomenclature lesson, students classify ordinary animals by seeking their scientific names. Young scholars participate in a knowledge hunt using binomial...
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Reading the River - Biological Classification
Youngsters create a list of grocery store items and then work together to categorize them as if they were setting up the shelves of the market. Then they are given a box of miscellaneous objects to practice categorizing. With these two...