Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Field Trip to the Watsonville Wetlands

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the differences between food webs and food chains.  In this wetland lesson students play a food web game and go on a scavenger hunt. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Forest Ecosystem

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners take a field trip and explore a temperate rainforest. In this rainforest lesson plan, students discuss many items they see on their journey and experiment with different tree leaves.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Much Land Does It Take To Produce Your Food?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students calculate the amount of land required to produce the food eaten by an individual for one year. They compare the amount of land required to produce animal versus plant products. Students visualize the areas of land calculated.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The MPA “GamePlan”

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders explore the purpose of having Marine Protected Areas. In this environmental science lesson, 8th graders simulate the planning process by playing a board game. They explain the positive and negative effects of trade offs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Protected Areas (MPA)

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders explain the purpose of MPA's. In this biology lesson, 9th graders identify MPA's in Southern California. They simulate coastal sampling using candy from two buckets. Students analyze their results and share it with the class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What makes up YOUR Environment!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create their own land or water environment. They make their environment livable for all the different animals they collect to put in it. Students research the types of animals that they can have in their environment, and how...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Much Is an Ecosystem Worth?

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Students examine the value of ecosystems. They read and analyze an article, evaluate ecosystem services, research the benefits of biomonitors, and design a public service announcement.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Great Lakes Ecology

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders identify the Great Lakes, and describe the habitat of life of a loon. They are able to point to and explain one of the major river systems that enters the Great Lakes with a focus on the Clinton River and the food webs...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Biomes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students collect information about different biomes, and locate the biomes on a world map. They read a climograph and match them to the appropriate biomes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Happened to Robin?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate animal injuries caused by humans. They present their findings to various neighborhood groups.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Value of a Garden

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the history of taxonomy, the work of Carl Linnaeus, and the factors involved in the decline and extinction of a variety of botanical species.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Down, Dung and Dirty

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students observe the changes seen in succession and the biodiversity of a community through its species richness and evenness. They create a dung culture in a clear plastic cup from horse, goat or cow dung then observe the numbers of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cheetah Challenges

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers research the problems that cheetahs are facing in the wild. In this biology lesson, students discuss how animal rehabilitation works. They write blogs about it and comment on everyone's post.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Shapes a MPA?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners identify the three types of MPA in California. For this marine science lesson, students analyze information provided to design a new MPA. They justify their reasoning in class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Greenhouse Effect and Me: How Do We Affect Each Other?

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders create a model of greenhouse effect in the lab. In this integrated science lesson, 9th graders investigate the different variables affecting this condition. They research about global warming and prepare a PowerPoint...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossil Fuel Sources, Usage and Alternatives: What are the Options?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students identify the different sources of fossil fuels. In this environmental science lesson plan, students research about how these impact our environment. They explore renewable energy sources that could replace fossil fuels.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Seeds of Wetland Life

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students participate in several activities on seed exploration. In this biology lesson plan, students classify seeds according to their dispersal method. They explain the different adaptations plant have to disperse their seeds.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water Resource Engineering

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners examine solubility and the significance of water.  In this aqueous solution instructional activity students complete a lab activity on soil profiles.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

ECOLOGICAL BIOASSAY OF COPPER SULFATE IN DAPHNIA MAGNA

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Students use this lab as a follow up to the introduction of the ecosystems and productivity levels, bioassays and what and how they measure, and Daphnia magna as an index organism, i.e., a species whose health within an ecosystem...
Lesson Plan
Baylor College

Can Nutrients in Water Cause Harm?

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Ecology candidates culture pond water organisms over a few days time, then they experiment to find out how increasing nutrients affects the population. As part of a unit on water, this exploration gives your class an understanding of how...
Lesson Plan
Serendip

Changing Biological Communities – Disturbance and Succession

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
After cutting down a forest to make a farm, how long would it take the environment to turn an abandoned farm back into a forest? Scholars study this exact scenario while they interpret many charts and graphs of the changing ecosystems as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Microclimates

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Young scholars compare the land cover and temperatures in different microclimates to begin to explain why organisms live where they do. While exploring microclimates, students record temperature readings and detailed observations.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Revised: Adventures in Earth Day: Why Do We Care About Our Environment? - Biology Teaching Thesis

For Teachers 6th - 8th
To describe the ecological and aesthetic importance of the Potomac River, Middle schoolers name the ways in which the river's values are jeopardized and explain the purpose of Earth Day. They write a response to a newspaper article in a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spring

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students examine lichens in an outside field trip. Students explore the diversity of this organism and ask questions about them.