Curated OER
Charles Darwin's Hardware Shop
Students construct an evolutionary tree representing specialization, diversity, and selection using easily obtained materials. They use at least twenty pieces of hardware to classify then develop "evolutionary" relationships between the...
Curated OER
Molecular Biology and Primate Phylogenetics
Pairs of high school biologists compare amino acid differences in the beta hemoglobin of different primates. They use the information collected to construct a phylogenic tree. Follow-up discussion questions are provided. This is a...
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Co-evolution of Plants and Pollinators
Students explore biological evolution and natural selection and its evolutionary consequences. They also explore how organisms are interdependent on one another.
Curated OER
Trees of our Forests
Young scholars use a field guide in order to identify trees. In this trees lesson plan, middle schoolers classify the trees that they identify based on their relationships. Young scholars take a trip outdoors to look at trees.
Curated OER
Scavenger Hunt: A Group Collection
Students be complete a collection of living organisms and systems from the school campus.
Curated OER
What Is Your Explanation for the Evidence?
Learners encounter an interactive computer program activity designed as a diagnostic of student beliefs related to the theory of evolution. Students process the Hypercard cascades structured around a set of biological topics related to...
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Animal Forms
Students demonstrate similarities and differences in animal forms, including humans.They investigate geometric relationships within those forms by building an animal using Zome System elements.
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Plant Phylogeny
Students examine live potted plants and create a hypothesis regarding their relationships in this upper-level introductory lesson on phylogenetic reconstruction using morphological characters. The lesson can be accomplished in...
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Ecology: Symbiosis
Eighth graders identify various types of symbiotic relationships. In this ecology lesson, 8th graders predict whether certain organisms can form symbiosis with other organisms. They discuss and defend their reasoning.
Curated OER
Powdery Mildew Fungi: Classification and Ecology
Students use a written key or illustrated key to identify fungi on plant leaves into its genus based on sexual or asexual reproduction, host range diversity, and host-parasite relationships.
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
A Strange Fish Indeed
Communication is one of the most important aspects of science. In a two-day activity, your high school or college-level biologists will read excerpts from a fictional diary of Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, the woman who discovered the...
Curated OER
Scale Drawings of Birds
Students create their own copies of Phoenix Birds using a grid system.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Impacts of Climate on Forest Succession
Part two in a series of four explores the effects of climate on succession or the changing of plant species in a forest. Groups review how to identify trees and then spend a day in the field collecting extensive data on trees to...
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...
Curated OER
His and Her-bariums
Students collect and identify plant species from campus, create a home herbarium, and compare with the plant species from school.
Curated OER
Catalase: A Bioinformatics Case Study
Students investigate the physical structure of a protein by using a computer simulation tool. They record its primary amino acid structure while viewing it in three dimensions for a better visual recognition. There is also a comparison...
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PRIMATE CLASSIFICATION: Evolution, Cladograms,
Students transfer examples (names) of primates from their location in an outline hierarchy of primate groups into a set of nested boxes reflecting that same hierarchy. A cladogram can then be drawn illustrating how these groups are...
Curated OER
What's in a Name?
Learners study the binomial system of naming organisms. They are given a name of an organism and they must draw a picture of what they think the organism looks like. Then they research the organism, find what it really looks like, and...
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What is the Evidence for Evolution?
Middle schoolers identify one object that would tell the story of their lives. In groups, they determine what can and cannot be told from objects left behind. After watching a video, they compare and contrast chicken bones to human...
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What's In A Name?
Young scholars explore the concept of the binomial system of nomenclature for classifying organisms. Students travel on a field trip to observe organisms displayed and their common names. Young scholars complete several classroom...
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Arthropoda Fact Sheets
Students construct classification systems based on structure of organisms.
Curated OER
All in the Family: Calculating Cousins
Students view pictures of distant "cousins" to humans. They place them in order by their distance from humans. Students receive a packet of six pages featuring graphics and a cousins summary page. They work in groups to complete 5 cousin...
Curated OER
Comparison of Human and Chimpanzee Chromosomes
Students actively engage in the careful analysis of chromosome banding patterns and identify examples of inversion in homologous chromosomes.
Curated OER
Species Diversity and Phylogeny
Students explore the classification system of organisms: taxonomy. They examine prepared slides of Protozoans and record information on a Taxonomy Recording Sheet. Two additional classifying activities are also included in this lesson.