Curated OER
Taking Count of Biodiversity
Here is a well-designed lesson on biodiversity that should intrigue your charges. In it, pupils compare a natural desert area to a school field to see how habitat destruction affects species diversity. Groups set up transects and collect...
Rainforest Alliance
Colombia Biodiversity
How diverse is the rainforest? How much more diverse is a rain forest than a temperate forest? Explore these focus questions in a lesson that explores the plants, animals, and insects in forests. After listening to a reading...
Curated OER
Biodiversity
Fifth graders visit the playground to look for signs of life. They search for insects, birds, animal tracks, feathers, nests, trees, soil, etc. They then compose a class list that shows all findings in the schoolyard and post it in the...
Curated OER
Wildlife Variety Show: Biodiversity In Illinois
Eighth graders write a short report in first person about any plant or animal found on a list of Illinois species. They become the character of the plant or animal and give a short report describing the plant or animal.
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...
Curated OER
Insect Monitoring
Students participate in an interactive lesson using the scientific method to study biodiversity. In this insect monitoring lesson, students simulate the layers of soil and the insects that would live there. Students design...
Curated OER
Insect Monitoring
Students practice the scientific method in the classroom, either in preparation or as a substitution for real-world field experience. They examine a simulated biodiversity research situation, using a "mini-plot" or
sampling square...
Curated OER
Diversity in Insects
Second graders examine bug photos from across the world. In this biodiversity instructional activity, students use a field notebook to make observation of insect photos. The class gather on the floor to investigate a...
Michigan State University
Bug Lyphe!
Introduce ecology classes to biodiversity and interdependence in ecosystems with a PowerPoint presentation. Then, they get up-close and personal with the invertebrate world by collecting insects, classifying them, and graphing their...
Curated OER
School Forest
Sixth graders explore the concept of biodiversity. In this biodiversity activity, 6th graders discover a variety of planets and animals that live in forests, and how a rotting log benefits that environment. Students also...
Curated OER
Looking for Biodiversity
Students explore habitats and see that there are a variety of plants that can be found and that biodiversity is an important characteristic. In this biodiversity lesson students complete an activity that explains how to perform a...
Curated OER
Insect Biodiversity
Students observe the process of transect sampling using insect nets, to get a chance to compare the presence of different species and populations in various vegetational areas. They study the different specimens caught and compare their...
Curated OER
Biodiversity
Students investigate the diversity of temperate forests and tropical rainforests. They catch and observe local insects, sort leaves and insects on a chart, listen to the book "A Walk in the Rainforest," and create a class bar graph that...
Curated OER
Insect Biodiversity
High schoolers examine biodiversity by conducting comparative biodiversity surveys. They conduct Internet research to identify insects that they have caught in two different habitats, and compare the biodiversity of the two areas.
Curated OER
Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Students discuss biodiversity and how to preserve it before examining biodiversity first-hand in an area close to their school. They collect as many leaves as possible from trees and plants and research them when upon returning to the...
Curated OER
Spot Identification of Some of the Most Common Insect Orders
Young scholars investigate the basic characteristics of insect orders and develop short-cut techniques to identify insects into twelve of the most common orders. They use captured specimens and photographs to practice identification and...
Curated OER
Biodiversity
Students are challenged to examine the diversity of their own forest and make comparisons to a tropical rainforest. By exploring and grouping tree and insect types in their local forest, students will develop an understanding of diversity.
Curated OER
Missing Macroinvertebrates - Stream Side Science
Field study groups collect samples of stream water and identify the macroinvertebrates found. Using their data, they calculate a water quality index to rate the health of the stream. They graph their data and discuss the value of a water...
Curated OER
Identifying Insects
Students collect samples of insects and identify them. They evaluate water conditions that causes species to be found in streams and listen to sounds of water through music. Next, they respond to the music and discuss their reactions.
Curated OER
Summer: Getting the Bugs Out
Students study biodiversity while examining insects. They research insects that already exist and how they adapt to their environment.
Curated OER
BioKeys
Young scholars identify insect (and plant) specimens using the online resource Biokeys. They record the data that they collect in their notebooks. Students use identification characteristics and features that are shared and unique...
Curated OER
Aquatic Insects: Water Quality Index & Diversity Index
Students search stream beds to study the life cycle and adaptations of stream insects. They explore creeks and streams to see the diversity index of creeks or streams and to find the water qualit index.
Curated OER
Prairie Restoration and Prairie Ecology
Students collect data as they identify and classify native prairie plants and insects. They create their own population study using a variety of sampling techniques to determine the population density of various species. Students...
Curated OER
Relating Number of Insect Species to Water Quality
Students are asked to respond to questions such as:" Have there been surveys of the area to inventory the species?" (For example, for a wetland area, do they know what amphibians live there and how abundant they are?) Are there any...