Science Matters
Formative Assessment #3
Thirteen short-answer questions follow a brief food web activity in a formative assessment designed to test knowledge of ecosystems and the energy that flows through them.
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Climate Change Impacts on Blue King Crabs
Carbon dioxide is not only causing global temperatures to increase, it causes the oceans to become more acidic. Lesson focuses on the blue king crab and the fragility of the habitat due to climate change. Scholars create a concept map...
American Museum of Natural History
Cuban Wildlife Matching Game
Young biologists match Cuban wildlife to their ecosystems by dragging images of the creatures to either a forest, coral reef, cave, or wetland habitat.
Curated OER
Ecosystem Interactions in Refuges
Seventh graders, using national parks as models, illustrate the energy flow in ecosystems. Working in groups, they use murals, flow charts, or other visual displays to record their findings. Students represent the food chains and webs...
Curated OER
The Island Biogeography of Isle Royale, South Manitou Island and Pelee Island
Learners study the species that live on islands in Lake Erie of the coast of Michigan. They examine the influence of human activites on the change in these biomes as they complete lessons on the islands biogeography.
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2009
Emerging ecologists need a full understanding of life, from the inner workings of a cell to the complex relationships among organisms. This examination is meant to assess high schoolers after an entire year course on the living...
Curated OER
Diversity Ecosystems
Learners work in teams to characterize their biomes and compare them to the biomes of the rest of the class. In this biomes lesson plan, students complete a bean activity, relate it to the diversity in biomes, and then research and...
Curated OER
Hawaii's Freshwater Ecosystems
Students examine brackish water. In this Science lesson, students observe organisms found in brackish water. Students record their observations of the various organisms.
Virginia Department of Education
Succession
The final lesson in a two-part series prompts scholars to create newspaper articles and succession events. Applying their knowledge of the ecosystem and the past examples of succession, they predict what will happen in the future using...
Curated OER
Understanding Cause and Effect
Young scholars experience and study cause and effect as they assess the consequences man faces when time travel is attempted. They determine, in their imaginations, what time period they would like to visit. Each student then listens to,...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Modeling Trophic Cascades
In the ecological game of who eats who, one small change can have a big impact! Individuals create food chains in an array of ecosystems, then determine what happens to organisms in the chain when one organism changes its feeding...
ARKive
Adaptations to Arid Habitats
How do plants and animals survive in habitats with very little water? Explore arid ecosystems and the way their inhabitants have adapted with a activity and science experiment. After kids listen to a presentation about adaptation, they...
Moanalua Gardens Foundation
The Mystery of Rapa Nui
What caused the collapse of the environment on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)? Who constructed the Moai? What was their purpose? Class members assume the role of investigators and use evidence drawn from field studies, ships' logs, and...
Curated OER
Investigative Case - "Rio Grande Wildlife Refuge"
Students study wildlife management as it relates to ecological principles and whole systems. They role play professional ecologists working for the fish and wildlife service to develop a plan to manage a new wildlife refuge along the Rio...
Curated OER
Friend, Foe, or . . .
As a result of this lesson, upper elementary ocean explorers will be able to describe several interrelationships: symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. They learn that the biological richness is increased near seamounts and...
Curated OER
Protecting Philippine Reefs
Students watch a slide show about the Philippine Reefs to explore the topic of fish populations. In this reef and fish population lesson, students watch a slide show about fish populations and how the Peace Corps works with Filipinos to...
Curated OER
Water Issues on Puerto Rico and Oahu: A Comparison of Two Islands
Fifth graders explore how the tow islands receive and use fresh water. They also address some of the threats to the fresh water supply on each island. Students explore the lesson objectives through water cycle models and experiments.
Curated OER
Ecosystems: Can I Help?
Students study how some activities effect the environment and ecosystems.
Curated OER
Failing Ecosystems: Haiti and the Caribbean
Ninth graders study the impact that climate has on the land. They discuss how deforestation leads to erosion and soil damage and how trees and vegetation help to stabilize the land. They draw a large map of the Caribbean and show Haiti...
Curated OER
Forest Canopies: View from the Top
Learners examine the economic and ecological benefits of forest canopies. They read and discuss an article, answer questions, conduct research, draw field sketches of a canopy ecosystem, conduct a feasibility study, or prepare tourist...
Curated OER
Geographic Landforms
Each slide is a simple notebook page with one landform in blue and its definition in red. There are 26 vocabulary terms in all, some you may want to use, and others easily hidden. It is recommended that you add photos or other graphic...
Curated OER
What's Down There?
Investigate the coral reefs around Mokolai Island, Hawaii by researching and writing about improving the reef ecosystem. Learners map threats to the ecosystem and use the list of key words to assist in their descriptions
Curated OER
Coral Reefs
Students research an inhabitant of a Caribbean coral reef using a list of common organisms that live on or near it. Students then write a description of their organism and draw a picture or a 3-D model of it. Eventually they all work...
Curated OER
Biological Diversity and Conservation
In this biological diversity worksheets, students will use a word bank to fill in the blank of 8 statements about biological diversity. Then students will decided if 7 statements about the importance of biodiversity are true or false....