Michigan State University
Friend or Foe?
What one person thinks is a pest may not be a pest to someone else. Here, scholars examine the characteristics of living things and pests through grand conversation and a variety of activities. Class members play a game of pest or not a...
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Creating a Pollinator Garden
Students build a pollination garden. In this pollination lesson, students read directions and build a pollinator garden that will produce flowering plants for pollinator organisms to use in pollination of other plants.
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Sponge Painting
Sponge painting is a technique that is fun for learners of all ages and it can be adapted to fit a variety of skill levels and subjects. Here, little ones use sponges and paint to make geometric patterns. Tip: Sponges can be cut into...
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Watch Them Grow
Students explore the growth of plants and animals. Through research and observation, students create a habitat for specific plans and animals. As a group, they examine the similarities and differences of living things. Students identify...
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Cells: Structures and Processes
Students explore the basic unit of life, the cell in this nine lessons unit. The cell structure of animal and plant cell functions and how they affect our world are probed in this unit.
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Biodiversity in an Estuary
High schoolers investigate the biodiversity in estuaries. In this estuary lesson plan, students use Google Earth to explore the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. They produce a biodiversity concept map and portray the life...
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Nature Superfish
Students study the behavior or ocean animals called billfish. In this life science lesson, students create their own documentary about a local animal. They share their videos with the entire school.
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Goals of the Diversity of Life Unit
Students are introduced to the unit on the importance of diversity of life and the role that interdependence plays in our worlds. this is part of a multi-lesson unit on the diversity of life.
National Wildlife Federation
Pollinator's Journey: Grades 9-12
Gain a deeper understanding of migratory pollinators. After studying about pollinators and their effects on flowering plants, learners hear a story about the migration of Monarch butterflies and bats in the Sonoma Desert. Small groups...
National Park Service
Subalpine Web
The theory of keystone species in an ecosystem was first established in 1969 by Robert T. Paine. Pupils open the final lesson in a five-part series with a game guessing which member of the alpine ecosystem they are based on clues. After...
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Who lives with Mallard?
Students explore how all living things have needs that are obtained from their surroundings. They identify the surroundings where an animal or plant lives is its habitat. Students identify that a habitat is a community of living and...
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Beaver Ecology
Students explore the lives of bgeahvers. They identify the physical and behavioral adaptations that help beavers survive in their environment. Students compare and contrast how beavers influence the ecology of both forest and aquatic...
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Winter
Students examine how animals adapt to the harsh New England winter. They discuss articles they have read on the subject.
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Habitats and Deep Sea Environments
Young scholars examine and identify the characteristics of the four zones of the ocean. They discover the amount of diversity in marine habitats. They also explore the adaptations organisms have that have allowed them to survive.
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Cell Structure and Function
Students identify the main ideas of different cell theories. Using a microscope, they compare and contrast the structures and functions of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. They also compare and contrast animal and plant cells and complete...
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Rain Reasons
Students explore how climatic factors influence the growth of plants. They create an experiment to find how variations in water, light, and temperature affect plant growth and describe how precipitation and geography can affect the...
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Critter Museum
Students act as directors of a new science museum where they have decided to set up a display of animals without backbones that are found in the area. To organize their display, they need to sort and classify a collection of animals and...
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Edible Soil
Students model the soils layers using Oreo's. In this lesson students use their favorite food items to create a model of soil layers. A discovery lesson from a youth camp is adapted for classroom modeling and discussion of soil...
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Ecosystems and Climate
Students examine climatic effects on ecosystems. They plant tomatoes and observe the differences in plant growth with differences in light. They create picture collages of plants, animals, and insects found in each climate of the U.S.
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Wild Animal Science
Learners discover how environmental factors impact the survival of a population. In this landscape design lesson, students create a new animal and discuss the relationship between the animal and its environment before creating a habitat...
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Our Lives and the Four Seasons
Students compare and contrast the four seasons. Using this information, they determine the plant, animal and environmental activities that can be enjoyed in each season. They discuss why the seasons must change and how humans adapt to them.
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Natural Selection And Evolution
Middle schoolers investigate the concept of evolution and how natural selection is used as an indicator that evolution has happened. They recognize the three effects it has on diversity and how adaptations can develop. Diversity is...
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Design a Pollinator
Pupils make a scientific drawing of a pollinator with at least five traits that make them well adapted to a given plant(s). They describe in their science notebook the adaptations that make their pollinator well suited to a given plant.
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Critters of the Water
Students examine different organisms in various marine habitats. They identify any adaptations that have allowed the organisms to survive. They develop an imaginary organism and describe its life cycle.