Curated OER
Finding, Gathering, Saving Seeds
Young scholars understand the importance of saving seeds. In this saving seeds lesson, students dry out seeds for later use planting. Young scholars recognize that one plant may have many seeds.
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Arctic Smorgasbord
Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...
Curated OER
Stomata: Microscopic Openings that Let Plants Breathe
Learners participate in a lab experiment to observe and measure the opening and closing of stomata. They focus on photoperiod, locate and identify stomata on a leaf and explain the role of stomata in the daily functioning of a plant.
Curated OER
Salt, Soil and Seeds
Students investigate seed growth by experimenting with different soils. In this ecology lesson, students plant seeds in paper cups and add differing amounts of salt to enhance the growth process. Students record which plants will grow...
Curated OER
What If There's No Light?
students discuss the importance of light and the consequences of living without it. Using a plant as a demonstration, students predict and observe what happens to a plant when it does not receive enough light. In groups, they experiment...
Curated OER
A Tour Down the Hudson River
Students discuss how the Hudson River is an ecosystem made up of both biotic and abiotic factors. They view the PowerPoint the Journal Down the Hudson River. Students become aware of where the Hudson River begins and ends, the plant and...
Curated OER
Invasives and Marsh Birds
Students are taught that invasive plant removal can have a variety of impacts. They are shown this by using graphs. Students view maps of vegetation change on Iona Island. They discuss implications of changes on marsh birds using data...
Curated OER
CONNECTIONS
Young scholars study the interdependence of an ecosystem that allows it to sustain itself. They examine the Western lowland gorillas for an example.
Curated OER
Forest Succession
Students research environmental change and why forests cannot stay the same for long. In this environmental growth lesson, students discuss the life cycle of a tree and examine tree cookies to discover the age of these specimens....
Curated OER
Population Growth
Students grow duckweed, observe what happens when an organism population is allowed to grow without predation or competition, view videos about invasive species, and develop a proposal for controlling the growth of an invasive species in...
Curated OER
Biomes
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.
Curated OER
Why is a salt marsh important?
Students discuss the salt marsh. They define the following terms: habitat, water, land and air. Students work in small groups. They are asked why are they going to a salt marsh? Students discuss whose habitat is it at the salt marsh.
Curated OER
Creating a Food Web
Young scholars investigate hunters and prey by creating a food web. In this animal life lesson, students investigate a single organism in preparation for a field trip, discovering its diet and habitat. Young scholars each discuss their...
Curated OER
Field Trip to the Watsonville Wetlands
Students explore the differences between food webs and food chains. In this wetland lesson plan students play a food web game and go on a scavenger hunt.
Curated OER
Pea Soup Ponds
Students perform an experiment where they learn how water can be polluted by algal bloom. They grow algae with different concentrations of fertilizers or nutrients and analyze their results.
Curated OER
Protecting Our Planet
Students examine the impact of pollution. In this pollution lesson plan, students watch Protecting Our Planet, then participate in a simulation of the effect of pollution on a variety of organisms.
Curated OER
Lesson: Living With the Farm Next Door
Discuss with learners why farms are growing in size and why there is sometimes conflict between farmers and their non-farming neighbors. Read the article, "Living With the Farm Next Door," and then craft letters to the editor from the...
Curated OER
Species and Specimens: Exploring Local Biodiversity
Students practice skills essential to all scientific investigation: carefully observing and collecting data. They become field biologists in a series of hands-on activities to collect and identify specimens, and survey and calculate the...
Curated OER
Science: Her-bariums Galore!
Students collect and identify plant species and construct herbariums both at school and at home. By gathering data from both locales, they draw conclusions and make predictions about plant diversity. Upon completion of the exercises,...
Curated OER
Pocket Full of Posies: Ceramics
After studying the plant or flower life cycle, have the class create a basket of flowers out of clay. They hone their ceramics skills while they push, pull, then paint clay to look like flowers they've seen in nature. There are several...
Serendip
Changing Biological Communities – Disturbance and Succession
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...
Curated OER
Speedy Succession
Fifth graders identify how a pond can change into a grassland. An ecosystems activity where learners identify pioneer and climax species, and recognize that ecological succession can take up to 100 years or more. Some excellent...
Curated OER
Big Fleas Have Little Fleas
A benthic habitat hosts a vast collection of organisms and its structure influences the biodiversity. Middle-school marine biology explorers will discuss how corals impact structure, and therefore diversity, on the ocean floor. They draw...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lesson 7: Observations Across Habitats
How are animals in separate but nearby habitats related? Ecology scholars compare the animal inhabitants of the Gorongosa National Park in part seven of an eight-part series. Learners study photos from two different habitats, then...