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Food Webs
Students recognize interdependence in a food web by using yarn and notecards to create a food web and discussing what would happen if one of the organisms from a certain trophic level is removed.
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Eyes on the Estuaries
Students study estuaries and compare several ones in the U.S. In this estuary lesson students interpret data and compare the distribution of different species.
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Eco-Logical: A Coastal Logic Problem
Fourth graders study the characteristics of five coastal communities. They use logic cards and matching activities to identify the proper community for plant and animal species.
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Invasive Aquatic Plant Identification
Students observe aquatic plants and animals and identify their systems. For this plants and animals lesson plan, students compare systems of organisms and orally express how plants and animals rely on each other.
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I See a Coyote
Students role-play coyotes looking for natural resources. In this natural resources lesson, students examine the relationship between animal life and the environment. Students play a game that demonstrates how natural...
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The Delicate Balance within a Forest Ecosystem
Students examine the causes and effects of alterations in a forest ecosystem and evaluate how human actions may only seem to have minor consequences, but can lead to extinctions of large numbers of populations. Students produce an...
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Compost and Composting Experiments
Students investigate the composting process through a variety of experiments. In this ecology lesson, students discuss the benefits of composting. They examine how compost affect plant growth.
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Fish and Flowers
Students read and discuss a research article that explains the unlikely link between increased fish populations and increased plant pollination. They answer reading guide questions to discover this ecological relationship.
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Flowering Phenology: How Do Plants Know When to Flower?
Students study the process of plant reproduction and the biotic and abiotic factors that affect flowering phenology. In this plant reproduction activity, students describe the interaction of environmental factors as it relates to...
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Scavenger Hunt: A Group Collection
Students be complete a collection of living organisms and systems from the school campus.
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Insect Biology and Ecology: A Primer
Students explore insects and closely related organisms. They examine the growth and development of a lady beetle. Students classify insects and organize them. They investigate pest management.
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Saving the Bay
Students investigate water pollution prevention. In this ecology wastewater lesson, students activate prior knowledge about sewage, then view a video explaining the waste water sewage system used in the San Francisco Bay area. Students...
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Integrated Pest Management
Students investigate the different methods used in integrated pest management. In this biology lesson plan, students evaluate experiments and case studies on IPM. They discuss the pros and cons of using this method.
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Succession and Microclimate
Young scholars compare the population of insects in different microclimates. In this biology lesson, students collect data using probes to tabulate temperature and soil data. They predict how certain parameters change as an area...
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Saving Habitat
Students pick an animal native to Maryland and research how populations of that animal might be affected by land use changes over the past thirty years. They predict population trends for the next thirty years.
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Energy Crisis and Energy Alternatives
In this energy crisis and energy alternatives worksheet, students fill in the blanks of sentences when given terms related to the environment, the energy crisis, renewable resources and non-renewable resources.
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Food Chains and Webs
For this food chains worksheet, learners identify the producers and consumers in the given food chains and describe how contaminants can biologically accumulate. This worksheet has 4 short answer questions.
Forest Foundation
Waste Not - Want Not
Recycling is the focus in the sixth of a nine-instructional activity series devoted to forest ecosystems. Class members read an article about the responsible use of natural resources and ways to reduce land fill.
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Praire Biome Models
Fifth graders, in groups, list the physical characteristics of a biome and think of ways in which animals might have to adapt to live there and make a biome mobile ball that show the different types of habitats that shape the praire biome.
California Academy of Science
Conservation Island
Why not walk in the footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt and become a conservationist? After discussing issues and reasons for animal extinction, the class creates their own conservation plans. Each small group is given mock data regarding a...
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Boom and Bust in the Ozark Forests
Here is a hard-hitting, cross-curricular lesson on the effects that the deforestation of the Ozark forests in the 19th century had on the people, animals, and ecosystems of the area. The Dr. Seuss book The Lorax is used as a way of...
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Physiological Adaptations
Students investigate the concepts of genetics and how it is tied to the variations found within different species and how it is tied to adaptations. They review the theory of evolution and factors found to help create variation. The...
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U.S. History: Antebellum Heroes and Villains
Eighth graders research and write reports on key figures of the Antebellum Period. The projects also include pictures, bibliographies, and timelines about their assigned figure. In addition, 8th graders present oral reports to classmates.
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Zoo Poo
Students use Internet research to determine the amount of carbon dioxide produced per unit energy for biomass and coal. In this alternative energy lesson, students research to find out how much energy and carbon dioxide several coal and...