Diversity of Life

Explore the science behind Earth's amazing diversity of life with this lesson plan on genetics. Looking at specific traits in piebald deer, carnations, and roan cattle, young scientists use Punnett squares to determine the possible...

Compare various types of biological diversity in a coral reef and calculate a numeric indicator that describes the diversity found in coral communities. Your class can work in groups to look at the abundance and distribution data of...

When judging diversity of an ecosystem, both species evenness and species richness must contribute. After a discussion of diversity and a guided example using the Shannon-Weaver function, scholars use the same function on two other...

Biodiversity begins at the molecular level. When biology pupils complete this learning exercise, they will explore a variety of organic compounds that are necessary for life. Six short-answer questions and a chart of the functional...

A great review of the structure and function of carbon-based molecules important to life, especially with relevance to humans. The chemistry behind the combination of polymers and the breakdown of bonds is covered. Valuable content in...

Students delve into diverse marine ecosystems and the problems they face. They discover students the national marine sanctuaries found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and off the coast of American Samoa.

Need help putting together an uncommonly good unit about common ancestry? Check out a video that covers NGSS standard LS4A, Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity. Topics include ways to convey similarities and differences between...

Explore how DNA, genes, and proteins are tied together to make life. Scholars learn about the central dogma, connecting DNA, which is inherited, to RNA and then to proteins, all which make the diversity of life today. 

Information is provided on Gray's Reef, Florida Keys, and Flower Garden Banks marine sanctuaries. Young marine biologists then visit the FishBase and REEF databases to collect fish species information for each location. They then...

Hidden hundreds of feet above the ground in the redwoods of Northern California is a whole world that was just waiting to be discovered. This video tells the story of Stephen Sillett who, inspired by his grandmother, set out to explore...