Rapid Ecological Assessment

How does your lifestyle measure up in terms of your ecological footprint? Young ecologists examine their impact on the planet using an insightful online calculator. A short quiz asks users to rank the size of their homes, their energy...

Learners explore, experience and experiment identifying the human impact on the environment of vegetative differences within the same biome. They assess what causes deserts, rain forests, savannahs, tundras and saguaros and how these...

Use science to solve the mystery of the Poplar murder. Pupils use forensic botany to determine if a suspect could be the killer. By analyzing images from a Transmission Electron Microscope, learners determine if the material found on the...

Gardeners are given an individual plant specimen from a bouquet of local rain garden plants. They group up by their plant type and then make observations together, name the plant, and introduce it to the rest of the class. You then share...

Keep an eye on the growth of your sixth graders' reading and writing skills with the help of this practice Common Core assessment. Working their way through the six included fiction and nonfiction reading passages, learners answer a...

Students explore variety of plants & cacti in their Arizona community by collecting samples and taking photographs. Can be adapted to other areas.

Pupils conduct an ecological assessment of a small area on school property. They inventory plant and animal life of a sample area and make calculations to determine implications for a larger area.

Students examine and categorize plants in their own schoolyard desert garden and then observe other plant areas of their schoolyard.

Learners conduct a simulation to explore how scientists estimate the size of animal populations. They analyze a random sample and then extrapolate those results to a larger population. Additionally, they will apply the principals of...

Do you have a pond in your backyard? While typically used for recreational or aesthetic purposes, ponds actually provide a habitat for several species. Identify some of the benefits aquatic plants have on pond ecosystems, and learn small...