Natural History Teacher Resources

Find Natural History lesson plans and worksheets
Showing 1,789 resources
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Instructional Video4:27
TED-Ed

The Hidden Worlds within Natural History Museums

For Students 5th - 12th Standards
Behind the closed doors of natural history museums lies a hidden world of scientific research and discovery that goes unseen for visitors. Follow along as this short video explores different scientific mysteries that have been solved...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

National Museum of Natural History

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students explore U.S. history by participating in a class field trip. In this museum activity, students attend a field trip to the Natural History Museum and identify cultural stories and art pieces they enjoy. Students collaborate in...
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Instructional Video15:39
Scholastic

The American Museum of Natural History: A Virtual Field Trip with Brian Selznick

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Author Brian Selznick takes scholars on a virtual field trip to New York City's American Museum of Natural History. Three stops to the Hall of North American Mammals, Mosquito Model, and Hall of Meteorites showcase prominent dioramas and...
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher's Guide to The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
"What should we have for dinner?" "What am I eating?" "Where did it come from?" These three questions are at the heart of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan's book provides some very...
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Instructional Video33:43
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Day the Mesozoic Died

For Students 8th - Higher Ed Standards
A dynamic, three-part feature explores what caused mass extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. Computer animations, interviews, and on-site footage from around the world divulge evidence that it was the K-T...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Readings in Hudson River Natural History

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Reading and understanding informational text is a key element to understanding every discipline. Elementary learners read three different articles focused on various animals and habitats in the Hudson River. They answer comprehension...
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Website
American Museum of Natural History

What's the Big Idea About Archeology

For Students 4th - 8th
The American Museum of Natural History offers a website sure to engage young anthropologists. Learners can dig into a site that offers an explanation of the field of archaeology, the kinds of questions archaeologists ask that launch...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Watershed Documentary

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research and produce an iMovie documentary about the human and natural history of a stream basin (watershed).
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Flower and the Fly

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
It's like a biological "Beauty and the Beast!" The fascinating mutualism between a South African meganosed fly and a deep-throated geranium builds a case study in coevolution for your biology buffs to analyze. After reading about this...
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Unit Plan
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Curated OER

Artificial Selection

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The second lesson in the series begins with a starter activity discussing wild versus domesticated animals. Then, scholars play a card game, with optional variations, to emphasize artificial selection. Next, they attend a field trip to a...
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Instructional Video8:33
American Museum of Natural History

Pondlife: Our Tiny Neighbors

For Students 6th - 12th
Three episodes explore pondlife with microbiologist Sally Warring from the American Museum of Natural History. Videos give scholars an up-close look into the microbes that live among pond scum, algae, and moss while the host offers...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social Studies Wonders: An Exploration

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Help middle schoolers conduct Internet research and develop a working definition for the discipline of social studies. From a list of websites, they develop classification skills and differentiate between primary and secondary sources....
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

DNA Detective

For Students 6th - 12th
Match up the DNA code. Pupils read the website from the American Museum of Natural History about how DNA can determine whether a skin is from a particular type of reptile. Using the same technique, learners match up products with the...
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Website
American Museum of Natural History

Up Close With a Zapotec Urn

For Students 6th - 9th
If a Zapotec urn, buried for over a thousand years in a temple in the lost city of Xoxocotlan in the Valley of Oaxaca in the mountains of southern Mexico could talk image the stories it could tell. That's the set up in a clever resource...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

El Salvador: Whose Breakfast Isn't for the Birds?

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders investigate the understanding of where coffee is grown by conducting a survey. They study the natural history of coffee and examine bird habitats in the areas where coffee is grown. They write letters to explaining the...
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

What's This? Frozen Tissue

For Students 6th - 12th
Take a peek into thousands of frozen samples. Learners try to identify an image of a piece of frozen tissue. After choosing the correct answer, scholars find out more information about the American Museum of Natural History's Frozen...
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Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Making a Field Journal

For Students 6th - 12th
Trowels and brushes are certainly important tools for an archaeologist working on a dig. Perhaps more important, however, is the archaeologist's field journal. Christina Elson, an archaeologist working with the American Museum of Natural...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Readings in Hudson River Natural History: Understanding Informational Text

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
After reading a series of informational articles regarding the Hudson River Estuary, the class will answer a series of comprehension questions. An answer key is provided but the articles and worksheets are not.
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Instructional Video12:51
Crash Course

Biology Before Darwin: Crash Course History of Science #19

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
When did biology become a proper science? Travel back in time to the evolution of natural history during part 19 in an ongoing History of Science series. Pupils discover early pioneers in the study of plants and animals, the birth of...
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Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Poetic Reflections

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...
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Instructional Video6:58
TED-Ed

A 3D Atlas of the Universe

For Students 9th - 12th
Hear a lecture by Carter Emmart, director of Astrovisualization for production and education at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. He introduces an astounding software that serves as a...
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Website
American Museum of Natural History

All About Cloning

For Students 6th - 12th
Start seeing double. The American Museum of Natural History website provides pupils with information about Dolly, the cloned sheep. Learners find out the procedure used to create Dolly along with why scientists clone animals.
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Website
American Museum of Natural History

A Whale of a Tale

For Students 6th - 12th
What's the most interesting fact about a blue whale? Learners read an interview about the similarities between the Titanosaur and the blue whale displays at the American Museum of Natural History. Pupils learn not only about blue whales...
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Interactive46:12
American Museum of Natural History

Field Trip Mars

For Students 6th - 12th
Fly around the Martian surface. Pupils view a presentation on the planet Mars featuring a flyover that shows different views of the surface where rovers have landed and explored on different missions. As individuals watch the images, the...

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