Variation Teacher Resources
Find Variation lesson plans and worksheets
Showing 65 resources
Lesson Planet Curated
Reproduction
Young biologists learn about reproduction through a four-part Nature League video series. Hosted by Britt Garner, the collection explores sexual and asexual reproduction, the importance of genetic diversity, adaptations, epigenetics, and...
Bozeman Science
LS4D - Biodiversity and Humans
Humans have both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity. A video lesson highlights important human impacts on biodiversity through examples and diagrams. The narrator provides insight to the progression of the topic from...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa
Take your biology class' understanding of biodiversity to a whole new level! Ecology scholars use data to calculate three different diversity indices based on the organisms in the Gorongosa National Park. The four-part activity uses an...
TED-Ed
Why Is Biodiversity So Important?
There are millions of plant and animal species on the planet, but why do we need so many? Follow along with this short video as it explains how biodiversity helps strengthen ecosystems, allowing them to adapt to change so that life...
Curated OER
Biodiversity
Short and sweet, this presentation introduces tiny scientists to biodiversity. They view pictures of three different dogs and four different spiders and compare their physical characteristics. Explorers are then sent outdoors to find...
Nature League
Everyday Biodiversity - Field Trip
Many pupils associate biodiversity with the rain forest or coral reefs, but there is so much more to learn. Join a virtual field trip into a pharmacy to explore the importance of biodiversity in all forms. The second video in a four-part...
Curated OER
Preserving Health Through Biological Diversity
Learners research and explore the benefits of biodiversity, particularly as it relates to human health. They write an essay in which they explain the possible effect of human activities on the emergence of new diseases.
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
Measuring Biodiversity
Students explore a few key concepts associated with measuring biodiversity. They are told that biodiversity can be measured in a number of ways. Genetic diversity is a measure of the genes represented in the sample. Ecosystem...
Michigan State University
Bug Lyphe!
Introduce ecology classes to biodiversity and interdependence in ecosystems with a PowerPoint presentation. Then, they get up-close and personal with the invertebrate world by collecting insects, classifying them, and graphing their...
ARKive
Biodiversity and Evolution
Why is diversity in biology so important for an ecosystem? Explore biodiversity, evolution, and natural selection with a presentation for your biology class. It features clear information, activities for further understanding, and...
ARKive
Biodiversity and Evolution – Darwin’s Finches
Teens experience natural selection firsthand (or first beak) in an activity that has them act as finches foraging for food. Using different household items to act as different beak styles, your little finches will collect as much...
Curated OER
Connecticut Wildlife: Biodiversity and Conservation Status of Our Vertebrate Populations
Students explore the different types of vertebrates found in their area. For this environmental science lesson, students perform a case study on the Common Raven. They analyze data collected from research and create charts and graphs.
Curated OER
Diversity in Insects
Second graders examine bug photos from across the world. In this biodiversity lesson, students use a field notebook to make observation of insect photos. The class gather on the floor to investigate a mock field of...
American Chemical Society
Why Are Birds Different Colors?
Above all else, a bird's color is what sets it apart from other birds. Learn what creates their unique plumage in an installment of a video series. The video presents the physical and chemical reasons for the variation in colors as well...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2009
Emerging ecologists need a full understanding of life, from the inner workings of a cell to the complex relationships among organisms. This examination is meant to assess high schoolers after an entire year course on the living...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2007
Environmental science enthusiasts show what they know at the end of the year by taking this full-fledged final exam. They answer multiple choice, graph interpretation, and essay analysys questions, 73 of them in all. Topics range from...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2010
This exam touches upon every topic within the typical first year biology course.. A broad variety of question styles give high schoolers every opportunity to show what they know. Why start from scratch when a comprehensive final exam is...
Curated OER
How Can We Observe Genetic Variation Within a Species?
Students observe intra-species variation by completing standard microbial streaking procedures. They collect data from which they draw observations and complete a worksheet.
Curated OER
7.012 Fall 2004 Section Self-quiz
This quiz just looks neat! It has two cell diagrams for biology class members to label. They also describe the function of each organelle. A prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell are displayed for them to compare, and then they fill in the...
NOAA
What Little Herc Saw
See the underwater world through a different pair of eyes! Middle school marine biologists identify deep-sea organisms by examining images taken by an ROV from the Okeanos Explorer. After determining what creatures lie beneath the...
Curated OER
Extinction Is Forever
Students observe models of two kinds of forests with low and high biodiversity. They observe and record the effects of habitat destruction or extinction rates. They also conduct research about mass extinction like that of the ancient...
Curated OER
Natural Selection and Evidence Worksheet
Matching and fill-in-the-blank exercises give biology whizzes a chance to practice vocabulary associated with evolution. Terms to be reviewed focus on evidence for evolution, natural selection concepts, and some genetics words. You could...
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...