Lesson Plan
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Build a Bug

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students design an ideally adapted macroinvertebrate to live in a water habitat. They illustrate their animal, name it and specify the adaptations it has that enable it to survive.
Lesson Plan
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Search for the Humpback Whale

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students work in teams to research and explore whale adaptations, behavior, migration, habitat, communication, and interactions with humans and present their findings.
Lesson Plan
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You Are Where You Live

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders observe insects in a number of habitats. They recognize which insect characteristics are adaptations to their habitats.
Lesson Plan
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It's For the Birds

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders examine how anatomical adaptations make it possible for a bird to survive in various habitats. They discuss and list birds and their unique characteristics, and create an imaginary bird, illustrating the environmental...
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Adaptable Animals

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students examine the types of adaptations that animals use to survive. They research the animals and report their findings to the class.
Lesson Plan
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Aquatic Insects: Water Quality Index & Diversity Index

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students search stream beds to study the life cycle and adaptations of stream insects. They explore creeks and streams to see the diversity index of creeks or streams and to find the water qualit index.
Lesson Plan
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Blocks And Screws (or "screwy Contrivances")

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students, given a block of wood and a screw or nail, are asked to put that screw or nail into a block. They examine how many contrivances and other imperfections found in living things are best explained by the process of evolution.
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Coloration

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students conduct an experiment picking out colored vs. camoflauged toothpicks out of the grass. They list and describe different types of coloration and explain how coloration assists the great horned owl and the striped skunk survive.
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Alligator

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create a model of an alligator out of clay using both artwork and research to guide their finished work.
Lesson Plan
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Something Fishy

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students identify and discuss the adaptive characteristics and behaviors of fish. They view slides of fish, and design and create a model of a fish of the future, listing the ways their fish adapt to survive.
Lesson Plan
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Making Models

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students make a model of their thumbs to reinforce understanding of an adaptation. This lesson is one part of a multi-segmented unit on animals and survival.
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Keeping Warm

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars create a collage investigating different strategies animals use for keeping warm. This lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on animal survival.
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Got the Whole World in My Hands

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars review factors that threaten survival of different species. this lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on animal survival.
Lesson Plan
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Animals Abound Pre/Post Assessment

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students prepare for or evaluate their experiences in learning about animal persistence. This is part of a multi-segmented unit on animal living, adaptation, and survival.
Lesson Plan
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Diversity of Life

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars explore the diversity of life forms and the role that interdependency plays in our world through a mult-segmented unit. This segment introduces the unit.
Lesson Plan
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Goals of the Diversity of Life Unit

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students are introduced to the unit on the importance of diversity of life and the role that interdependence plays in our worlds. this is part of a multi-lesson unit on the diversity of life.
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What is Diversity of Life?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students are introduced to the variety of organisms in our world. this lesson is a part of a multi-segmented unit on specie diversity. this segment explores distribution of life on land and sea.
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Kingdom Animalia

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students are introduced to the basic characteristics of the animal kingdom. this lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on the diversity of life. In this segment, students explore the the members of a few phyla of the animal kingdom.
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Tackling Taxonomy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students study physical characteristics of separate phyla and place them into similar groups. This lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on the diversity of life. students develop a classification system by grouping animals into...
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Creative Classification

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students create an animal by using physical characteristics to classify that animal in the Linnaean Classification System. This lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on the diversity of life.
Lesson Plan
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Missing Links

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Pupils change one animal group into another animal group by changing only a few body characteristics. This lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on the diversity of life. In this session, students the basis of classification.
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Diversity Debate

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students investigate the importance of dependency and diversity in a rain forest ecosystem. This lesson is part of a multi-segmented unit on the diversity of life.
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Catch Me if You Can

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders investigate behavioral and physical adaptations, such as camouflage, that allow animals to respond to life needs.
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Living in Water

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders perform a lab activity in which they examine the external structure of a preserved fish and find out why fish can survive and live in water. They perform a lab which is guided by a worksheet imbedded in this plan.