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Ecology
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...
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Desert Plant Detectives
Students examine and categorize plants in their own schoolyard desert garden and then observe other plant areas of their schoolyard.
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Schoolyard Jungle: What's Out There?
Eighth graders create a plant study guide using their outdoor classroom environment. For this ecology lesson, 8th graders take photographs of plants they collect from the outdoor classroom and create plant field guides. Students design...
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Choose The Appropriate Graph
Fifth graders work in groups to investigate the proper use of a graph during a schoolyard ecology project. The challenge of the project is for students to choose the proper form of a graph. They gather data and conduct analysis with the...
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Schoolyard Tree Inventory and Biodiversity Project
Students investigate the trees in their schoolyard by collecting data. Â In this ecosystem instructional activity students examine the schoolyard in sections, tagging and numbering trees and shrubbery in the specific area. Â Students...
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Scavenger Hunt
Students explore area around schoolyard by participating in scavenger hunt, examine things that live there, such as noxious weeds, develop observation skills by using five senses, and find and identify ten to fifteen local, natural objects.
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Where's the Drip?
Students detect water leaks. In this water conservation ecology lesson, students take a tour of the school grounds and identify sources of water and possible leaks. Students report leaks to the custodian and administration.
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Field Guide to Schoolyard Insects and Their Relatives
Sometimes all you need to complete your perfect lesson plan is an awesome hands-on learning experience. Here is an extension activity that is sure to excite your learners. They'll head outside to observe the local insect community. When...
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Curriculum Activities: Ecological Concepts
Students explore a variety of microclimates to develop an awareness of why organisms live where they do. Moisture, time of day, land cover, and temperature form the basic concepts of this investigation.
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Field Guide to Schoolyard Insects and Their Relatives
Your entire class works together to create an illustrated insect field guide. The intent is that they venture outside of the classroom, find a critter, and then research it using reference materials, insect books, and the Internet for...
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Signs of Change: Tree Rings
Students identify and experiment with dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in their...
National Wildlife Federation
Watershed Web: A Field Trip
Observing plant succession doesn't have to be a decade long process. A hands-on lesson has groups study succession over a designated space. Learners use their observation skills to record differences in plant and soil characteristics in...
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Exploring Ecosystems
Young scholars examine the relationships between plants, animals, and the environment in ecosystems. They sort animal cards, collect natural materials from the schoolyard, and record an ecosystem web in the form of a poster.
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Biodiversity: El Imposible National Park, El Salvador
Fifth graders explore the concept of how the more diverse an ecosystem is, the more interdependence of species exists within that system. The complex relationships among diverse species are difficult to identify. As species disappear or...
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My Giving Tree
Middle schoolers identify native and invasive trees. In this ecology lesson, students survey trees in their schoolyard and identify the species. Middle schoolers adopt a native tree sprout and record the growth in a journal.
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FLY HIGH!!!
Students create their own bird study in their own schoolyard using the scientific method (see Testing a Hypothesis in Join the Project). Students do research in the library, at a local college, or on the Internet to determine the...
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Runoff: Intro to Watersheds
Students are taught that a watershed is, what types of basic land cover are impermeable and permeable to water. They trace the flow of water around their school and around their home. Students determine what watershed their school is a...
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Pharaoh Mountain Hike: Investigating Adirondack Life Zones
Students hike a local mountain and examine its life zones. They measure various components at each zone and collect leaf litter at the sites. At the mountain top, students make descriptive observations and complete a handout about the...
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Finding, Gathering, Saving Seeds
Students understand the importance of saving seeds. In this saving seeds lesson, students dry out seeds for later use planting. Students recognize that one plant may have many seeds.
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Language Arts: Ode to the Ordinary
Eighth graders select ordinary objects, determine their uses, and write poems about them. Once they select an object, they create a web about its uses to serve as an outline. Once they have written their own odes, 8th graders meet in...
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Exploring Microclimates
Students compare the land cover and temperatures in different microclimates to begin to explain why organisms live where they do. While exploring microclimates, students record temperature readings and detailed observations.
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Plant Diversity and Distribution
Students construct a defined plot on school grounds and observed patterns in plant life. They count trees, shrubs, cacti and record on a data sheet. They compare data and generate a plant diversity overlook for their school.