Curated OER
Environmental Exchange Box
Students examine the characteristics of their own environment and compare them to another region. They prepare a box filled with items and stories about their own region, exchange the box with another class in another region, and...
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Changing Planet: Sea Levels Rising
Begin by showing a six-minute video, Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level as an anticipatory set. Pupils draw a topographic map of a potato continent. Finally, they will visit NOAA's sea levels online map and NASA's carbon dioxide...
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Skull Science
What can your class learn from a skull? With proper facilitation, they can learn about diet, physical adaptations, special differences, and even the environment. Pupils will examine a series of mammal skulls and pelts to help them...
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Long Island Beach Life
Have your class learn about marine life through this resource. This comprehensive lesson has learners discuss marine life, learn key vocabulary, discuss environmental concerns, and play games related to migration and predator/prey...
Prince William Network
The Incredible Journey
Divide your school gym into breeding grounds and non-breeding grounds so that your zoologists can play a game simulating the seasonal migration of shorebirds. Players pick one of the included game cards and follow its directions, which...
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Our World A Complex Eco-system
Sixth graders set up an ecosystem, investigate conservation techniques, develop an action plan for conservation, and various other activities to explore the ecosystem.
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The Gulf of Maine
Learners examine their own environments and make connections to larger ecosystems. They watch a video about the gulf of Maine and record the changes that have occurred. They research the gulf and create a food web.
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Discovering the Oasis
Students focus on the types of vegetation and animal life living around local water sources. This lesson can be adapted to any local water source, whether it be a lake, a river, stream or ocean. It has a particular focus on the bird...
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Rain Gardens for Controlling Excess Runoff
Students address the idea that human beings live within the world' ecosystems. They discuss how humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, technology, and consumption. Students discuss how the human destruction of...
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National Parks in Atlantic Canada
Tenth graders research and discuss factors that have an effect on the sustainability of national park ecosystems in Canada. They examine changes in thinking that have led to new park management practices.
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Teeter Totter
Students explore the two types of spotted sandpipers. They create a puppet show using the spotted sandpiper from Puerto Rico and the spotted sandpiper from Alaska. Students research the habitats of the two sandpipers.
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Introduction to Simulation Project
Learners create a simulated self-sustaining ecosystem. In this biology lesson, students examine the different food chain and ecosystems in their model. They recommend some improvements and changes to an existing ecosystem.
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My Life as a Loggerhead
Learners discuss the current flow of the Gulf Stream and the characteristics of the Sargasso Sea. They visit websites to gather information on loggerhead sea turtles. Students imagine that they are newly hatched loggerhead turtles.
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Land Use
Students examine ecosystems that covered Illinois 200 years ago, investigate some living and non-living components of ecosystems, identify components of prairie system, create food webs, and observe human effects on environment. Lessons...
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A Living Watershed
Students, through this series of lessons, use local resources, speakers, print and video materials, as well as standard text materials to study the ecosystem of the local watershed.
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The Effect of Medications on Daphnia
Students explore how human beings affect the world's ecosystem by examining the affects of medication on daphnia, a small freshwater organism very sensitive to pollution. Students use a computer model to repeat the experiment and analyze...
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How Many Bears in the Forest?
Third graders model the tag and recapture of bears and use proportions to estimate the population of the bears in their forest. This is a statistical sampling method used by scientists and naturalists to determine population numbers.
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Forest Management
Students explore the changes in the Sequoia forest ecosystem. They evaluate reasons for the changes and discuss opposing views of human activity, logging and fire management practices. Students observe a video, describe the location of...
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Mussel Movements
Learners consider the impact of invasive species on local environments. In this ecology instructional activity, watch the video, Arizona Wildlife Views, which focuses on invasive species. Students develop vocabulary, relate to meaningful...
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Unit on Globalization and the Environment
Twelfth graders analyze issues affecting ecosystems. They examine the relationships between members of the international comunity. They also examine the concept of sustainable development.
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Wildlife Sampling-Capture-Recapture
Seventh graders simulate the capture-recapture method of population sampling using beans. In this biology lesson, 7th graders calculate the total population of beans in the bowl. They assess whether this method is reliable or not.
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Vocabulary: Kansas Prairies
Students explore the ecosystem by reviewing scientific vocabulary terms. In this environmental awareness lesson, students identify the differences between abiotic and biotic factors and their relationship to the Earth. Students define...
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A Coastal Arctic Food Web
Students create a food web of the arctic ecosystem. In this biology lesson, students explain how global warming affects this ecosystem. They explain how losing a species affects the entire community.
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Bird airport control
Students identify the various species of birds found in the wetlands. Students observe and record the key skills involved in scientific inquiry. Students handle and interpret data gathered on a field trip which reveals patterns and...