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Life is Weird
Separate your science class into small groups and assign each a specific deep-sea organism to research. The class will learn about all of the organisms as each group presents their assigned animal. Following their presentations, you can...
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How Diverse is That?
After reviewing biodiversity, learners work in small groups to analyze actual species distribution data. They learn to calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for different communities. Though not particularly engaging, the content...
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Urban Ecosystems 2: Why are There Cities? A Historical Perspective
Second in a series of five lessons, this lesson encourages preteens to consider cities as urban ecosystems. First, they keep a food diary for a few days. They visit the Natrional Agricultural Statistics Service website for current data...
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Disney's Animal World Part 2: That's My Baby
Students see that baby animals go through different stages of growth during their life, just as people do. They use the downloadable Cyberlesson Worksheet to reinforce what they have learned about animals and their offspring.
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Whale Migration - The Long Journey
Marine biology learners examine right whale sighting data from the WhaleNet website. They plot the data on a map and write down the number of adults and calves spotted. Questions accompany the data analysis activity, making this a...
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Waste Management
Four different activities focus on the amount of trash generated and how humans can better manage waste. Learners analyze two days' worth of household garbage, test materials for biodegradability, and rate recyclability of various...
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Animals Word Search Puzzle
To make the classic word search more challenging and academic, this animal-terms puzzle has scholars solving clues to determine the words they find. Fifteen clues give detailed definitions of biology terms such as carnivore, reptile,...
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Introducing Ideas about Inheritance
Is it nature or nurture? In an easily adaptable kinesthetic activity to introduce genetics, learners group themselves based on a variety of categories. They will quickly find that some characteristics are easy to put in order, while...
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Iron Fertilization - Pumping Iron
The theory that adding iron to ocean water may increase phytoplankton ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is examined. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is monitoring conditions off the California coast to...
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Water 1: Water and Ice
Students investigate water in its solid and liquid form. In this states of matter instructional activity, students experiment to see what happens as water goes from a solid, ice, to a liquid, water, and back again. They write about and...
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Our Universe: Designed or Evolved?
Students brainstorm and write arguments for Evolution and Intelligent Design. They research the history of each of these ideas. They also examine the controversy of teaching one or both ideas in schools.
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Wild Kingdom
Students research and discuss the natural habitats and various evolutionary theories of giraffes and other animals imported into ancient Rome.
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WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS A ZEBRA?
Young scholars read the essay, "What, If Anything, Is a Zebra?" following a teacher made reading guide. They investigate cladistics, shared derived characteristics, with further online research to enhance their study of evolution and...
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Bringing Up Birdy
Students explore biology by creating diagrams of animal life cycles. In this baby bird lesson, students view video clips of birds being born from incubation to flying on their own. Students utilize the Internet to research birds and...
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Show 303: New Research into Dyslexia
Students explore the causes of dyslexia. They view CT sans and MRIs to view the brain and how it responds. Students read reports about dyslexia. They discuss the nature of dyslexia, its cause, how to diagnose it, and its permanency.
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Plants of the Past
Fourth graders explore ecosystems by examining plants of the past. They discuss ways in which we interact with plants in our daily lives. Students discuss the role plants play in providing food for animals and the significance they had...
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The Science of HIV
Young scholars research about the characteristics of HIV. In this biology lesson, students cite ways to prevent AIDS especially among uninformed teens. They plan a community awareness campaign targeting teens.
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Introducting the Concept of Medical Ecology
Tenth graders examine the effects of the breakout of the West Nile Virus. They make predictions on its origin. They develop and present an action plan to stop the virus from spreading.
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Creating the "Perfect" Horse
Students examine the relationship between a horse and its rider. In this behavior and interactions lesson students research the Internet to learn about horse behavior and biology then write a paper and present it to the class.
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Exploring Evolution Lesson Plans
There are evolution lesson plans that can help teachers get past the controversy to increase student understanding of natural selection.
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From Wolf to Dog
Students explain how dogs evolved from wolves based on the video. In this biology activity, students research about breeding animals for specific traits. They interview dog owners and create a presentation about the dog.
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Flightless Birds and Scientific Research
Learners study the work done by various scientists on Antarctica. In this biology lesson, students play the role of researchers who must justify the importance of their study. They create a multimedia presentation about a specific issue...
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Giraffe Riff Raff
Students study the effects of wildlife conservation and relocation. In this conservation lesson students view video on the preservation of the giraffe populations and discuss the impact that humans have had on them.
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Raising Rhino Awareness
Students create a poster that promotes awareness about endangered animals. In this biology lesson plan, students explain the impact of rhinoceros poaching. They create a poem about them and present it in class.