Scientists discover over 15,000 new species each year. Despite studying life on our planet for all of human history, we still don't know how many species exist on Earth. An informative video from a biology playlist presents the dilemma, the work scientists are doing, and the hope for future understanding.

Concepts

species, famous scientists

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Graph the estimate for the total number of species on the planet scientists predict each year
• Learn more about some of the recently discovered species

Classroom Considerations

• Avoid displaying the comments as some include language not appropriate in most classrooms

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Includes a list of references for further study
• Provides closed captioning in Arabic, Chinese, English, and Hebrew for ELLs
• Requires very little class time

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.6.2 SL.7.2 SL.8.2 SL.9-10.2 SL.11-12.2 RST.6-8.4 RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4