Captain Planet Foundation
Rotting Away
What happens at the end of a plant's life cycle? Show kids the natural way that plants show that they're decomposing, as well as the importance of compost, with a lesson about living organisms. After reading Log Cabin by Anne Schreiber,...
Curated OER
Chemistry of Carbon - Building Blocks of Life
A great review of the structure and function of carbon-based molecules important to life, especially with relevance to humans. The chemistry behind the combination of polymers and the breakdown of bonds is covered. Valuable content...
American Museum of Natural History
Wonderful World of Wasps
Shockingly, wasps sometimes challenge lions as the king of predators! Learners explore the life of a wasp in an interactive online lesson. They read about the characteristics of wasps and then complete activities to learn about their lives.
Ask a Biologist
It’s a Plankton Eat Plankton World
For as small as they are, plankton sure play an enormous role in maintaining marine ecosystems. Dive into an investigation of these tiny organisms with a hands-on life science activity in which children cut out pictures of sea...
Curated OER
Mealworms
Crawl into the world of the darkling beetle with this scientific investigation. Watch as the insects move through the larval, pupal, and adult stages of life, recording observations along the way. Discuss the necessities of life as young...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Life in a Pond
What living things call an aquatic habitat home? Young learners consider the question after they discuss the characteristics of a typical pond habitat. They identify an animal and then determine if a pond would have all the components to...
Curated OER
Urban Life: What Lives in Our Schoolyard?
Students research living organisms by exploring their school grounds. In this microscopic observation instructional activity, students gather materials, insects, and objects from their playground and schoolyard and bring them into class....
Curated OER
Living Things
Alive or not? After viewing this presentation, life science learners will know how to answer this question. They are introduced to the seven processes of living systems and the classification hierarchy. Because it only covers...
Serendip
Is Yeast Alive?
Through two investigations, life science learners determine whether or not yeast is alive. They perform tests for metabolism by providing sugar and observing if gas is produced as a byproduct. They incubate some of the sample for at...
NOAA
Watch the Screen!
Can a sponge cure cancer? Life science pupils visit the drugstore under the sea in the fifth instructional activity of six. Working groups research the topic then get hands-on experience by testing the inhibiting effects of several...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2009
Emerging ecologists need a full understanding of life, from the inner workings of a cell to the complex relationships among organisms. This examination is meant to assess high schoolers after an entire year course on the living...
Curated OER
Forest Life- Wood Bug Study
Examine wood bugs and their habitat. Learners gather wood bugs and examine their bodies. Then discuss their body parts and how they help them survive. They also predict where they think wood bugs live to then graph the class results.
Curated OER
Coloring the Life Cycle of Fruits and Vegetables
Students investigate how fruits and vegetables change and grow. For this life cycle of fruits and vegetables lesson, students observe the changes in fruits and vegetables as they grow and record the colors on a worksheet.
Curated OER
Characteristics of Living Things
Have your life science learners draw a graphic organizer as they view this PowerPoint. One click at at time, it presents the characteristics of living things in an organized manner, and tacks on a cute picture to help illuminate each....
American Museum of Natural History
Web of Life Game
Get caught in a web of learning. Classmates play a game to build a web to model the interaction of species that live in a specific ecosystem. They each assume the role of one species and work together, passing a ball of twine to indicate...
G. Turrell
Science Activity 1: Light & Sound
Are you looking for lab sheets to go with your class experiment on plant response to light? You are no longer in the dark! This is a lesson that was written for a unit on light, but could easily be used to demonstrate plant behaviors in...
California Academy of Science
A Day inthe Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Although the lesson is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area, it's good enough to be adapted to any local region. Children research what the landscape in San Francisco was like prior to settlement, they consider the types of...
Curated OER
Diversity of Modern Life
Convey classification to your amateur biologists with this bright and bold presentation. After you introduce each kingdom, query your viewers with the included reinforcement questions. Since there are no photos of the different...
Curated OER
Plant Life Cycles
Follow the life cycle of a dandelion with a lab sheet for kindergartners. They learn about the order of events in a dandelion's life, then put the stages of life in order. Can they describe the life cycle of a pumpkin? For extra...
National Wildlife Federation
Links in the Chain of Life
A small little ant can have a large impact on its ecosystem. Young researchers explore the different species that live in a plains ecosystem. They find the characteristics of several species and then compare species to determine how...
Curated OER
What is Life? Demonstrations & Discussion
Display seven items for your biologists to consider. Are they living or non-living? How can you tell? This is a simple outline of what you can display and questions that can be discussed as this topic is explored. One way to use this...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Nature's Life Cycle
Become a member of the Pollution Patrol and stand up to litter! After discussing the life cycle of seeds and discussing how plants figure into the food chain, young conservationists engage in several activities involving podcasts,...
Curated OER
A Lesson in Biodiversity: Making Comparisons Between Defensive Mechanisms Utilized by Marine Organisms
If your upper elementary or middle school marine biology learners are going to visit an aquarium, then here is a field trip activity guide for you. It is written specifically for The Maritime Aquarium, but the idea can be adapted to...
Curated OER
Half-life Worksheet
In this half-life worksheet, students determine how long it takes for a 100g sample of AU-198 to decay to 6.25g. Then they determine the half-life of a radioactive isotope if a 500.0g sample decays to 62.5g in 24.3 hours. Students also...