Curated OER
Bug Snack
Students create an insect out of food. In this insect characteristics lesson, students review the 3 body parts of an insect and use various foods to create a sample insect. Students learn a song about insect body parts.
Curated OER
Population Study and Applications Using PTC Paper
Students study human population traits. In this science lesson plan, students gain an understanding of the terms dominant, recessive, haploid (monoploid), diploid, genotype, phenotype, scientific sampling, and scientific modeling as they...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Ecology: Factors Influencing Animal Populations
Students assess the factors affecting animal populations. Working in groups they define specific vocabulary terms and complete several activities from "Project Wild."
Curated OER
Clay Hill Animal Sampling
Students create animal print casts from molds in the classroom. They use the cast patterns to identify animal prints on a field trip in which they locate animal tracks, identify the location with GPS and create field casts of the...
Curated OER
Women in Science
Students study the roles that women have played in science throughout history. They work in small groups while visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Curated OER
Science Writing and Review Project
Students create brochures about a science unit. In this science writing lesson, students include information on topics contained in the unit of science chosen such as title page, adaptations and classifying life.
Curated OER
Tag and Recapture
Sixth graders participate in an activity in which colored jelly beans represent fish in a lake--10 green jellybeans per "lake" representing tagged fish. They draw from the beans (fish) and record the number of tagged fish they draw...
Curated OER
Insect Monitoring
Students practice the scientific method in the classroom, either in preparation or as a substitution for real-world field experience. They examine a simulated biodiversity research situation, using a "mini-plot" or
sampling square...
Curated OER
Designing a Study
Students explore features to consider when designing a scientific study. For this science research lesson, students examine different methods of data collection and consider which method would be appropriate for determining how many...
Curated OER
Teaching Kids about the Environment
Fifth graders identify the species of plants and animals found in an environment. They compare these findings to plant and animal species found in an unlike environment. Students acquire and compare soil samples from the two sites chosen.
Curated OER
World in the Balance
Students explore population growth. They calculate how long it takes a country's population to double in size and to investigate factors affecting growth rate. In addition, they list of factors they think might affect growth rate
Curated OER
Designing A Study
In this designing a study worksheet, students conduct a study on all types of fish that live in the Hudson River. They complete 8 various types of questions that include mostly short answer in response to their findings. Students also...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Random Samples: Estimating Population
With this estimating populations assignment, your class will learn about taking random population samples and calculating the average number of species in the samples to estimate the total population. Students use the given data to find...
Curated OER
Living in Extreme Environments
High schoolers examine the characteristics of the ocean floor and the importance of of extreme environments. In this investigative instructional activity students use four methods to sample populations, gather, record and analyze data...
Curated OER
An Interdisciplinary Deer and Human Population Study
Students answer the question, "What environmental problems arise due to animal and human overpopulation and what might need to be done to combat these problems?" They play games, graph data and write proposals about the question.
Curated OER
Sampling Variation in a Natural Population
Students examine the phenotypic variation within a natural population of a single species. They collect data on the species and analyze the data using statistical/spreadsheet software. Students interpret their results and present their...
Curated OER
Wildlife Sampling
Seventh graders use paper bags and crackers to simulate a wildlife sampling of salmon. They record data on spreadsheets and determine a formula to estimate salmon populations.
Curated OER
School Forest
Sixth graders explore the concept of biodiversity. In this biodiversity lesson, 6th graders discover a variety of planets and animals that live in forests, and how a rotting log benefits that environment. Students also locate seven...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa
Take your biology class' understanding of biodiversity to a whole new level! Ecology scholars use data to calculate three different diversity indices based on the organisms in the Gorongosa National Park. The four-part activity uses an...
Curated OER
Reading the River
In collaborative groups, young ecologists measure the temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen for three different freshwater samples. They examine each sample with a microscope and record observations on the microorganisms in the pond...
Curated OER
Annual Wetland Plant Diversity Survey
Learners locate an area of marsh and, by measuring the total number of individual plants in a sample area, determine whether purple loosestrife population density is correlated to the total plant diversity of the community. They...
Curated OER
Beetle Collection and Release
Young scholars investigate plants and compare them to the purple loose strife. As they observe the plants they predict possible impacts on plant populations based on their observations. They work in groups and present their findings to...
Curated OER
Microbes From a Hay Infusion
Students observe, over time, microbes such as amoebas, protozoa, rotifers and insect larva. They create a hay infusion culture using pond water then sample and record organisms found over a two week period.