This tutorial explains the ecosystem of the Arizona Upland region of the Sonoran Desert and describes the plants and animals that live there. Students will discover the interactions of the living and non-living parts of the ecosystem. There is an interactive glossary within the text. Full description.

This tutorial explains the wetland ecosystem of the Everglades. Students will discover how living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem interact and the importance of habitats such as the saltwater environment of the Florida Bay, the coastal prairie, freshwater sloughs, pinelands, and mangrove forests. There is an interactive glossary within the text. Full description.

This Classroom Connectors lesson plan discusses habitats, including topics such as the food chain and habitat preservation. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom Connectors address content with an activity approach while incorporating themes necessary to raise the activity to a higher cognition level. ... Full description.

This Classroom Connectors lesson plan explains how each individual impacts the environment, and vice-versa. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom Connectors address content with an activity approach while incorporating themes necessary to raise the activity to a higher cognition level. The major motivation ... Full description.

This page, from the University of Illinois Extension, has an animated cartoon designed to help young children (5-8 years of age) gain an appreciation of trees, observe trees in their every day lives and develop an interest in learning more about trees. It is intended for adults to work with children to explore the wonders of trees. It meets several of the Illinois statewide learning goals for second ... Full description.

This lesson investigates familiar and unfamiliar ecosystems using Internet resources. Students will explore how various organisms satisfy their needs within their environments. They will also study the kinds of relationships that exist between organisms within an environment. This lesson is the first in a two-part series on microorganisms. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the second lesson, ... Full description.

In this activity, students explore deep-sea coral communities associated with seamounts. They will be able to explain at least three ways in which seamounts are important to biological communities, infer at least three ways in which deep-sea corals are important to seamount ecosystems, and explain why many scientists are concerned about the future of seamount ecosystems. In addition to being tied ... Full description.

Adaptations help animals find and eat food, avoid predators, move, and reproduce. During this activity students discuss adaptations in many contexts. They explore how desert animals are adapted to the harsh heat and dryness of their environment, and how animals in the Arctic are adapted to live where it is very cold with lots of snow and ice. Students use pictures and make a mural to investigate how ... Full description.

Outdoor Education is a series of outdoor activities that include orienteering, soil and water conservation, forestry, minerals, wildlife, and basic first aid disciplines. This program was designed to enable learners to have hands-on contact with the natural world as well as experience various facets of their natural environment. Full description.

This game shows students the interdependence of animals and their environments. They will learn to identify and describe food, water and shelter as three essential components of habitat, describe the importance of good habitat for animals, define "limiting factors" and give examples, and recognize that some fluctuations in wildlife populations are natural as ecological systems undergo a constant change. ... Full description.