This activity has students build, evolve, and modify paper-and-straw birds to simulate natural selection acting on random mutations and discover that: all organisms, including humans, retain evidence of their evolutionary history; form is often linked to function; mutations are random, but selection is not; and selection is dependent on many factors. In addition, they will realize that adaptations ... Full description.

This tutorial covers various aspects of trees. It explains which chemicals cause leaves to change colors, how the process of photosynthesis works, the functions of bark, roots, pollen and leaves, and the effect of trees on nearby temperature. Full description.

This six-week project requires students to research wetlands and communicate concerns about these environments using persuasive writing. Students research wetland characteristics, issues and problems surrounding wetlands, the purpose of wetlands, plant life, and some products that wetlands produce to form an opinion about the future of wetlands in the United States. This site provides mini-lessons ... Full description.

This module contains four units dealing with natural selection (and evolution), population balance, exchange cycles, and environmental protection. Each unit includes coverage of why the topic is important, what is known about the subject, and the evidence that led to our current level of understanding. There is also a short biography of a famous scientist in each field of inquiry, hazards associated ... Full description.

This unit integrates video footage and information with lesson plans and activities in which students investigate flowering plants. They will study basic Mendellian heredity in the light of flowering plants and they will learn how seed savers work to save diversity. Finally, they will compare scenarios in which genetically diverse fields and fields planted with GMOs (genetically modified organisms) ... Full description.

This website illustrates how and why NASA's Earth-orbiting satellites measure ocean productivity. Materials highlight key scientific research topics such as harmful algal blooms and ocean optics. This resource help teachers and students discover linkages among marine ecology, phytoplankton, the behavior of light at the ocean surface, and satellite derived ocean color data. Exercises and concepts are ... Full description.

This Web companion to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television series features essays, video clips, and special interactive features that explore the story of life on Earth. Additional features include an animated evolutionary timeline and a set of links to related materials including lesson plans and instructor's guides. PBS is a non-profit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's ... Full description.

Younger students can learn about plant biology. Topics include characteristics of living things, germination and growth, the basic parts of plants, photosynthesis, reproduction, and ecological adaptations of plants. The information presented can also be ordered as a video. Full description.

Students will have the chance to see some strange and unusual dinosaurs they have never heard of when they can play with the cladogram. A cladogram is like a family tree. It's a way of organizing dinosaurs based on the unique characteristics they share, like a three-toed foot or a hole in the hip socket. In order to see the information the student will roll over a dinosaur's name to see its picture, ... Full description.

A common criticism of natural selection is: How can it produce novel complex useful structures by pure random chance? Darwin argued that selection is not a random process, and furthermore, it is cumulative. This lesson provides a way for students to actually compare the cumulative non-random selection of Darwin with the non-cumulative version so often erroneously implied. Students attempt to produce ... Full description.