Students will observe the behavior of termites and draw conclusions about their behavior.
In this hands-on OLogy activity, kids learn what happens when the rush of freshwater from a river collides with the gush of the ocean's tides. The activity begins with introductions to estuaries, salinity, and density. The illustrated, step-by-step directions show how to test the density of water at different levels of salinity and then investigate how a liquid's density affects the objects placed in it. It includes a fun look at the Dead Sea (Super Salty Sea) and why you can float effortlessly in it.
This activity is a printable one-page PDF handout, which focuses on dinosaur movement. Using illustrations that compare a crocodile's hips to a dinosaur's, students answer a series of questions. Fun challenges, Animal Push-Ups and Reptile Races, help students better understand how a hole in the hip socket differentiates dinosaurs from other reptiles.
In this video from an expedition to the Bahamas, Jonathan encounters dozens of Lemon sharks while trying to film a Tiger shark. But finally a Tiger shark arrives and you wonŰŞt believe the incredible encounter Jonathan has with this enormous, hungry animal. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.
In this activity, students play the roles of time travelers and travel to the Archaean era to learn what early Earth was like during that time. They collect information on the Archaean atmosphere, life forms, and landscape, and write a report that summarizes its characteristics. A scoring rubric for the report is provided.
Chart of fertility rates by country showing the very high fertility rates in the least developed countries and the very low fertility rates in the most developed countries as of 2008 according to the CIA world factbook. To maintain stable population, fertility rates must be slightly above 2.
In this activity, students play the roles of consultants in developing a geologic 'tour' south od Rochester, New York, near the Pennsylvania border. They will gather information on the local rock types and underlying geology, examine an assemblage of fossils from the bedrock and from glacial erratics, and prepare a report detailing the geology with cross-sections and a timeline based on the fossil occurrences. They will also develop a plan for a walking tour highlighting the geology of the area.
This video describes the role that dendrochronology plays in understanding climate change, especially changes to high elevation environments at an upper tree line. Dendrochronologists from the Big Sky Institute sample living and dead trees, describe how correlations between trees are made, and explain how tree cores record climate changes.
This fun Web site is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they explore the Tree of Life cladogram. The site begins with a brief explanation of cladograms and how the Tree of Life shows the relationship of all living things on Earth. A cladogram of fruit is used to demonstrate on a small scale how scientists use this tool to understand how things are similar and different. A portion of the Tree of Life cladogram is included, showing true bacteria, arthropods, mammals, and 11 other important groups of species. Students can mouse over the branching points to see what the subsets have in common. The site also includes a pie chart view that compares the relative size of the most important groups of species. Students can click on each group to learn its characteristics, known species, size range, and other important details.
All cells, organs and tissues of a living organism are built of molecules. Some of them are small, made from only a few atoms. There is, however, a special class of molecules that make up and play critical roles in living cells. These molecules can consist of many thousands to millions of atoms. They are referred to as macromolecules (or large biomolecules).
Students use real satellite data to determine 1) where the greatest concentrations of aerosols are located during the course of a year in the tropical Atlantic region and 2) their source of origin. This is an inquiry-style lesson where students pull real aerosol data and attempt to identify trends among data sets.
Millions of fish eggs from the Caribbean get stuck in the gulf stream every year and drift thousands of miles north where they hatch. Unfortunately, when winter comes, the baby fish will die. In this video, Jonathan joins the New England Aquarium Dive Club on a tropical fish rescue in Rhode Island where they catch some of these fish in the fall before water temperatures plummet. The fish go to the New England AquariumŰŞs exhibits. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.
In this problem-based learning activity, students will examine opposing views on the Amazon Rainforest and will take a position on land-use and species conservation in one of the last areas of biodiversity on Earth. This activity is part of Exploring the Environment.
This illustrated guide is designed to help students recognize and learn the different types of antennae found on arthropods. The single Web page, which can be easily printed for use at field sites or in the lab, shows plumose (featherlike) pectinate (comblike) serrate (sawlike) moniliform (beadlike) filiform (threadlike) aristrate (with bristles) elbowed (with a bend) clubbed (the segments towards the end are larger).
This illustrated guide is designed to help students recognize and learn the different types of compound leaves. The single Web page can be easily printed for use at field sites. Along with a short description, an illustration that identifies a leaflet and petiole is included for each type: pinnate (odd) twice pinnate pinnate (even) palmate.
The University of California's White Mountain Research Station provides science unprecedented access to unique environments, environments where life exists at the edge of extremes. This award- winning documentary weaves a story of how this unique access is yielding an understanding of change, from physiology to climate, from the oldest known living organism, to a short-lived beetle, and what this understanding means for all. (59 minutes)
The UC Natural Reserve System's Angelo Coast Range Reserve in Mendocino County has become the focus of a number of national climate change research efforts. Learn how multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, equipped with advanced technologies, are deepening our understanding of the environment and how it is responding to the rapid warming of our planet. (57 minutes)
In this classroom activity, middle school students explore cladistics by creating a cladogram. The activity opens with background information for teachers about cladistics. After discussing the relationship of some familiar mammals, students learn about how scientists use cladistics to determine evolutionary relationships among animals. Working in pairs, students complete a worksheet that directs them to examine coins and create a cladogram based on their shared characteristics. Then, small groups of students examine dinosaur illustrations, identify their shared features, and those features to classify the dinosaurs.
This analysis and discussion activity introduces students to the molecular and cellular biology of cancer, including the important contributions of mutations in genes that code for proteins involved in regulating the rate of cell division. The questions in this activity challenge students to interpret the information presented in prose, tables and diagrams and apply their knowledge of basic molecular and cellular biology in order to understand multiple aspects of the biology of cancer, including the contributions of a variety of environmental exposures to increased risk for different types of cancer and the long lag between exposure to carcinogens and the diagnosis of cancer.
This overview provides a sequence of learning activities to help students understand that proteins and DNA are not just abstract concepts in biology textbooks, but rather crucial components of our bodies that affect functions and characteristics that students are familiar with. Students learn about how proteins contribute to the digestion of food and to characteristics such as albinism, sickle cell anemia and hemophilia. Then, students learn about the relationship between the genetic information in DNA and the different versions of these proteins. The discussion, web-based, and hands-on learning activities presented are appropriate for an introductory unit on biological molecules or as an introduction to a unit on molecular biology.