Lessons

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  Animal Diversity

  K-2  |  Interactive
  This lesson about animal diversity will help students understand the difference between actual physical attributes of animals and fictional ones.
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  Introducing Biodiversity

  3-5  |  Hands-On
  This lesson introduces students to the amazing variety of life around them.
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  Skull Diversity

  6-8  |  Interactive
  In this lesson, students explore skulls that are part of an online exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences.
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  Preserving Health through Biological Diversity

  9-12  
  This lesson advances student understanding of why diversity within and among species is important.
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  Where in the Wild?

  K-2  |  Audio
  This students introduces children to the concept of animal camouflage.
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  Animal Adaptations

  3-5  |  Interactive
  In this lesson, explore different types of animal features and behaviors that can help or hinder survival in a particular habitat.
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  Brine Shrimp 2: Brine Shrimp Survival

  6-8  |  Hands-On
  The Brine Shrimp 2 lesson will help students develop an understanding of how growth and survival of an organism depends on physical conditions.
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  Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations

  9-12  |  Audio
  This lesson provides an introduction to conservation biology via the memoirs of a scientist who has traveled throughout the world to study and defend endangered species.
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  Investigating Local Ecosystems

  K-2  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson students explore the habitats of local plants and animals to learn about how living things depend on one another.
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  Pond 1: Pond Life

  3-5  |  Hands-On
  This lesson explores how organisms satisfy their needs within their environments and the relationships that exist between organisms within an environment.
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  Marine Sanctuaries

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will learn about the national marine sanctuaries found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and off the coast of American Samoa.
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  Managing the Everglades Ecosystem

  9-12  
  Students learn about conservation, explore relationships between species and habitats, and find out how humans have altered the equilibrium in the Everglades.
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  Ecosystem Services - Water Purification

  6-8  
  In this interdisciplinary lesson, students explore the concept of ecosystem services by investigating natural water purification in their home watershed.
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  The Frog Scientist 1: The Mystery of Disappearing Frogs

  6-8  |  Audio
  This lesson introduces students to Dr. Tyrone Hayes, a biologist who is using a combination of scientific fieldwork and lab experimentation to understand how a commonly used pesticide is damaging both frogs and their habitats.
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  The Frog Scientist 2: Schoolyard Field Investigation

  6-8  |  Hands-On
  This lesson allows students to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the first lesson to developing a hypothesis, conducting their own scientific inquiry, and reporting their results just as working scientists do.
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  The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs

  6-8  |  Video
  Students develop an understanding of scientific research and environmental conservation by examining the work of scientists involved in studying and trying to save the Panamanian golden frogs.

Tools

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  Biodiversity: Life in the City

  K-5  |  Interactive
  In this simple resource, students scroll over a drawing of an urban, park-like setting and find ten examples of hidden "critters." Each critter is then magnified and described.
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  The Tree of Life

  6-12  |  Website
  This resource will introduce you to cladistics, a classification system that scientists use to show the relationships between species.
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  Coral Reef Adventure Fun Zone

  3-8  |  Interactive
  This resource is part of a larger site on The Coral Reef Adventure, a film that follows the real-life adventures of ocean explorers and underwater filmmakers, Howard and Michele Hall. It has several different activities that you can do.
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  Biomes of the World

  K-8  |  Website
  The Biomes of the World resource provides information on rainforest, tundra, taiga, desert, temperate, and grassland biomes.
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  iNaturalist App

  3-12  |  Interactive
  This app lets you record observations from nature and share them with the iNaturalist online community.
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  Project Noah App

  K-12  |  Interactive
  Project Noah is a global study that encourages nature lovers to document the wildlife they encounter.
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  Leafsnap App

  3-12  |  Interactive
  Leafsnap is a terrific app for anyone with an iPhone or iPad in the great outdoors.
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  Project BudBurst App

  6-12  |  Interactive
  Project BudBurst is part of a citizen science program designed to encourage local participation in a national research effort.
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  Active Explorer App

  K-12  |  Interactive
  Active Explorer is an innovative app that combines the mobility of a smartphone with the abilities of a computer

Science Updates

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  All Species Inventory

  6-12  |  Audio
  This Science Update looks at the field of taxonomy, one of the oldest practices in biology, and how a group of scientists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs is trying to bring it into the twenty-first century.
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  Mountain Rain

  6-12  |  Audio
  This Science Update explores why pollution from cities could dry out nearby mountains.
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  Artificial Wetlands

  6-12  |  Audio
  Golf courses are known as places of recreation. But some of them could someday double as water treatment facilities by providing artificial wetlands. In this Science Update, you will learn more about how wetlands help protect the environment.
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  Crayfish Reflexes

  6-12  |  Audio
  Most people don't pay much attention to crayfish unless they're piled high on a plate and served with melted butter. But one scientist is using the spiny crustacean to learn how social interaction can change the very chemistry of our bodies. Find out how in this Science Update.
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  Florida Freezes

  6-12  |  Audio
  Draining a wetland can change local weather.
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  Everglades Pythons

  6-12  |  Audio
  A study of the stomach contents of non native Burmese pythons living in the Everglades shows how many different species the pythons have been poaching.

Videos

• 2012 BioBlitz BobCast 2: Controlling Invasive Plants

  K-12  |  Video
  When invasive plants threaten to upset critical natural habitat, who can you call? Jamie Evans, National Park Service biologist at Rocky Mountain National Park.

• 2011 BioBlitz BobCast 1: Learning about Biodiversity

  K-12  |  Video
  In the first of a series of live 2011 BioBlitz BobCasts, host Bob Hirshon explains what the BioBlitz is all about.

• 2011 BioBlitz BobCast 2: Endophytic Fungi

  K-12  |  Video
  In this video, AAAS's Bob Hirshon talks with a team from the University of Arizona who are hunting for fungi that spend their entire lives inside plants.

• 2011 BioBlitz BobCast 3: Bugs in the Night

  K-12  |  Video
  In this video, middle-school students work with entomologists to find desert insects that are attracted to light.

• 2011 BioBlitz BobCast 4: Hunting Water Bears

  K-12  |  Video
  In this video, a student from Baker University discusses tardigrades (water bears) and their unique features.

• 2010 BioBlitz BobCast 1: Noon Arrival

  K-12  |  Video
  In the first of a series of live 2010 BioBlitz BobCasts, host Bob Hirshon arrives at the BioBlitz staging area and provides a short video tour of the people gathering there.

• 2010 BioBlitz BobCast 2: Interview with John Francis

  K-12  |  Video
  AAAS' Bob Hirshon talks with John Francis of National Geographic about the 2010 BioBlitz and what participants experience there.

• 2010 BioBlitz BobCast 3: Reef Trip

  K-12  |  Video
  AAAS's Bob Hirshon and a small team of volunteer “fish counters” head out on a boat trip to a turtlegrass bed and coral reef.

• 2010 BioBlitz BobCast 4: Mangroves

  K-12  |  Video
  A Biscayne National Park Ranger working at the 2010 BioBlitz takes us on a tour of mangrove trees.

• 2010 BioBlitz BobCast 5: Algae

  K-12  |  Video
  In this final BobCast video, we hear from a group of college students who collect and identify marine algae, better known as seaweed.