Not in my stream! The Asian carp invaders
In this lesson, students will learn about watersheds, freshwater food webs, and invasive species through a power point presentation, a matching/coloring activity and a board game. First, we will...
View ArticleCoevolving with Crossbills: A Tale of Two Pinecones
Interactions between species can lead to coevolution. Even the interactions we observe in our own back yards, be they predator-prey interactions, species competition, or mutualism, can lead to two...
View ArticleThe Chi-square goodness of fit test: Application for testing genetic...
The Chi-square goodness of fit test can be used to test whether observed data are different from expected values based on a hypothesis. This test and lesson is a good introduction to statistical...
View ArticlePutting Down Roots: The Evolution of Plants from Water to Land
Plants play a major role in the lives of other living things, especially humans. But it’s worth taking a look at how plants as we know them came to be, and where they came from. What adaptations...
View ArticleSeeing the forest from the trees
What controls the structure of forests and the leaves within that forest? Individual leaves have very different shapes and even colors, but together they make up the forest canopy that traps light and...
View ArticleFarming for Ecosystem Services
In this lesson students will explore the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services, from basic ecological theory to their economic value. Provided with a short introduction to the types...
View ArticleExpecting the Unexpected: Adventures in Critical Thinking
How do we know we can trust a source or a claim made by someone? What constitutes “good science”? Knowing the answers to these questions is an important critical thinking skill for all students and is...
View ArticleA Game of Selection: Exploring Evolution by Natural Selection
A strong understanding of evolution is paramount to any education in biology. In this lesson students will be introduced to the concept of evolution and natural selection using a combination of...
View ArticleWho’s the bravest of them all? Using inquiry to explore cricket behavior
Inquiry based activities are one of the best ways to teach science to students. Students build a comprehension of the scientific method through exposure to the process of conducting research. Having...
View ArticleBuilding Evolutionary Trees: how did New World Oriole colors evolve?
Evolutionary trees are incredibly useful tools for evolutionary biologists. However, students often struggle with interpreting even simple evolutionary trees. The AP biology exam frequently asks...
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