Students explain the environmental and economic impacts of preserving local green spaces and collect evidence to prepare to debate the advantages and disadvantages of local green spaces.

This video discusses sustainable fishing practices and how we can support it through our seafood choices. A set of discussion questions and post-viewing activities are provided.

This site is a comprehensive list of reading materials covering the evolving research topics of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and Agent Based Computational Economics (ACE). This continuously updated site is a source of readings for the weekly interdisciplinary Complex Adaptive Systems Workshop at Iowa State University. The reading materials are listed according to category headings. Each listing includes a short summary of the material or simply the reference information. Many natural systems, and increasingly many artificial (man-made) systems as well, are characterized by apparently complex behaviors that arise as the result of nonlinear spatio-temporal interactions among a large number of components or subsystems. Examples of such natural systems include immune systems, nervous systems, multicellular organisms, ecologies, and insect societies. This resource is part of the Biocomplexity collection. http://serc.carleton.edu/biocomplexity/

Students access their prior knowledge of the anatomical similarities and differences among modern and fossil organisms by creating a Venn diagram with a partner, which will compare and contrast two organisms. Next, students will complete the online modules found at "What did T. rex Taste Like?" from the University of California Museum of Paleontology, which will explain how a cladogram diagram can be used to show lines of lineage and evolutionary relationships. Students will use a cladogram to infer how a T. rex is related to modern organisms. Lastly, students will construct a written explanation to describe the anatomical similarities and differences between the T. rex and modern organisms based on evidence from the cladograms in a claim-evidence-reasoning format.

The emerging field of biocomplexity provides a multidisciplinary approach to looking at complex, interrelated systems. Biological, geological, chemical, physical and human elements are all part of biocomplexity. This site contains a variety of resources for faculty members who teach undergraduate courses related to biocomplexity, including biological, geological, chemical, physical and human systems. You will find links to activities and assignments, internet and computer resources, publications, presentations from the 2003 workshop on Teaching Biocomplexity in the Geosciences, a group listserv, and lots of creative ideas for teaching biocomplexity in your own classroom.

This brief video lesson discusses invasive species. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.

Students research three aspects of biodiversity loss - direct species loss, habitat loss and pests and weeds.

This report explains how many chemicals used in pesticides, cosmetics, drugs, food, and commerce have not been sufficiently tested to allow a complete determination of their potential hazards. The report uses a model to show how research priorities for toxicity testing can be set. It may be read online, printed, or ordered in hard copy from the site.

In this activity students investigate the importance of persistence and creativity in scientific research through an examination of "bush sickness" in the Kaingora Forest in New Zealand.

This activity accompanies the Scientists at Work video Genetically Modified Mosquitoes. The video describes how scientists at the company Oxitec produced a line of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes that, when released into the wild, would reduce local mosquito populations. In this activity, students are challenged to provide their own questions and ideas for experiments they could conduct to investigate the impact of releasing GM mosquitoes into the wild. The students then learn the approaches that scientists at Oxitec have used to conduct such experiments, and use math, descriptive statistics, and line and bar graphs to analyze their data from treatment and control areas. As an option, students may also use spreadsheets to analyze and graph the data.

Understanding Biodiversity presents an overview of biodiversity, its importance and relevance to humans, all living things, and the Earth. It includes species pages and a template to engage and involve students in real-life data collection.

This lesson complements the film The Biology of Skin Color and discusses variation in human skin color and polygenic inheritance. In Part 1 of this activity, a simple mathematical model illustrates an idealized relationship between the number of genes involved in a trait and the number of phenotypes derived from the combination of alleles. In Part 2, students learn about the methods by which geneticists identify skin-color genes and estimate heritability. Finally, in Part 3, students learn how geneticists analyze genetic variations to trace an individual’s ancestry. Students draw conclusions about the predominant ancestry of two different individuals by comparing their genetic profiles against real allele frequency data.

This lab-based course covers the foundational principles of modern life science as outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). It also includes approximately a third of the Earth and Space Science standards, primarily those connected to environmental science and ecology. The course emphasizes all three dimensions of the NGSS, with special attention to the crosscutting concepts of Patterns and Energy and Matter. Additionally, scientific inquiry and engineering design practices are emphasized throughout the course. The course is designed to follow a chemistry course and so builds on student understandings of molecules as they explore the biomolecular underpinnings of life's functions, the evolution of life, and the interactions of life in ecosystems. Technological, historical, political, and environmental aspects of biology will also be addressed. Critical thinking, data analysis, and argumentation from evidence are also emphasized.

Little is known about the molecular basis of differences in behavior among individuals. Here we report consistent novelty-seeking behavior, across different contexts, among honey bees in their tendency to scout for food sources and nest sites, and we reveal some of the molecular underpinnings of this behavior relative to foragers that do not scout. Note: this reading coincides with Student Activity Sheets.

A respected scientist named Hans Kummer was working in a region containing two species of baboons with very different social systems. Savanna baboons live in large troops, with plenty of adult females and males. Hamadryas baboons, in contrast, have a more complex, multilevel society. Note: this reading coincides with Student Activity Sheets.

In this lesson, students will analyze real scientific data from a short visualization clip to form logical hypotheses about what drives the migration patterns of raptors. Students will also describe and explain the connectedness of organisms within and across ecosystems and illustrate how primary productivity is the foundation of all food webs and how seasonal changes in primary productivity influence the behaviors of higher order consumers.

In this activity, students examine a series of maps showing the locations where forest elephants were likely poached, based on genetic evidence from ivory seizures. A series of questions is provided to guide a class discussion on the graph characteristics and what the data show.

With this interactive, based on the Wall of Birds mural, students explore species from all surviving bird families alongside a select group of extinct ancestors. Students can make comparisons of anatomy, native ranges, and distinctive voices.

In this activity, students will research invasive forest plants and design "wanted posters" that illustrate the plants' shady characteristics and crimes.

This online book examines how contaminants are released by incineration, environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure, approaches for assessing possible human health effects, and scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book may be read for free online in HTML or PDF formats, printed from a PDF file, or hard copies may be ordered from the site.