New Resources

NEW LESSON PLAN: Our Chordate Family Tree

Posted on October 4th, 2019

This new lesson plan is about our own family tree. We are chordates.

Your students will explore the evolution of the phylum Chordata by constructing a “family tree”—a diagram of evolutionary traits and animals, using cards showing Chordate traits. After watching the Chordate Shape of Life video, students revise their diagrams and add information, including examples of modern animals that exhibit the traits.

Highlights:

- Students will create evolutionary family trees.

- Students will understand and discuss key characteristics of chordate species orally and in writing.

  • - Students will explain how common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.

HAVE FUN exploring your family tree.

LESSON PLAN: Modeling Evolutionary Relationships with Trees

Posted on August 26th, 2019

In this lesson, students will examine a beautiful tree of life poster by artist Ray Troll and use it as a launchpad to explore evolutionary, or phylogenetic trees. Students will take a pre-assessment to address misconceptions about
phylogenetic trees before completing a modeling activity to give them a better understanding of how trees are used to model evolutionary relationships.

Teach Our Children Well

Posted on June 6th, 2019

Boy, did the recent NPR program hit us between the eyes! It explores why teachers don’t want to tackle climate change in their classrooms.
AND!... 4 out of 5 parents wish they did!

In a show of support to teachers we added a whole new section to our online offering:
 
Climate Change and the Ocean
 
We think it’s essential students understand what’s going on in the beautiful blue that covers 70% of our planet.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CLIMATE CHANGE RESOURCES

Cnidarian Adaptations

Posted on March 26th, 2019

Invite your students to explore the origins of muscles, nerves, and other animal adaptations through a study of the fascinating phylum Cnidaria.

In this lesson plan students explore the origins of muscles, nerves, and other animal adaptations through a study of the fascinating phylum Cnidaria. They will have the opportunity to observe the predatory organisms, including sea anemones and jellies and the amazing adaptations that they use to catch prey, defend themselves, etc., in one or more Shape of Life video segments.

 

NEW LESSON PLANS!

Posted on October 11th, 2018

Carbonated Communities 

This series of two lessons uses cutting-edge scientific research on the effects of climate change on communities in the intertidal. Through a combination of a dynamic presentation and several videos, students are introduced to climate change’s effects on the ocean (ocean acidification and temperature increase) and how ocean organisms are affected. Students read and interpret graphs and construct a scientific explanation based on data from this research.

EXPLORE THIS LESSON PLAN 

NEW LESSON PLANS

Posted on February 26th, 2018

This collection consists of six lesson plans designed to help students construct an explanation of the geologic time scale based on personal connections, science concepts that include Law of Superposition and index fossils and nature of science ideas. The lessons highlight a diversity of scientists and geologic sites that complement Shape of Life videos.

A variety of modalities are engaged that encourage shared exploration with peers. Students go outside and observe the schoolyard, watch videos, create a “geologic site in a cup,” utilize technology for geologic time scale interpretations, work in small groups and participate in whole class discussions throughout the lessons.

Your students will ROCK these lessons!

 

 

 

Go to Lesson Plans

CHORDATES: The Voyage to Us

Posted on August 23rd, 2017

Bones, Brawn & Brains

Fewer than 5% of all animals that ever lived on planet earth have backbones-- yet, we humans remain quite chauvinistic about our own kind. Many of us don't realize that chordates paved the way to US! Their basic animalness – multi-cellularity, a head, brain, nerves, and bilateral symmetry – is the legacy of the sponges, cnidarians, and ancient flatworm-like animals, each of which pioneered pieces of the architecture that led to complex animals like Pikaia, and us. 
 
There's a great deal more to learn from our new chapter on chordates.
 
 
 
 
 

Read the Chapter

Ages of Rock

Posted on May 19th, 2017

RayTroll’s renditions of everything from salmon to marine mammals to creatures only found in the fossil record have become iconic in fishing, scientific, and environmental activism communities around the world. He seeks inspiration from extensive field work in marine science, paleontology, geology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. His paintings and mixed-media drawings are in the collections of the Miami Museum of Science, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Alaska Airlines, the Anchorage Museum, the Alaska State Museum, and the Ketchikan Museum. 

 

The Land Arthropods: The Conquerors Coming Ashore

Posted on December 5th, 2016

The history of the animals whose descendants would be the first to breathe air and live on land begins over half-a-billion years ago, when the earliest members of a group called arthropods branched off from their ancestral roots of primitive, bilateral animals. These creatures quickly became powerful hunters and scavengers and established patterns of adaptability and dominance that continue into the present.

Read the Chapter