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Colorful echinoderms

lesson plans

Organized by Phyla

Lesson Plans

Annelids

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    Lesson Plan
    Annelids: Powerful and Capable Worms Questions
    There are three separate lessons here based on questions.A list of questions about the characteristics of annelids to use after viewing the video Annelids: Powerful and Capable Worms.A Shape of Life: Annelids worksheet. Students make sketches and write short answers to questions about the amazing world of annelids. This was created by Rachel Miller from Science From Scratch.A Powerpoint with question to use while watching the video Annelids: Powerful and Capable Worms.

    Full Lesson Plan

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    Lesson Plan
    Annelids: Powerful and Capable Worms
    A list of questions with an emphasis on adaptations to use after viewing the video Annelids: Powerful and Capable Worms  

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Marine Arthropods

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    Lesson Plan
    Marine Arthropod Adaptations + Engineering Design
    Students explore the diversity and adaptations of marine arthropods.

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    Closeup of Crab
    Lesson Plan
    Marine Arthropods: A Successful Design Questions
    There are three separate lessons here based upon questions.A list of questions about the characteristics of marine arthropods to use after viewing the video Marine Arthropods: A Successful Design.A Shape of Life Marine Arthropods: A Successful Design worksheet. Students make sketches and write short answers to questions about the amazing world of marine arthropods. This was created by Rachel Miller from Science from Scratch.A Powerpoint with questions to use while watching the video Marine Arthropods: A Successful Design.

    Full Lesson Plan

Terrestrial Arthropods

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    Lesson Plan
    Terrestrial Arthropod Adaptations + Engineering Design
    Students explore the extraordinary adaptions and diversity of terrestrial arthropods through short Shape of Life videos and student-centered activities in the 5E Instructional Model.

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    Bee with yellow flower
    Lesson Plan
    Terrestrial Arthropods: The Conquerors Questions
    There are three separate lessons here based on questions.

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    Lesson Plan
    Let's All Do The Wave
    This lesson consists of a cross disciplinary activity incorporating aspects of wave characteristics from Physics, movement traits from Biology, and evaluating locomotion design from Engineering. Students can be introduced to the idea by showing the video Arthropod Locomotion: Engineering from the shapeoflife.org or other videos of animals that exhibit wave-like characteristics during motion. Class discussion can begin by analyzing the necessity to move efficiently and how moving in a wave-like manner could be beneficial.

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Molluscs

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    Lesson Plan
    Phylum Mollusca: Macroevolution Module
    Through a sequence of “explore-before-explain” laboratory investigations, coupled with segments from the Shape of Life videos, students study molluscs in the present and their long  evolutionary history. The module includes those listed below, which can also stand alone.

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    Lesson Plan
    SNIPS AND SNAILS AND GASTROPOD TAILS
    A brief hands-on investigation of Class Gastropoda (snails and slugs), followed by a critical thinking exercise centered on segments of the Shape of Life. Students first examine the bodies and behavior of live slugs or snails, then use water balloons to model their unique style of locomotion, and finally tackle a series of analytical questions designed to cultivate a grasp of divergent evolution: the branching of a single ancestral form into multiple new forms for diverse new functions, niches, and habitats.

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    Lesson Plan
    Shell Shocked
    In this hands-on activity, students study the beautiful shells not as objects of beauty but as artifacts born of an evolutionary arms race.

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