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Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan
Marine Arthropod Adaptations + Engineering DesignStudents explore the diversity and adaptations of marine arthropods.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
Echinoderms: the Ultimate AnimalStudents answer questions based on the video - Echinoderms: the Ultimate Animal and other videos about echinoderms.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
Phylum Mollusca: Macroevolution ModuleThrough 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.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
EXPLORING OCEAN MYSTERIES CURRICULUMThe "Exploring Ocean Mysteries: From Dynamic Shores To the Deep Sea" curriculum consists of Lesson Plans and Resources that make it easy to teach the seven principles of Ocean Literacy.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
Annelids: Powerful and Capable WormsA list of questions with an emphasis on adaptations to use after viewing the video Annelids: Powerful and Capable WormsFull Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
SNIPS AND SNAILS AND GASTROPOD TAILSA 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.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
Shell ShockedIn this hands-on activity, students study the beautiful shells not as objects of beauty but as artifacts born of an evolutionary arms race.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
The Eastern Oyster: A Not-So-Typical MolluscLab dissection of a representative of Class Bivalvia. Supported by several Shape of Life segments, students interpret bivalve adaptations as a radical case of divergent evolution: A simple ancestral snail with a mobile lifestyle, single dome-shaped shell, bilateral symmetry, and a head (“cephalization”) transformed into a headless, double-shelled, sedentary filter-feeder whose bilateral form is obscure.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
The Mussel: A Not So Typical MolluscLab dissection of a representative of Class Bivalvia. Supported by several Shape of Life segments, students interpret bivalve adaptations as a radical case of divergent evolution: A simple ancestral snail with a mobile lifestyle, single dome-shaped shell, bilateral symmetry, and a head (“cephalization”) transformed into a headless, double-shelled, sedentary filter-feeder whose bilateral form is obscure.Full Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
Life in the Fast Lane: From Hunted to HunterLab dissection of a squid, a member of Class Cephalopoda (along with the octopus and nautilus). Supported by several Shape of Life segments, students interpret squid adaptations as a radical case of divergent evolution: A line of ancestral snails abandoned the life of sluggish grazing and foraging in favor of a new niche as speedy open water predators.Full Lesson Plan