Lesson Plans & Activities

Demonstrates an arctic food web with animals including ocean algae, zooplankton, polar cod, a seal colored gray, a bowhead whale colored black and white, a polar bear, and sea ice algae colored green. In the background is a yellow sun, light blue sky, and there is also White Sea ice which the polar bear is on and the sea ice algae is underneath.

A Changing Arctic Ecosystem

This storyline unit consists of 8 lessons, each tied to NGSS life science standards
The Arctic is warming more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth. One consequence of a warming Arctic is a dramatic decline in sea ice, an important habitat for many Arctic plants and animals. In this unit students will engage with 360° virtual reality tours, hands-on labs, and authentic Arctic datasets as they gather evidence to construct explanatory models for the unit driving question, "How might the decline in sea ice affect Arctic organisms large and small?"

Unit

Middle School

High School

Flock of birds landing at Elkhorn Slough where there is green moss over black sand and blue water in the background.

Population Estimates: Bringing Math and Science Together

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons, but this activity may be used prior to a field study to provide students with practice in estimating or used in a unit on ecosystems.
During this activity students will learn how to estimate population size using two techniques, density extrapolation and the mark-recapture method.

Lesson

Middle School

Lesson Plans & Activities