Subtopic: Plants and Animals

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Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
Animal Babies This interactive slide show illustrates the variety of animal babies that exist on earth -- some completely independent and others deeply reliant on parental care.	K-5	Flash Image
Animal Coverings It takes a thick skin to withstand the hardships that life has to offer. This collection of images shows a variety of animals, each with a slightly different type of protective covering.	K-5	JPEG Image
Animal Defenses In nature, survival is the name of the game. This video segment explores the world of animal defense and shows that predators don't always have the upper hand.	K-8	QuickTime Video
Animal Mouths This collection of images of six different creatures, including insects and carnivorous vertebrates, illustrates the wide range of mouth types that exist within the animal kingdom.	K-8	JPEG Image
Animals Making a Living For most animals, finding food is a full-time job. This video segment explores the food-finding strategies of a variety of creatures, illustrating the idea that different animals have very different ways of getting enough to eat.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Animals on the Go This video segment shows a wide variety of creatures in their respective habitats, with a focus on how the animals move.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Bats of the Southwest This video segment from the Nevada Department of Wildlife looks at various species of bats and how they impact the environment.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Beavers This video segment explores the world of the beaver, including the biology of the species and, more importantly, its ability to transform an ecosystem for its own benefit.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Biome in a Baggie This ZOOMSci video segment shows how to create self-contained environments and explore how plants grow under different conditions.	K-8	QuickTime Video
Bird Beak Gallery This collection of images of 10 different birds illustrates the diversity of bird beaks.	K-8	Flash Image
Bird Food There are almost as many types of bird beaks as there are types of food that birds like to eat. This collection of images shows a wide range of beaks and the types of foods handled by each.	K-8	Flash Image
The Bounty of Bees Bees are an extremely vital part of life on this planet. In this video segment from QUEST, explore the huge impact these small insects have on our civilization.	6-8	QuickTime Video
Burrowing Owl In this video segment from Outdoor Nevada, learn about burrowing owls, yearlong residents of open, dry grassland and desert habitats, and the only owls that nest underground and are active both day and night.	K-12	QuickTime Video
Carnivorous Plants In this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, learn about carnivorous plants that act as both producers and consumers in an ecosystem. See sundews and blatterworts capture and digest insects.	K-12	QuickTime Video
Carnivorous Plants of Cartwheel Bay In this video segment from NatureScene, explore Cartwheel Bay, a wetland in South Carolina, and learn about the variety of carnivorous plants native to this unique landform.	3-8	QuickTime Video
Colorful Creatures For animals, bright, flashy coloration can serve as a warning or as an invitation. Either way, colorful skin, feathers, and scales yell, "Notice me!" This collection of images shows examples of some of the world's most colorful creatures.	K-5	JPEG Image
Decomposers Without the work of decomposers, living organisms would eventually use up all the raw materials in the environment, and dead organisms and wastes would pile up. This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" describes the role of decomposers as the Earth's great recyclers.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Desert Tortoise This video segment from Outdoor Nevada examines threats to the desert tortoise population.	K-12	QuickTime Video
Discovering Antarctica Take a guided tour of Antarctica by watching brief video segments of its landscape and wildlife in this interactive activity adapted from the British Antarctic Survey.	K-8	HTML Interactive
Diversity of Hardwoods at Congaree Swamp In this video segment from NatureScene, observe some methods of plant identification with regards to the diversity of hardwoods at the Congaree Swamp.	3-8	QuickTime Video
Dragonflies in Kentucky This video segment from Kentucky Life explains the differences between dragonflies and damselflies and explores their habitats.	K-12	QuickTime Video
Energy Flow This feature, adapted from Interactive NOVA: "Earth," follows the path of energy as it is transferred via the food chain from one type of organism to another.	K-5	Flash Interactive
Exploring Plants In this media-rich lesson, students observe plant growth by watching a time-lapse video and by growing their own seeds. They identify the conditions seeds need to germinate and consider the role that fruits play in seed dispersal.	K-2	Lesson Plan
Finding Animal Tracks In this video from Curious George, young children identify animal tracks in the snow based on observations of how animals move and comparisons with footprint charts.	K-2	QuickTime Video
Flood Plain and Higher Ground Habitats This video segment from NatureScene features the area of the Congaree Swamp where the high ground and the flood plain meet. Learn how a few feet of difference in elevation on a floodplain can yield drastic changes in what you’ll find living there.	3-8	QuickTime Video
From Seed to Flower Watching plants grow is like watching paint dry: It happens so slowly that the changes are imperceptible from one moment to the next -- and yet the end results are dramatic. This video segment shows just how amazing plant development can be by depicting various phases of the process using time-lapse photography. Footage from NOVA: "The Shape of Things."	K-5	QuickTime Video
Fruit Wrappers In this video from Curious George, join students as they investigate banana peels and fruit seeds to discover their different functions.	K-2	QuickTime Video
Germinator This ZOOMSci video segment teaches you how to germinate seeds in a plastic bag and helps you understand some of the factors that influence the germination process.	K-8	QuickTime Video
Gila Monster This video segment from Outdoor Nevada looks at the Gila monster's behavior, habitat, and unique adaptive characteristics.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Guess How Whales Hear! This video segment explores how one marine biologist used the scientific process to discover how whales hear.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Habitat and Diet in Racehorse Development This animated segment from KET's Electronic Field Trip to a Horse Farm demonstrates one of the ways calcium, a naturally occurring mineral derived from limestone, enters a horse's diet to give it an advantage in bone strength.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Horned Lizard In this video from Outdoor Nevada, learn about the habitat, diet, and defense mechanisms of horned lizards.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Indiana Bats of Carter Cave This video segment from Kentucky Life explores one of the endangered habitats of Indiana bats and describes the benefits of bats to humans.	K-12	QuickTime Video
Kratts' Creatures This informative and entertaining Web site explores the relationships between organisms and the environments to which they're adapted.	K-5	HTML Interactive
Map of the Human Heart See how the human heart moves blood through the body in this animated feature from the NOVA: "Cut to the Heart" Web site.	K-8	HTML Document
Masters of Disguise In the face of danger, what's a spineless animal to do? This video segment introduces the concept of camouflage -- how animals achieve it and how this form of disguise benefits both predators and prey. Footage from NOVA: "Animal Impostors."	K-12	QuickTime Video
The Needs of Living Things Students learn what animals and plants need to survive, how their habitats support these needs, and how organisms can change their environment.	K-5	Lesson Plan
One Tree(s) In this video segment adapted from SPARK , we learn about the work of scientist and artist, Natalie Jeremijenko as she turns San Francisco's many neighborhoods into a gigantic laboratory.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Patterns in Nature In this video segment from Cyberchase, a plant expert shows Bianca the patterns and symmetry found in nature.	3-6	QuickTime Video
Peregrine Falcon In this video from Outdoor Nevada, Brian Wignall speaks with an ornithologist about the peregrine falcon, a majestic and endangered species that is one of the fastest animals in the world.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Plant Life Cycles Students explore the cycles of plant life and compare them with those of animals.	K-5	Lesson Plan
Plants-in-Motion While we tend to think of plants as stationary, they are in constant, though very slow motion, as they respond to environmental factors. Watch plants move in time-lapse videos in this interactive activity adapted from Indiana University.	K-12	Flash Interactive
Primitive Insects of the Congaree Swamp In this video segment from NatureScene, observe dragonflies and mayflies near Cedar Creek at Congaree Swamp National Park.	3-8	QuickTime Video
Redwoods at Redwood National Park This video segment from NatureScene describes the characteristics of redwood trees at Redwood National Park.	3-8	QuickTime Video
Reptiles of the Congaree Swamp In this video segment from NatureScene, discover some reptiles in the swamp forest ecosystem at Congaree Swamp National Park.	3-8	QuickTime Video
Root Systems of Trees at the Congaree Swamp Learn about root systems of trees in the Congaree Swamp National Park in this video segment from NatureScene.	3-8	QuickTime Video
Seahorses This video from Thinkport introduces the seahorse, an unusual, endangered fish that has puzzled scientists who are attempting to save it.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Sock Seeds In this ZOOMSci experiment, you're invited to walk through a grassy or weedy field in your stocking feet, then plant a sock and see what grows.	K-8	QuickTime Video
Supermarket Botany Can you eat the stem, root, or seed of a plant? In this interactive activity adapted from the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, test your knowledge of plant parts by identifying everyday foods as plant parts.	2-5	Flash Interactive
Veterinary Medicine In this video from WOSU Columbus, learn about the field of Veterinary Medicine and other animal-related careers.	7-12	MPEG 4 Video
What Do Animals Eat? Some animals -- like some children -- are notoriously picky eaters. Others will eat whatever they can find. This video segment explores the diversity of feeding habits among some of the world's creatures.	K-5	QuickTime Video
What Sounds Do Animals Make? Although they can't speak, most animals have their own way of communicating. This video segment presents examples of animal communication.	K-5	QuickTime Video

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Subtopic: Plants and Animals