This video segment from NatureScene describes the characteristics of redwood trees at Redwood National Park.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn about the critical role of flowers in seed plant reproductive biology.

Learn about root systems of trees in the Congaree Swamp National Park in this video segment from NatureScene.

This article highlights science lessons about mammals, mammal diversity and adaptations, and polar mammals. Literacy integrations and alignment to national standards are included.

This video segment adapted from Northwest Indian College reveals how Native American life and knowledge is connected to natural cycles.

Observing an organism for an extended period of time can be a rewarding learning experience that helps students develop a meaningful relationship with the natural world. Students often engage more deeply in observing an organism if they’re given some sort of task to focus their observations. In this activity, pairs of students find an organism, then observe and record its structures and behaviors. Students apply the lens of adaptations as they come up with explanations for how their organisms’ structures and behaviors might help it survive in its habitat. In a group discussion, students consider the relationship between organisms’ structures and possible functions, which is a useful science thinking tool that can help them to better understand the natural world. This activity helps students develop a definition of adaptation that includes both behavioral and structural adaptations (adaptations are inheritable structures or behaviors that help a population of organisms survive in their habitat), and gives students the experience applying that definition to an organism in the local ecosystem.

This illustration from Evolution by Monroe W. Strickberger shows the remarkable similarities between the bones in the forelimbs of various tetrapods, all of whose limbs serve very different functions.

Unit plans at two levels, K-grade 2 and grades 3-5 develop understanding of the issue theme, We Depend on Earth's Climate, by focusing on adaptations and environments of local plant species and polar mammals. The units are modeled after a learning cycle framework built around five key steps: Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand, and Assess. The lessons are aligned with national standards for science education and English language arts.

In this video segment adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Inuit observers describe how their traditional understanding of weather patterns is being challenged by unpredictable weather behaviors.

Learn about different traits and adaptations in various species of hummingbirds in this video from Nature.

In this Adaptation Name Game, students sitting or standing in a circle play a version of tag, with one person in the center. When a person in the circle says another person’s name, the person in the center of the circle tries to touch the person whose name was said, before they can say someone else’s name. Later, students pause to brainstorm strategies to improve their performance, then play some more. Students learn that this was a representation of how certain structures and behaviors help organisms survive in their habitat, and that these are adaptations that species inherit over time. This game helps students learn each other’s names, while “lightly” introducing them to what adaptations are. Note: This activity is only an introduction; to gain any meaningful understanding of the topic, students will need more adaptation-focused activities, such as Adaptations Intro-Live!, Structures & Behaviors, and Related & Different, which engage students more deeply in understanding the concept through interactions with real organisms.