NSTA links for life cycles/ inherited traits
Sites for Teachers
It's a Frog's Life
This is a really fun WebQuest site for students! It has a wide variety of tasks to reinforce
understanding of the frog life cycle.
http://www.can-do.com/uci/ssi2001/life-frog.html
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Incubation and Embryology Lesson Plans
This website is full of resources, activities, and information on the development of
chicken eggs.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/lessonplan.html
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Sites for Students
Hatch to Catch
In this interactive journey you will guide a cohort, or group of lobster larvae, from "hatch
to catch." You can choose from different hatching areas or habitats at key life stages.
http://www.bigelow.org/hatch_to_catch/
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Science Clips: LIfe Cycles
In this interactive simulation the learner is tasked with identifying various parts of a
flower and then decide what their part is in the lifecycle of the plant. This simulation also
contains an on-line quiz.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/9_10/life_cycles.shtml
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Emperor Penguins
Meet a dad that does all the work! The manner in which a penguin’s life cycle is
described is sure to interest middle and elementary school students. Video of actual
emperor penguins can be accessed from this page.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/creature_feature/0101/penguins2.html
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Life Cycle of Frogs
At the top and bottom of this page there are some really good graphics showing the life
cycle of a frog. In between the page contains descriptive text of the life cycle of a frog.
http://www.tooter4kids.com/Frogs/life_cycle_of_frogs.htm
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Sites for Teachers
Habitats of the World
Teach your students about the Earth's unique and varied habitats with this Internet
research project. Suggested readings, discussion questions, extension activities and tools
for creating worksheets, puzzles, and quizzes are included.
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/habitats/index.html
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My First Garden
At this site students can learn about gardens, flowers, vegetables, and the principles of
horticulture as they become involved in the care, planning, and nurturing of their own
schoolyard garden.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/firstgarden/tg/fundamentals.html
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Sites for Students
Experiments
This page allows students to grow the ingredients needed to make a pizza. It lets them
decide how much sun, water, and fertilizer to give the plant. The size of the pizza will
depend on the size of their wheat and tomato plants.
http://4hgarden.msu.edu/main.html
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Exploring the Secret Life of Trees
At this site students will observe an animated presentation on tree parts, and learn what
trees need in order to grow.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees2/index.html
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Vegetative Growth
Watch plants grow as you check these videos.
http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/starthere.html
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Living Things- Life Cycles
This interactive activity allows the learner to dissect a plant to see the parts of the flower
with reproduction and the propagation of the species.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/life_cycles.shtml
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All About Monarchs
This site fully illustrates the Monarch butterfly’s life cycle with pictures, audio questions
and answers, and comments from an entomologist. It guides you through a Monarch
migration process as well.
http://www.smm.org/sln/monarchs/you/you.html
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The Circle of Life
All life has a beginning. All living things have a definitive moment at which they become
"alive." That moment is the onset of that being’s own, unique circle of life. Learn more
about the life cycle in this web page.
http://www.fi.edu/tfi/units/life/living/living.html
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Four Stages of Butterfly Development
This site is good for core content. The photographs are excellent.
http://www.acnatsci.org/education/L2L/Four_Stages_of_Development.html
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Sites for Students
All About Butterflies
Which plants will attract which butterflies to your garden? Find out at the following site.
The site also provides users wit lots of printouts, including a research quiz, a math
coloring page, and a life cycle page.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/
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Entomology for Beginners
This web page is very good for helping children visualize the steps of simple and
complete metamorphosis.
http://www.bijlmakers.com/entomology/begin.htm
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Butterfly Life Cycle Worksheet
This printable worksheet is designed to show the life cycle of a butterfly. It does not
contain text and can be easily understandable for the lower elementary grades students.
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarchlifecyclenowords.htm
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A Monarch Picture Story
This is a simple page that shows all the stages of life for the Monarch butterfly. From
caterpillar to butterfly the images are fantastic!
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/butterflypics/monarchpicstory.html
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Sites for Teachers
What Is a Gene?
This is an excellent website for third and fourth grade students. It encourages the students
to learn more about connected subjects, and has a link to vocabulary.
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/what_is_gene.html
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Who Am I? Animal Quiz
This online quiz is about animal characteristics. The students can click on the link
entitled get the facts", to get more information.
http://www.kidsplanet.org/games/quiz/
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Sites for Students
Life Cycle
At this site you will discover the difference between annuals and perennials. You will
also learn the meanings of several other plant terms.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1facts1b.html
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Examples of Inherited Traits
Exactly what are some of those common traits we inherit from our parents? This page
shows some great images of common traits that are easy to identify in others and
yourself.
http://www.sln.org/csi/knox/Traits/traitsexamples.pdf
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Genetic Traits Activity
From this page learners can create a chart of the genetic traits for their classroom and
compare them to other classrooms from across the nation.
http://chroma.gs.washington.edu/outreach/genetics/traits/index.html
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Instinct Vs. Learned Behavior
In this lesson plan students engage in a discussion about learned versus instinctive
behaviors. They investigate common traits between them and their family. They attempt
to show that traits are transferred from parent to offspring.
http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=11338
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How much influence do you have on your baby’s intelligence?
This article is for teachers and parents and describes the Nature vs. Nurture debate in
terms of how they work together as opposed to an adversarial relationship.
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1044
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Nature and Nurture
This is a lesson plan, which helps to students develop an understanding of the roles nature
and nurture play in determining an individual’s traits. It is mainly suitable for grades 3
and up.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=253
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Unique You!
In this inquiry lesson students are asked: Which things about you are mostly genetic, and
which are due to your life experiences? Students can answer this question to get ideas,
create surveys, compare answers and draw conclusions.
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/you.php
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