About This Lesson

Students make observations of animals and use a dichotomous key, a common field identification tool, to classify and identify animals based on physical characteristics. Students then design their own dichotomous keys for various objects. This lesson is great for preparing students for BioBlitz or species inventory activities.

Other lessons in this unit:

Skillbuilder 1: Meet a Creature
Skillbuilder 2: ID That Bird!
Skillbuilder 3: How Diverse is Biodiversity?
Skillbuilder 4: Modeling Classification

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Lesson Plan for Middle School

Earth Day Activities

Resources

Files

6-8_ScienceSkills_BioblitzSkillbuilder5.pdf

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Biodiversity Skillbuilder 5: ID Using a Dichotomous Key (Grades 6-8)

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Activity

February 13, 2020

236.8 KB

External resources

EOL Learning + Education

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Standards

MS-LS4-1

Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

MS-LS4-2

Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.