A narrated introduction to the seven characteristics of living things. [1:12]
A video lesson exploring the levels of organization in a living organism from smallest to largest. Learn the smaller particles that make up an organism. [1:58]
Determine whether an animal can survive in a different environment than its own based on its inherited traits.
Biology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology includes rich features that engage students in scientific inquiry, highlight careers in the biological sciences, and offer everyday applications. The book also includes various types of practice and homework questions that help students understand—and apply—key concepts. The 2nd edition has been revised to incorporate clearer, more current, and more dynamic explanations, while maintaining the same organization as the first edition. Art and illustrations have been substantially improved, and the textbook features additional assessments and related resources.
By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:
Identify and describe the properties of life
Describe the levels of organization among living things
Recognize and interpret a phylogenetic tree
List examples of different subdisciplines in biology
An introduction to the common characteristics shared by all living things. [1:26]
In small groups, students experiment and observe the similarities and differences between human-made objects and objects from nature. They compare the function and structure of hollow bones with drinking straws, bird beaks, tool pliers, bat wings and airplane wings. Observations are recorded in a compare & contrast chart, and then shared in a classroom discussion, along with follow up assessment activities such as journal writing and Venn diagrams.
Learn about the cell theory and levels of organization in a multicellular organism.
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Students perform an activity similar to the childhood “telephone” game in which each communication step represents a biological process related to the passage of DNA from one cell to another. This game tangibly illustrates how DNA mutations can happen over several cell generations and the effects the mutations can have on the proteins that cells need to produce. Next, students use the results from the “telephone” game (normal, substitution, deletion or insertion) to test how the mutation affects the survivability of an organism in the wild. Through simple enactments, students act as “predators” and “eat” (remove) the organism from the environment, demonstrating natural selection based on mutation.
A lesson plan that introduces students to the concept of classifying objects as either living or non-living. From this lesson, students begin to think about the necessary characteristics of life.
This competent site describes how structural adaptations help organisms survive. Deceptive and advertising coloration are explained.
This comprehensive site describes how communication is an adaptation that is important for survival.
What do you need to survive? Food, water, shelter? Animals need the same things and they live in places that can provide them. This informative site looks at the characteristics, range, habitat, food, reproduction and behavior of the red squirrel and the American bison.
This effective site focuses on how structural and behavioral adaptations help organisms survive and reproduce.
A video lesson defining the basic vocabulary necessary to describe an ecosystem and its parts. Learn how the abiotic and biotic factors work together to form an ecosystem. [7:27]
