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Nature Lab is home to educational resources, including lessons, articles, videos, activities, and more.
Featured educator resources
Conversation Starters
Suitable for grades 3+
Conversation Starters feature short videos and accompanying discussion questions on ecological concepts or important environmental issues. Get talking with your kids or students today!
Take your students on a virtual adventure!
In this series, Adventure in the Annamites, join us to experience what it is like doing fieldwork in the remote Annamite Mountains of Laos.
You may not have heard of the Annamite mountains before … but this is a place worth discovering! Come on, join us as we journey into the Annamites and learn about the hidden animals of the forest! Our hosts on this epic adventure are scientist…
We’re in the Annamite Mountains of Laos with Camille Coudrat and the team at Association Anoulak. If you missed the first part of our adventure, click to read about our exciting journey into the Nakai-Nam Theun National Park. Today, we’re at camp learning about…
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Connect with nature. Learn about a local animal today!
Read the article to learn more.
Time to learn about ethograms! This activity is courtesy of the Lemur Conservation Network and the Louisiana Lemur Foundation. Educators: Description of the activity (For ages 10+) This activity helps you observe lemurs at your local zoo (or via a zoo webcam). You will list…
Record your observations of the natural world and describe how nature makes you feel.
Get outside and complete this Nature Mission!
Learn tricks for identifying individual animals.
Learn about a little bird called the grey wagtail and the school kids who celebrate its yearly visits.
What is an endemic species? An endemic species occurs in only one geographic location. A species could be endemic to a forest. A species could be endemic to an island. This video gives examples of endemic species: Endemic species featured in the video: Key points…
Purpose: To understand haikus and how to construct them.
Mongabay Kids lesson series: parts 1–4
Grades 3–5
Learn what the water cycle is and how water cycles differ between rainforest regions and areas around the USA.
What is photosynthesis and why is it important?
Learn what an ecosystem is and why ecosystems are important.
This scientific inquiry is geared at students that live along the Central California Coast, but the idea can be modified to work with a local environmental issue.
Biodiversity articles: parts 1–4
Grade 2 reading level
Take a walk outside your home or open your window. Sit and listen. How many different animal sounds do you hear?
Cutting down trees and clearing plants to use the land for something else is called deforestation.
Have you ever heard of palm oil? Palm oil is used in food, shampoo, toothpaste, makeup and other things. Palm oil can even be used in biofuels to run cars or buses.
Conservation aims to protect nature for the benefit of all people. How can we save nature and use it at the same time?
Grade 3 reading level
Take a walk outside your home or open your window. Sit and listen. How many different animal sounds do you hear?
Cutting down trees and clearing plants to use the land for something else is called deforestation.
Have you ever heard of palm oil? Palm oil is used in food, shampoo, toothpaste, makeup and other things. Palm oil can even be used in biofuels to run cars or buses.
Conservation aims to protect nature for the benefit of all people. How can we save nature and use it at the same time?
Oceans and coral reef articles: parts 1–3
Grade 5 reading level
Groundbreaking research shows that rainforests and coral reefs create rainfall.
Oceans cover about 70% of our planet. And
roughly 80% of life on Earth depends on oceans and coasts.
The world’s coral reefs are in trouble. We explore some solutions.