Adult American coot feeding an orange-ornamented chick.

Educational Resources: Biology

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This collection of lessons and web resources is aimed at classroom teachers, their students and students' families.

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Lessons and activities

Online activities

Disruptions in Ecosystems (link is external)

For educators (grades 6–8)

This curriculum includes five chapters: wolves in Yellowstone, ecosystem models, interactions between populations and resources, zebra mussels, and designing solutions. Materials include a book for students and guides and support materials for teachers.

Interdisciplinary Classroom Lessons (link is external)  

For educators (grades 5–12) 

Explore free, easy-to-use lessons on topics like bird identification, animal behavior, hybrid zones and extinction prevention. 

Remote Learning Resources (link is external)

For educators, parents, students (grades K–12)

Brought to you by the U.S. National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research Network (NEON), this site provides ecology-themed lessons and resources for classroom and at-home learning.

NOVA Evolution Lab (link is external)

For educators, students (grades 6–12)

This free digital platform provides game-based labs and puzzles where players can explore evolutionary relationships linking together a spectacular array of species. The platform builds on an NSF-funded museum exhibit called "Life on Earth." 

Merlin (link is external)

For educators, parents, students

This free app, developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, allows bird watchers and outdoor enthusiasts at every level to identify the birds they see and hear.

Digital Atlas of Ancient Life (link is external)  

For educators, parents, students

This page provides field guides, teaching resources and downloadable apps to help individuals identify fossil species and explore the diversity and history of life on Earth. 

A Curious Zoo of Extraordinary Organisms (link is external)  

For educators, students 

This multi-lingual comic series illustrates the beauty and complexities of scientific phenomena. Comics are presented in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. 

Printables

Biology coloring pages

For educators, students

Color in these drawings and learn about a range of topics including fish, fungi, CRISPR and digitizing museum collections. 

Dinosaur Bones coloring page

For educators, students

This coloring page teaches common dinosaur bone structures. 

Ladybug Mix-up activity

For educators, students

In this coloring and cut-out activity, learn the unique patterns of different ladybug species.

Lobster coloring page

For educators, students

Color a lobster in your own creative way. 

Soil Sleuth Experiment

For educators, students (grades 4–12)

Explore how physical properties of soil influence how groundwater is stored and drained.

Spotting Ladybugs coloring page

For educators, students

This coloring page features two of the many endangered ladybug species. 

Videos

Science for kids: What is oceanography?

Watch this "Discovery Files for Kids" video to learn why we study the ocean, how it is important and the different ways we study sea life.

Science for kids: What are cells?

A cell is like a tiny factory that keeps living things alive. Every living thing — plants, animals, and people — is made up of cells!

What is a virus?

What is a virus? How do they spread? Are they all bad? What's the difference between a virus and a disease? Joanna Shisler, program director at NSF, answers these questions and more.

Could giant sandworms exist?

Is it even possible for a sandworm the size of those shown on the fictitious Arrakais in "Dune"? How could a giant sandworm exist? NSF Program Director Anna Allen explains invertebrates.

Build a Plant: Root Anatomy

Botany professor Dr. Joyce Onyenedum explores the development, anatomy and function of roots — the hidden heroes behind plant resilience.

Build a Plant: Primary Growth Anatomy

Take a tour of primary growth in shoots, the foundation of plant structure. 

Build a Plant: Secondary Growth Anatomy

Let’s peel back the bark to explore how plants expand laterally and bulk up over time.

Build a Plant: Leaf Anatomy

Explore how leaves act as the plant's lungs, solar panels and water regulators all in one.

Explore more biology videos

Images

A collage of five comb jelly species
A collage of five comb jelly species that were used in a study that provided insight into how related ocean creatures have adapted to live in vastly different environments.

Credit: Jacob Winnikoff
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Colorful, stylized illustration of the proteins and other structures cluttering the interior of an E. coli cell.
A painting of a cross-section through an Escherichia coli bacteria cell with the two-layer cell wall shown in green. The DNA is shown in yellow, with DNA-binding proteins shown in tan and orange.

Credit: Illustration by David S. Goodsell, RCSB Protein Data Bank
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A bright green frog sits on a tree branch
A white-edged tree frog (Boana albomarginata). Researchers discovered that frogs have maintained a surprising diversity of nonvisual, light-sensing proteins over evolutionary time that play a role in a variety of biological functions. 

Credit: John L. Boyette/Penn State
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Chemotactile receptors in the suckers of octopus allow the animals to methodically explore their surroundings using "taste by touch."
Chemotactile receptors in the suckers of octopus allow the animals to methodically explore their surroundings using "taste by touch." 

Credit: Anik Grearson and Peter Kilian.
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Two juvenile elephants greet each other in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya
Two juvenile elephants greet each other in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve.

Credit: George Wittemyer
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A map of the fruit fly brain
A map of the fruit fly’s brain. Developed by an international team of researchers, the map identified 140,000 neurons and over 8,000 cell types.

Credit: Amy Sterling and Julia Kuhl for FlyWire
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Photo of a white-lined sphinx moth with wings spread, on a primrose flower.
Nighttime pollinators like the white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata), seen here pollinating a pale evening primrose flower, rely on scent-based cues to locate flowers.

Credit: Courtesy of Ron Wolf
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