ZooMobile

Grades 6-8/9-12

Wildlife CSI

Illegal Wildlife Trade

The illegal wildlife trade is the fourth most lucrative global market, with hundreds of millions of plants and animals captured each year, then traded on the black market. While the problem can seem daunting, there are ways we can help! Using our observation skills, students will learn how to identify items found in the illegal wildlife trade and help develop possible solutions. Rather than feel powerless, students will learn new skills and problem-solving techniques, empowering them to be stewards for wildlife around the globe!

Standards

MS-LS2-5: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

MS-LS4-5: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

HS-LS2-7: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

HS-ETS1-3: Engineering Design

Grades TK–K (Age 4+)

Happy, Healthy, and Alive

Animal Care and Basic Needs

Let’s see…you’ve got your water, you’ve got your food, you’ve got your air, and a little space—all the requirements for survival…right? While all animals have these basic needs in common, we all get them in different ways. Just like humans, each individual animal may have their own preferences, too! As students meet our visiting ambassador animals, they will learn how each animal finds food, where they sleep at night (or during the day!), and how we all have more in common than we think.

Standards

LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Grade 1

Ooh, That Smells So Good on My Tongue

Animal Senses and Body Parts

Can you hear with your feet? Do you smell with your mouth? Might sound strange to us, but for different animals, using your body parts in different ways is key to survival. Together we’ll use some or our senses to see how animals use their bodies and various senses to survive in the wild.

Standards

LS1.A: Structure and Function

LS1.D: Information Processing

Grade 2

Not So Creepy Crawlies

Arthropods

Calling everybody with an exoskeleton! We know that butterflies have wings, antennae, and six legs-but what about other insects? Arthropods (such as insects and spiders) make up 80% of all animal species on Earth! With the help of some visiting ambassador animals, students will use their observation skills to learn what makes these animals so special and realize they might not be so “creepy” after all.

Standards

LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans

Grades 2-3

Amazing Adaptationsss

Animal Adaptations and Habitats

How do snakes move without any limbs? How does a turtle’s shell help keep them safe, and could they leave it if they wanted to? Why do some animals smell with their tongue while we use our nose? Animals throughout the world have amazing adaptations to help them survive in their habitats. With the help of our visiting ambassador animals, students will make observations to discover how animals use their unique adaptations to thrive in the wild.

Standards

LS4.C: Adaptation

Grade 4

Mechanisms of Survival

Animal Defenses

How do animals of all shapes and sizes defend themselves? What makes an animal a predator, and when are they prey? What does the color of their scales have to do with it? With the help of our visiting ambassador animals, students will discover, discuss, and document the different defense mechanisms that our animals use to survive in the wild.

Standards

4-LS1-1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

4-LS1.A: Structure and Function

ELA G4:M2:U1: Animal Defense Mechanisms

Grade 5

Nature’s Balancing Act

Animal Food Webs and Ecosystems

Herbivores eat plants, the carnivores eat them, and the decomposers always win in the end. All organisms “work” together to provide a healthy ecosystem—that’s interdependence! So what happens when one is taken out of the equation? What happens when one is added to the balance? Students will discover the importance and fragility of ecosystems by thinking critically and reimagining the world with the loss of important keystone species and the addition of invasives.

Standards

5-LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

5-LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

MS-ESS3-4: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

Grades 6-8/9-12

Wildlife CSI

Illegal Wildlife Trade

The illegal wildlife trade is the fourth most lucrative global market, with hundreds of millions of plants and animals captured each year, then traded on the black market. While the problem can seem daunting, there are ways we can help! Using our observation skills, students will learn how to identify items found in the illegal wildlife trade and help develop possible solutions. Rather than feel powerless, students will learn new skills and problem-solving techniques, empowering them to be stewards for wildlife around the globe!

Standards

MS-LS2-5: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

MS-LS4-5: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

HS-LS2-7: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

HS-ETS1-3: Engineering Design