Discover Nature
Find out about 246 different animal species, dig around and explore dinosaurs, or learn about the beauty and biodiversity of butterflies at this site from the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No

Science: Life Science

  Curriculum Standard 3a.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Classify a variety of organisms based on their characteristics, and use this scheme as a tool to organize information about the diversity of life forms.



• Identify major body structures of some common organisms, e.g. when shown a picture of the human skeleton students can identify, by common name, the major bones in their body.



• Relate the structure of body parts to function, e.g. when presented with teeth (or models of teeth) from various animals, students can make inferences concerning what the animal eats.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade ten students will be able to:

• Identify and give examples of representative life forms in the five kingdoms of living things



• Identify and describe similarities and differences among organisms of different, but closely related taxa (groups), e.g. conifers, rodents, big cats, etc.



• Relate different kinds of animals and plants to their habitat by observing their physical characteristics

  Curriculum Standard 3d

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:

• Describe similarities and differences between single celled and multicellular organisms, e.g. cell structures



• Identify the major anatomical features of plants and animals, and the major function of each



• Observe and describe major characteristics of various life forms, e.g. microorganisms, fungi, protists, plants and animals



• Compare and contrast life processes in plants and animals, e.g. growth and development, nutrition, reproduction, etc.