University of Nebraska State Museum

This reading and writing activity (on pages 2-9) teaches what plant parts should be avoided, how a person can get rid of toxins, symptoms of plant poisoning, and how plants create poisons to repel pre

In this graphing activity (on pages 33-40), learners investigate how much and what kinds of food sea otter pups eat during their first year of life.

In this activity (on pages 9-14), learners dissect a real flower -- the kind of work botanists do.

This activity (on pages 19-24) introduces learners to the rain forest's layers—emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor—and has learners make paper lianas (vines that live attached to trees) and

This activity (on pages 7-13) has pairs of learners survey an array of similarities and differences between them.

In this activity (on pages 22-33), learners do the kind of work genetic scientists do, sorting and comparing (images of) genetic material strands called chromosomes.

This activity (on pages 13-18) has learners build a model tree and then figure out how to make their tree stand up by itself.

In this game (on pages 14-21), learners explore how each human being inherits genetic traits such as eye color.

In this activity (on pages 26-33), learners play parasitologists, solving several "mysteries" about people who got sick from various parasites. In teams of four, each member solves one mystery.

This activity (on pages 23-27) lets learners simulate the work of scientists who take core samples of Earth's rocky layers to determine geological history.