Natural History: Classifying Marine Mammals Lesson Plan

Grade Level

6th-8th Grade

Objectives

Students will be able to develop a classification system for marine mammals by examining physical characteristics. Students will also be able to describe the marine mammal classification systems most widely accepted by the scientific community.

Florida Sunshine State Standards:

Science SC.G.1.3.3 The student understands that the classification of living things is based on a given set of criteria and is a tool for understanding biodiversity and interrelationships.

National Standards:

Content Standard C (5-8) – Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms: Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry.