This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW shows how the common wood frog freezes solid every winter, an adaptation that allows the organism to survive the cold winter.

This educational video features Sperm whales and has an accompanying lesson plan to teach about Sound in the Sea. The Sperm whale holds many records. It is the deepest-diving whale on Earth, the largest toothed whale on Earth and has the largest brain on the planet too. On top of that, it has a reputation for being a vicious beast, thanks in part to Herman Melville's Moby Dick. But the real Sperm whale is a lot different than people think. It has a highly-evolved social life, operates at depths where nobody can see them most of the time, and uses sonar which is so sophisticated that it makes the Navy's electronics look like toys. Sperm whales are very hard to find and even harder to film. In the Caribbean, Jonathan repeatedly attempts to get close to the elusive whales, until finally he succeeds and has an incredible experience eye to eye with a giant who investigates him with powerful sonar clicks. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

In a quiet forest in central Florida, a mysterious pond filled with warm clear water hides a secret at the bottom. In this video, Jonathan explores the pond to find a spring which leads into a cave. As Jonathan travels underground, he meets unexpected marine life in the dark depths and learns how water travels through an aquifer from the underground world to the surface. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This article highlights hands-on or multimedia lesson plans about oceans. Science lessons are paired with suggested literacy lesson plans. All lessons are aligned to national standards.

This article provides links to lessons and units about birds, bird characteristics, and penguins. Ideas for literacy integration are included, and all lessons are aligned to national standards.

In this video from Outdoor Nevada, learn about the habitat, diet, and defense mechanisms of horned lizards.

This article discusses the physical and behavioral adaptations that allow birds to survive in cold climates such as the polar regions.

Students discuss how the environment influences animal characteristics by looking at Hans Hoffmann's painting "A Hare In the Forest". After the discussion, students research an animal that uses camouflage, paint that animal within its environment, and write a sentence describing its habitat. Students use this as a basis on which to write a sequential narrative about their animal and its relationship to its environment. This lesson is an extension to the "Open Court Reader" second grade unit on animal camouflage called "Look Again."

Students learn about the unique adaptations of sea stars and then research and develop a presentation on the adaptations of two other organisms.

This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, examines physical science concepts, such as heat, conductors, and insulation, and applies this knowledge to the animals and people in the Arctic and Antarctica.

This article features children's literature about heat, temperature, and adaptations and behaviors that allow animals and people to survive in the polar regions.

Giant clams are no myth. In New England, people love clam chowder, but in the Pacific, some of the clams are as big as a suitcase! In this video filmed in Micronesia, Jonathan goes in search of Giant Clams. These clams are so big that people used to think they caught people...and it almost looks like they could. It turns out that the real problem is that too many people are eating the clams. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Even experienced divers rarely get to see the Mandarinfish, a colorful reef fish that is so shy, it only comes out of hiding for a half-hour a day. In this video, Jonathan travels to the south Pacific to film spawning Mandarinfish and witnesses an incredible secret ritual. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

In this video, Jonathan travels to the Micronesian island of Yap in the middle of the Pacific to investigate large gatherings of the world's largest ray‰ŰÓthe manta. A research program there is tracking dozens of these animals and Jonathan learns what they're doing hanging around certain coral heads every morning. Please see the accompanying lesson plan on tides for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Of all the animals in the oceans, the hammerhead shark may be one of the strangest looking. The exact purpose of the wide, flat head is a mystery, but several theories abound. In this video, we travel to the shark-infested waters of the Galapagos in Ecuador and to a research station in Hawaii to learn about the unusual habits of these sinister-looking sharks. Jonathan swims in schools of hundreds of hammerheads, and yet the sharks ignore him. What are the sharks up to? Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

Solar energy in the form of light is available to organisms on Earth in abundance. Natural systems and other organisms have structures that function in ways to manage the interaction with and use of this energy. Using these natural examples, humans have (in the past) and continue to design and construct homes which manage solar energy in passive and active ways to reduce the need for energy from other sources. In this storyline, students will explore passive and active solar energy management through examples in the natural world. Students will use knowledge gained to design a building that maximizes the free and abundant energy gifts of the sun.

This lesson introduces students to the parts of fish (both internal and external), covers adaptations of fish, and assesses student's understanding of the parts of fish.

This video segment from Nature profiles a small business in which homing pigeons play a central role.

This is a field investigation where students observe plants in a school forest setting. Students then compare adaptations of plants from different parts of the forest.

Plant water relations are presented in this learning activity to help participants understand the components of water potential, explain how water moves through plants, provide examples of plant adaptations to water stress, and have a general understanding of how water potential can be measured.