Educator Resources

Showing 21 results for traits ...

Traits & Survival

Type: Field Trips
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

In the classroom students learn about inherited traits. In the field, students examine the traits of juniper trees and play a game to model how the environment can act on traits and affect how trees appear. Students also examine kit fox traits and play a game to discover what happens when a trait provides an advantage for survival.

Zion National Park

Genetics and Adaptations: Understanding Inherited Traits and Survival

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

The students will focus on and discover how different plants living in Zion National Park use their inheritable traits to adapt to their environment. Students will model plant genetics using different colored beans to make combinations of alleles, representing the hybridization of prickly pear cacti in Zion National Park.

Independence National Historical Park

Ben Franklin: What a Character!

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

Students will examine Franklin's character traits using textual evidence and images.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

Deep Down Showdown

Type: Distance Learning
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

Which traits are best for surviving caves? Students will discuss how traits change throughout an organism's life cycle and impact survival. They will also participate in the "Deep Down Showdown" by voting for the animal that can best survive in a cave!

Gettysburg National Military Park

Artillery & Teamwork: The 9th Massachusetts Battery AND The Round Tops: A Critical Look

Type: Field Trips
Grade Levels: Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

Battlefield Footsteps is a program that focuses on character traits that can be learned from the Battle of Gettysburg. Teachers select one of three traits to focus on: leadership, courage, or determination. Students will then "walk in the footsteps" of one of three different units while discovering their roles and action in the battle. The units can be either the 9th Massachusetts Battery (Courage); the 15th Alabama (Determination); or 6th Wisconsin (Leadership)

Using Dichotomous Keys

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

A dichotomous key is an important scientific tool, used to identify different organisms, based the organism’s observable traits. Dichotomous keys consist of a series of statements with two choices in each step that will lead users to the correct identification.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

Abe’s Childhood Adventures

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade

Lincoln's character traits, such as honesty, perseverance, and compassion shaped the ways he influenced history. Meets Kentucky K-2nd grade reading standards. This lesson was created by Kentucky teachers as a part of the History and Science Explore Project.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park

Ruth and the Green Book Lesson Plan

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade

During the lesson, students will follow along as the teacher and students read Ruth and the Green Book to examine how a young child with strong character traits (e.g. brave, thoughtful, resilient) overcame segregation while traveling with her family.

Assateague Island National Seashore

3rd Grade| Horse Genetics: Build an Assateague Horse!

Type: Guest Speakers
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

Assateague is known for its wild horses, but do all horses look the same? Student's decode a DNA "recipe" for their own Assateague horse to see firsthand how variations in DNA lead to the inheritance of different traits. Program length: 45 minutes NGSS 3-LS3-1

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Lessons Learned In West Branch

Type: Field Trips ... Student Activities
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

How did Herbert Hoover’s early years in 19th century West Branch influence his character? Which character traits did he learn that made him a leader? Where do we get our own skills for success? A visit to historic buildings from President Hoover's childhood helps answer these questions.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

Historical Characters

Type: Student Activities
Grade Levels: Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

In this activity, students will learn about nine key participants in the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma and the Siege of Fort Brown. They will discover how the personalities of these key leaders helped them during these clashes and influenced their outcome. Students them compare their own personality traits to discover how they are like or different from these leaders.

George Washington Carver National Monument

George Washington Carver - Struggle for Education Distance Learning Program

Type: Distance Learning
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

This lesson focuses on numerous obstacles George Washington Carver faced and overcame in order to earn his education and how he became a role model of perseverance and success. Following this program, students will list three obstacles to education that George Washington Carver faced, two states where he lived while going to school, and one helpful character trait he possessed.

Eisenhower National Historic Site

Exploring Eisenhower: An Interactive Tour of the Eisenhower Home and Farm

Grade Levels: Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

What do the places where we live say about us? Explore the Eisenhower home and learn about our 34th President of the United States! This new program gives students the chance to use the Eisenhower home as a primary source, looking for objects or rooms inside the house and using them to learn important traits or characteristics about Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

3rd Grade Virtual Field Trip - Amazing Adaptations

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

A virtual trip to the Shoreline Trail introduces students to the animals and plants of Lake Mead National Recreation Area along with how their adaptations allow them to survive in the harsh conditions of the Mojave Desert.

Zion National Park

Pollination Adaptations: Connecting Habitat and Anatomy

Type: Lesson Plan
Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade

Have you ever wondered why bees are so fuzzy? Or how they’re able to find flowers and then travel back to their nests? Or even wanted to know why bees are such good pollinators? Students will have the opportunity to explore the answers to each of those questions. Once students have a basic understanding of bee body parts, they can design their own bee based around a Zion habitat. Students can be as creative as they like—as long as they provide an explanation for how their bee can thrive in Zion!

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park