Encourage students to record information in words and drawings.

Spectrum of Life Wall:
Ask students to work with a partner. Allocate one clade, or animal or plant evolutionary group, from the Wall (see insert for list) to each pair of students, who should:

  choose three specimens from their clade. Draw these in close detail. Include labels to describe features and colors. Why are these specimens in the same clade? Use the computer interactives to find and record further information on the specimens and the clade.
  closely study the labels in front of the clade. Make notes and drawings on areas of interest for further research back in the classroom.

Younger students may choose favorite specimens, make drawings, then look for their specimens on the computer interactives. Older students may focus on one area of the panel text, e.g. human benefits, rather than on individual clades (see "How to Read the Labels" for details of how the text is organized).

Rain Forest Diorama:
Ask students to sit, closely observe, and listen to the diorama. Draw their attention to the three different levels of the rain forest:

  forest floor
  understory (area at eye level)
  canopy (sit back on the benches and look up)

Ask questions that encourage students to focus on the interactions they see in each layer (remind them of the Web-of-Life game) and to record their observations in drawings and writing. To help them focus closely, younger students may bring flashlights, or create observational tools (such as binoculars) before their visit. Older students may use panel text or the field guides to make more detailed notes.

Entire Hall
Before your visit, ask older students to choose an environmental topic that interests them, e.g., oceans, forests, pollution, endangered species. At the Museum, invite students to use the resources of the Hall to gather information for further research and writing back in the classroom.