Hall of Biodiversity
For Educators: Hall of Biodiversity
Extend your learning experience after a visit to the Hall of Biodiversity—or conduct your visit from your own classroom. The essays, educator's guide, interactives, and printable exhibition materials from the Hall of Biodiversity Special Collection offer a way for both educators and learners to navigate the exhibition; you'll also find behind-the-scenes stories that explore the process of creating the exhibition.
The Hall of Biodiversity celebrates the beauty and abundance of all living things, as well as the interconnections between them. The Hall also presents warnings of the threats to biodiversity and explores the damage already inflicted—all the result of human activity. As you teach your students how to study life on Earth, the Hall of Biodiversity Special Collection can provide a way to teach them how to celebrate and protect it.
This hall expands the Museum's efforts to alert the public to the critical roles biodiversity plays in sustaining life as we know it, and to the ecological crisis we now face.
Educators Guide and Materials
More Resources for Educators
Use these free online resources before or after your visit to further explore themes presented in the Hall of Biodiversity Exhibition.
Article
Frozen in Time (Science World)
Meet an AMNH scientist who manages one of the world's largest frozen tissue collections. Then take a peek inside her cryovats, where animals on the brink of extinction remain frozen in time.
Article
Secret Species (Science World)
In the 10 years since the Museum's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation began working in Vietnam, they have found a small zoo's worth of animals. Meet some of these newly discovered species.
Exhibition Materials
These exhibition materials from the Hall of Biodiversity allow users to examine the different habitats on Earth and learn what factors threaten our entire world today.
Activity
Discover Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History
Investigate the weird and wonderful plants and animals that live on Earth—and how they depend on each other—with this kid-friendly guide to biodiversity.
Activity
How to Help Biodiversity
Why should you harness your house pets, be a smart shopper, and protect habitats? They're your jobs as a keeper of the Earth. Find out how else biodiversity depends on you.
Article
Kids in the Hall of Biodiversity: Articles
What do chocolate and cacao beans have to do with coral reefs? Everything when it comes to biodiversity and the threat of extinction, according to these Kids in the Hall.
Article
Welcome to the Dzanga-Sangha
Travel to the lush Dzanga-Sangha rainforest with BaAka. This excellent tour guide will show you the sights—and help you find the clues needed to play Connect the Dots.
Activity
What Do You Know About Biodiversity?
Invasive species, endangered species, the Endangered Species Act—when it comes to biodiversity, is your knowledge thriving or close to extinct? Find out with this interactive quiz.
story
What's the Big Idea About Biodiversity?
It's the differences in this world that make all the difference! Find out why biodiversity is so important to our planet—and what you can do to help protect it.