Learning with the Tree of Life

Learning with the Tree of Life

ToL Learning

Treehouse Builders

Builders Toolkit

scientists and science education organizations teachers and classrooms learners and students

ToL Learning pages guide you through learning opportunities on the Tree of Life.

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Treehouses

Treehouses are ToL web pages designed for learners.

Featured Treehouse

Fire Belly Toads and Video Game a fun and games treehouse

ToL Learning Site Map

Teachers, learners and science enthusiasts are invited to explore Life on Earth and share their learning by building ToL treehouses and publishing them on the Tree of Life. Broadening our contributor base and audience is part of our efforts to create an open access digital library about biodiversity. The Learning with the Tree of Life Project was begun with support from the U. S. National Science Foundation National Science Digital Library Program .

Read more about the ToL NSDL project.

The ToL National Science Digital Literacy (NSDL) Project

In order to improve the ToL's value as a tool for learning about organisms and their evolutionary history, and allow for user participation in the growth of the project, we have recently started a 2-year project with support from the U. S. National Science Foundation National Science Digital Library Program (DUE#0333715). The ToL began as a resource created by scientists for scientists, yet, since it was first published, the project has been used extensively by people who are not biologists. We have received abundant feedback from teachers, students, and lifelong learners, clearly reflecting a strong interest in both using the resources provided by ToL, and in actively participating in the development of the project.

The ToL NSDL project will initiate the collection of ToL content specifically aimed at K-16 learners, including exercises, media, instructional games, news items, and learner-generated materials. In addition, we will implement new technical features on the ToL site that will greatly improve the experience of visitors who are not professional biologists or advanced students. We plan to develop a variety of tools that will help the Tree of Life to become a place where students, teachers, lifelong learners and scientists can come together as a community of learners.

It is our goal to improve both the content and functionality of the ToL, so that diverse visitors to the ToL web site will be inspired to embark on a journey of exploration, tracing the distribution of characteristics across the branches of the Tree of Life and pondering the forces that may have shaped the observed diversity of living things. The success of the ToL NSDL project will depend greatly upon the participation of ToL users, both in collecting new materials and in guiding future development efforts.

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 The Tree of Life Web Project is hosted by The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and The University of Arizona Library