Hands-on activities with live organisms allow students to actively explore scientific investigation. Here, I present activities that combine guided inquiry with direct instruction and relate how nutrition affects the physiology and behavior of the common housefly. These experiments encourage student involvement in the formulation of experimental…

A simple and effective field exercise that demonstrates factors affecting predation on bird nests is described. With instructor guidance, students in high school biology or college-level biology, ecology, animal behavior, wildlife management or ornithology laboratory courses can collaborate to design field experiments related to nest depredation.

The recent promotion of inquiry-based learning techniques (Uno, 1990) is well suited to the use of animals in the classroom. Working with living organisms directly engages students and stimulates them to actively participate in the learning process. Students develop a greater appreciation for living things, the natural world, and their impact on…