Your world is a very complex place.  It has many objects and many forms of life.  Fortunately we have a way of looking at all of this diversity.  It is called classification and it is a way of grouping objects, life forms, and events based on their similarities and differences.  Paleontologists look at the fossil bones of dinosaurs to see how they were similar or different. In this lesson you will learn why and how we classify.  You will have the chance to practice the skills of classifying and making branching and dichotomous keys.  Your will learn  the system used by modern biologists to classify organisms and how they are given scientific names. 

Your Mission 
  Your mission will be to use this web site to learn as much as you can about taxonomy (the study of classification). The activities page will guide you on a day to day basis of the concepts to be learned, the journals to answer, the labs to do, homework assignments, final projects and quizzes and tests. When you visit the materials page you will be able to down load copies of the labs and worksheets that you will be doing. Want to know how you will be graded on your final project?  Go to the Your Grade page. Remember, you still have a teacher to help you if you are unsure of any part of any assignment you are asked to do. If you are ready to begin click on the activities page.   Have fun and you will learn a lot about sorting all sorts!