Subject Matter

Colorado State University's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) is working to provide educators with fun and useful hands-on lab lessons for high school students, to foster an interest in the outdoors and the realization of the importance of ecology and conservation in an ever-changing world. We offer material on a variety of subjects, accessible through the menu on the left.

These lesson plans are designed to get students outdoors, and allow them to think like scientists, but also to give them the freedom to be creative throughout the scientific process, and design their own experiments in addition to those within the plan. This makes for an innovative group of students, who ask questions and solve problems scientifically and efficiently.

The activities and lessons on this site can be utilized as they are, or can be used as a jumping-off point in the design of new activities, and we look forward to providing you with the tools to teach ecology, as well as giving you the resources to manipulate and change activities to fit your needs as an educator.