Suite simply, biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of life on Earth, millions of plants, animals and micro organisms, the genes they contain and the intrincate ecosystems they help build into the living environment as we know it today. Biodiversity is the result of four million years of continuing evolution.

Biodiversity is vital to the man’s own well-being. People depends on living natural resources for their food and in large measure for shelter, fuel, medicine, clothing and sheer enjoyment of life itself. However, human population growth and careless behavior threaten the very fabric of our environment.

Biodiversity is diminishing hour by hour with tropical forest felled, with every tone of pollutants released. Species extinguish at a rate without precedents. Each loss represents a small tragic step towards the weakening of our life support system.

Facing this situation, conservation is now addressed to a new approach: the protection of biodiversity as a whole. A successful result and an integrated management of different environments should be achieved within a frame of participatory and interdisciplinary work. Interdisciplinary because the multiple subjects involved and participatory to get commitment of stakeholders.

The areas with the highest biodiversity are located in the warmest regions of the planet: tropical forests and coral reefs. In mild regions, for example, the Patagonian coastal zone, the number of species is comparatively fewer. However, these populations are composed of

unique species and in some sites relatively abundant. For example, breeding colonies of many marine mammals and birds are located here. The biodiversity value is the kind of these species and the size of these populations.

The Biodiversity Map is a valuable didactical resource to study different current conflicts related to biodiversity, such as: overfishing, oil pollution, protected areas and current legislation.

Though biodiversity issues are actually taught at school, they are not, in general, discussed in the classrooms. In the same way, serious classroom research on the relationships between different regional points of view regarding life conservation and the pressure made on it by economic, social and political interests is not carried out.

A list of contents organized by subjects and curricular principal lines of teaching were prepared to help students to think the mentioned relationships. The minimum common contents established by the National Education Ministry were used in the selection as a source of consultation.