The National Science Education Standards prescribe that an understanding of the importance of classifying organisms be one component of a student's educational experience in the life sciences. The use of a classification scheme to identify organisms is one way of addressing this goal. We describe Conifer ID, a computer application that assists students in the identification of conifers without requiring prior specific knowledge. Conifer ID promotes careful observational skills and presents students with visual aids during the identification to overcome some of the weaknesses of more traditional identification methods.