These two activities support the film The Origin of Species: The Beak of the Finch. They provide students with the opportunity to analyze data collected by Princeton University evolutionary biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant.

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Students examine animals that are examples of convergent evolution. They then analyze wings of bats, birds, and pterosaurs to see why these animals are not closely related.

This interactive explores different anatomical features of the human body and what they reveal about the evolutionary history humans share with other organisms, including earlier, long-extinct species.

In this interactive, students explore evolutionary relationships between tanagers. They will investigate why one species is much drabber in color than the others and determine whether this is a case of fanciness lost.

This lesson is based on the highly engaging book Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson. Alternate texts and strategies for sharing are provided in case there are not enough book resources for all students to have an individual copy. As they read, students will take notes and then participate in an interactive "grab bag book review" where they will take objects from a bag, one at a time, to act as prompts for re-telling big ideas from the book and lesson.

These classroom-ready resources complement the film "Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans," which reveals the history of our evolutionary origins.

Students watch the video "Flatworms: The First Hunter" and answer a series of questions about adaptations and evolution.

Students will understand the pattern of genetic variation among humans and how variation has been introduced into our species over time. As a culminating activity, students will pick a trait variation to research and report.

Students explore transitional forms with features of both fish and tetrapods, and see the progression of anatomical changes from reconstructed fossil skeletons in this interactive.

In the second film of the Great Transitions trilogy, paleontologist Julia Clarke takes us on a journey to uncover the evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs. The film illustrates many of the practices of science, including asking important questions, formulating and testing hypotheses, analyzing and interpreting evidence, and revising explanations as new evidence becomes available.

In this film, part of the Great Transitions trilogy, Sean Carroll and Tim White discuss the most important human fossils and how they illuminate key phases of human evolution, focusing in particular on three traits: larger brains, tool use, and bipedality.

In this lesson, students examine how evolution has been scientifically explained historically. In doing so, students will read and analyze the arguments and theories set forth by three historically significant scientists: Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Alfred Russell Wallace, and Charles Darwin.

In this hands-on activity students examine the evidence for the evolution of human bipedality as revealed by a trail of fossil footprints. Students first study footprints made by themselves or their classmates using paint. Next, they make observations and draw inferences from an illustration of the Laetoli trackway, compare their own footprints from those at Laetoli, and evaluate the evidence that the Laetoli footprints were made by a fully bipedal human ancestor.

In this lesson, students formulate explanations and models that simulate structural and biochemical data as they investigate the misconception that humans evolved from apes.

In this lesson, students describe, measure, and compare cranial casts from contemporary apes, modern humans, and fossil hominids to discover some of the similarities and differences between these forms and to see the pattern leading to modern humans.

This lesson uses the fundamentals of protein synthesis as a context for investigating the closest living relative to Tyrannosaurus rex and evaluating whether or not paleontologist and dinosaur expert, Jack Horner, will be able to "create" live dinosaurs in the lab. The first objective is for students to be able to access and properly utilize the NIH's protein sequence database to perform a BLAST, using biochemical evidence to determine T rex's closest living relative. The second objective is for students to be able to explain and evaluate Jack Horner's plans for creating live dinosaurs in the lab.

This resource supports the English language development of English language learners. The website allows students to drag and drop characteristics to compare mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds.