In this activity, students evaluate and discuss statements about the evolutionary relationship between birds and dinosaurs and other facts about these groups, before and after watching the short film Great Transitions: The Origin of Birds.

This virtual lab includes four modules that investigate different concepts in evolutionary biology, including adaptation, convergent evolution, phylogenetic analysis, reproductive isolation, and speciation. Each module involves data collection, calculations, analysis and answering questions.

This activity supports the viewing of the film The Origin of Species: The Making of a Theory. Before and after watching the film, students discuss and evaluate several statements about Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and the specific evidence that led each of them to the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Students will see the different types of evidence scientists use to understand evolutionary relationships among organisms. They will first practice by using shared physical characteristics to predict relationships among members of the cat family and then use this approach to predict primate relationships.

Students interpret molecular diagrams and build physical models of eukaryotic gene regulation in this hands-on activity.

Students analyze amino acid data and draw conclusions about the evolution of coat color phenotypes in different rock pocket mouse populations.

Students will take on the role of both research biologists and predators to simulate how envrionmental conditions affect and change a population of model frogs and traits. Students will encounter the impacts of mutations and changes to the environment affecting the survival as well.

Students investigate how, through the process of evolution, animals have solved their engineering problems and how people have mimicked those natural solutions.

This interactive tool is based on the classic story of evolution by natural selection - the story of the peppered moths in England during the Industrial Revolution. The simulation uses green and orange bugs to demonstrate how natural selection influences the changes in species over time.

In this activity, students will brainstorm and observe how humans use their hands. They will then conduct a short experiment to determine the importance of the opposable thumb to humans. This experiment involves students taping their thumb to render it useless while they proceed to do an everyday activity. In the end students will have the opportunity to reflect on why the opposable thumb is an adaptation important to humans.

Students will investigate the tracks and traces left by modern animals and determine what they can learn about an animal from its tracks. Then students will consider what it takes to be a hunter and what kind of evidence can be used to figure out what animal was the first hunter. Discussion questions included.

Students use a wide range of objects to create an artificial phylogeny based on morphology. The family tree that they produce will be artificial in the sense that the objects used have not actually evolved from each other.

Students assess evolutionary links and evidence from comparative analysis of the fossil record and modern day organisms. Using the information about the Cambrian Explosion, they explore theories about how and why organisms divesrsified then hypothesize what evidence might be helpful to connect fossil organisms to show evolutionary connections.

Students study a variety of gastropod shells and consider how they provide evidence of coevolution.

Students investigate sickle cell anemia to teach the principles of inheritance, genetic diagnostics, and bioethics.

Students view a slideshow presentation with imbedded videos and images of the skeletal evolution of humans and chimpanzees. The fossil skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus is compared with the skeletons of humans and chimpanzees to better understand the branching that took place during evolution.

Students first examine the bodies and behavior of live slugs or snails, then use water balloons to model their unique style of locomotion, and finally tackle a series of analytical questions designed to cultivate a grasp of divergent evolution.

A super continent, Pangaea, began to break apart into the modern continents about 260 million years ago, causing the isolation (and separate evolution) of various groups of organisms from each other. Since this event, the living species inhabiting these separate continents have progressively changed. Organisms have learned to adapt through hiding, camouflaging and mimicking other organisms’ efforts to outfox potential predators seeking their next meal. Many of these changes can be attributed to the concept of evolution which includes physical as well as behavioral changes.

This resource is a part of the So You Think the World Evolves Around You? lesson plan. This resource provides step by step ways for teachers to implement the lesson.

This resource is a part of the So You Think the World Evolves Around You? lesson plan. This resource includes links to student resources for the lesson.