This site from Palomar College contains a quiz that provides a nice review of the historyof Darwin's work and natural selection. Providesfor immediate feedback as soon as an answer is entered.
How are species able to survive in a desert? tudents will be able to explain how plants and animals are adapted to a desert and how those adaptations help them survive and reproduce.
This video from Nature offers a description of desirable traits in beef and dairy cattle.
This video from Nature offers a description of desirable traits in beef and dairy cattle. [2:55]
In this video segment from Nature, learn about six different breeds of cattle. [6:46]
In this video segment from Nature, learn about six different breeds of cattle.
Students learn about the amazing adaptations of the ptarmigan to the alpine tundra. They focus one adaptation, the feathered feet of the ptarmigan, and ask whether the feathers serve to only keep the feet warm or to also provide the bird with floatation capability. They create model ptarmigan feet, with and without feathers, and test the hypothesis on the function of the feathers. Ultimately, students make a claim about whether the feathers provide floatation and support this claim with their testing evidence.
Use butterflies, mice, or finches to illustrate how natural selection changes populations. Each group has a different interactive animation that illustrates the concept.
In this article, the author identifies science content standards for grades K-5 from the national standards that are aligned with the third essential principle of the climate sciences--life on Earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate. In addition she reviews misconceptions commonly held by children about adaptations and natural selection. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured around the seven essential principles of the climate sciences and explores a different principle each issue.
This pathway explores the concepts of natural selection and evolution of populations. Stories from scientists sharing their perspective on this topic and their research are embedded throughout the pathway.
Explore the evidence of evolution with this interactive worksheet based off of NOVA's Evolution Lab. This resource is designed to be completed while playing through the Evolution Lab game and contains multiple choice and free response questions and covers Mission 1 of the Evolution Lab game with embedded videos. Mission 1 introduces students to natural selection and how to interpret and create phylogenetic trees. Below are links to the remaining missions of the Evolution Lab.
In this out of class tutorial, students explore several examples of natural selection and speciation.
This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" illustrates the remarkable camouflage of a praying mantis against its leafy backdrop.
Students are introduced to the concepts of digital organisms and digital evolution. They learn about the research that digital evolution software makes possible, and compare and contrast it with biological evolution.
The process of evolution through natural selection is the focus of this video segment from Evolution, which presents a field study of hummingbird speciation in Ecuador. [6:41]
This video from Evolution highlights Charles Darwin's personal struggle to bring to light his theory of evolution through natural selection. [6:31]
A hypothetical scenario is introduced in which the class is asked to apply their understanding of the forces that drive natural selection to prepare a proposal along with an environmental consulting company to help clean up an area near their school that is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). Students use the Avida-ED software application to test hypotheses for evolving (engineering) a strain of bacteria that can biodegrade TCE, resulting in a non-hazardous clean-up solution. Conduct this design challenge activity after completion of the introduction to digital evolution activity, Studying Evolution with Digital Organisms.
An episode of "Dinosaur Train" discussing the traits of a triceratops that allow it to ward off potential predators. [12:30]
In this video profile adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about geneticist and rock musician Pardis Sabeti, whose innovative insights into natural selection demonstrated how beneficial mutations spread quickly through a population. [5:04]
In this video profile adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about geneticist and rock musician Pardis Sabeti, whose innovative insights into natural selection demonstrated how beneficial mutations spread quickly through a population.