The Adaptation series highlights the intersectionality of environmental education, geography, and anthropology. Explore our collection of resources and classroom activities that promote civic action by students to make real connections in their local communities as inspired by the actions in the global examples presented in each episode. These lessons could apply to geography, life science, or environmental science/studies classes, as well as innovation and engineering programs with a human-centered design approach. This Collection features 4 videos and a lesson plan for Grades 6-8, 9-12.

This webcast relates the research being done to understand the adaptations insects and other arthropods make to survive in various conditions. [29:15]

How do the differences in adaptations of African and Asian elephants reflect the habitats in which they live? For grades 4-6 from the Connections to Africa program. It is an activity designed to get students to think critically about problem-solving. This activity is designed to start your students in recognizing themselves as scientists and thinking critically about problem-solving. The goal is to teach concepts through discovery and to encourage using scientific thought processes. As with all lessons provided, please feel free to adapt them according to your students’ abilities. You may find it more successful to lead activities and discussions as a whole group rather than using individual Research Plan sheets. Certain scientific vocabulary may or may not be appropriate for your students’ level of understanding. Take these ideas, make them your own and your students will have a greater chance at success.

Finches on the Galapagos Islands have evolved to exploit almost every possible niche. This diagram shows the range of food sources available on the island and the different beak shapes adapted to exploit each of them.

Finches on the Galapagos Islands have evolved to exploit almost every possible niche. This diagram shows the range of food sources available on the island and the different beak shapes adapted to exploit each of them. Includes background reading materials and some discussion questions.

It takes a thick skin to withstand the hardships that life has to offer. This collection of images shows a variety of animals, each with a slightly different type of protective covering.

This lesson plan will help students explore adaptation, especially as it relates to migration. Students will come to realize that adaptations can be behavioral as well as physical. Students are assigned a particular animal to investigate and they consider all the adaptations that enable it to migrate.

This video segment from Wild Europe: "Wild Arctic" explores the struggle for survival in one of Earth's most extreme environments.

This landing page includes learning modules on the following topics of: animals, plants, microorganisms, life cycles and reproductions, food chains, habits, humans and the environment, adaptation, inheritance, and evolution.

This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores honeybee communication and navigation.

What role or roles do elephants play in a food web? How might they affect the other animals around them? This activity is designed to start your students in recognizing themselves as scientists and thinking critically about problem-solving. The goal is to teach concepts through discovery and to encourage using scientific thought processes. As with all lessons provided, please feel free to adapt them according to your students’ abilities. You may find it more successful to lead activities and discussions as a whole group rather than using individual Research Plan sheets. Certain scientific vocabulary may or may not be appropriate for your students’ level of understanding. Take these ideas, make them your own and your students will have a greater chance at success.

Students toss coins to determine what traits a set of mouse parents possess, such as fur color, body size, heat tolerance, and running speed. Then they use coin tossing to determine the traits a mouse pup born to these parents possesses. Then they compare these physical features to features that would be most adaptive in several different environmental conditions. Finally, students consider what would happen to the mouse offspring if those environmental conditions were to change: which mice would be most likely to survive and produce the next generation?

Use this assessment to see what your students have learned about adaptations. This type of assessment allows students to observe and make open-ended claims backed up by evidence. Included are a power point presentation, student quiz, and a video explanation.

Determine whether an animal can survive in a different environment than its own based on its inherited traits.

Classroom resources paired with a ten-minute video highlight the groundbreaking research of physical and genetic evolutionary changes in rock pocket mouse populations. [10:31]

Penn State University anthropologist Dr. Nina Jablonski walks us through the evidence that the different shades of skin color among human populations arose as adaptations to the intensity of ultraviolet radiation in different parts of the world. [18:57]

Biology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology includes rich features that engage students in scientific inquiry, highlight careers in the biological sciences, and offer everyday applications. The book also includes various types of practice and homework questions that help students understand—and apply—key concepts. The 2nd edition has been revised to incorporate clearer, more current, and more dynamic explanations, while maintaining the same organization as the first edition. Art and illustrations have been substantially improved, and the textbook features additional assessments and related resources.

By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:

Describe how scientists developed the present-day theory of evolution
Define adaptation
Explain convergent and divergent evolution
Describe homologous and vestigial structures
Discuss misconceptions about the theory of evolution