UC Berkeley
Found 38 resources for the concept:
There is variation within a population. (LS3.B)
Adaptation to altitude
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Eight 50-minute class periods
Overview
In this set of sequenced lessons, students learn how to devise an experiment to test the difference between acclimation and adaptation; investigate how scientific arguments show support for natural selection in Tibetans; design an investigation using a simulation based on the Hardy-Weinberg principle to explore mechanisms of evolution; and devise a test for whether other groups of people have adapted to living at high altitudes.
Angling for evolutionary answers: The work of David O. Conover
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Research profile
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Human activity has certainly affected our physical environment - but it is also changing the course of evolution. This research profile follows scientist David O. Conover as he investigates the impact of our fishing practices on fish evolution and discovers what happened to the big ones that got away.
Breeding Bunnies
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- WGBH
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: One class period
Overview
Students simulate breeding bunnies to show the impact that genetics can have on the evolution of a population of organisms.
Candy Dish Selection
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Tang, Carol
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 30 minutes
Clipbirds
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: One class period
Overview
Students learn about variation, reproductive isolation, natural selection, and adaptation through this version of the bird beak activity.
Color variation over time in rock pocket mouse populations
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
Students watch a short film and complete a worksheet and graphing exercise that reinforces the concepts of variation and natural selection.
Evo in the news: Antibiotic resistant bacteria at the meat counter
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
This news brief from May 2013 describes research showing that a large percentage of the meat in supermarkets is contaminated with antibiotic resistant bacteria. An evolutionary perspective explains how antibiotic resistance arises in the first place and why the prevalence of resistant bugs in livestock has health professionals and scientists worried.
Evo in the news: Bed bugs bite back thanks to evolution
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
This news brief of September 2010 examines the resurgence of bed bugs throughout the country, and the real bad news is that those bed bugs have evolved resistance to the chemicals most commonly used for eradication.
Evo in the news: Cheating cheetahs prosper
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
Biologists have discovered that female cheetahs consistently seek out multiple mates. This news brief, from July 2007, explains how the evolutionary implications of this behavior may help conservation efforts targeting these endangered animals.
Evo in the News: Climate change causes loss of genetic diversity
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
This news brief, from April 2012, describes how climate change is affecting a population of chipmunks in Yosemite National Park. The chipmunks' loss of genetic variation may affect their ability to survive and their future evolutionary potential.
Evo in the news: Evolution from a virus’s view
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
This news brief from December 2007 describes a new virulent strain of the common cold and examines how and why virulence evolves.
Evo in the news: Fighting the evolution of malaria in Cambodia
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
This news brief from December 2009 focuses on one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases: malaria. Malaria is normally treatable, but now some strains are evolving resistance to our most effective drug. Find out how researchers and doctors are trying to control the evolution of the disease.
Evo in the news: Genetic variation helps rescue endangered panthers
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
In the 1990s, scientists predicted that the Florida panther would be extinct within 20 years and, in 1995, formulated a bold plan to save them. This news brief of December 2010 reports on the success of that plan which gave the panther a second lease on life by the infusion of genetic variation.
Evo in the news: Making sense of ancient hominin DNA
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- Advanced
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
In March 2010 German researchers announced that they had managed to extract DNA from the 40,000 year old fossil bone from a child discovered in a Siberian cave and that it didn't match up to the known genetic sequences of either humans or Neanderthals! This news brief examines the evidence in more detail and considers what that evidence might — or might not — mean about such claims.
Evo in the news: Quick evolution leads to quiet crickets
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
The tropical island of Kauai has always been a quiet place, but now it may be getting even more quiet. This news brief, from December 2006, reveals how Kauai's cricket population has evolved into a "chirpless" variety in just a few years.
Evo in the news: Toxic river means rapid evolution for one fish species
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This news brief from March 2011 examines the genetic basis for the evolution of resistance to PCBs in the Hudson River tomcod. Though this is great for the tomcod, what might it mean for other organisms in the ecosystem?
Evolución 101
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Article
Overview
¿Qué es la evolución y cómo funciona? Introducción a la evolución ofrece información detallada y práctica sobre los patrones y los mecanismos de la evolución.
Evolution 101
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Tutorial
Time: multiple days
Overview
This in-depth, multi-part course takes you through evolutionary theory and mechanisms, from definitions to details, natural selection to genetic drift, mutations to punctuated equilibrium.
Evolution and Antibiotic Resistance
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- WGBH
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: One to three class periods
Overview
Students learn why evolution is at the heart of a world health threat by investigating the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance in such menacing diseases as tuberculosis.
Evolution and E. coli: Natural selection in a constant environment
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- BiteScis
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Two to three 50-minute class periods
Overview
In this reading-, writing-, and discussion-based activity, students explore bacterial evolution occurring in a stable environment, which counters the intuitive misconception that environmental change is a necessary component to natural selection. A landmark study provides the backdrop against which students can challenge their thinking about what it means for a population to evolve.
Evolution of human skin color
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Seven to ten 50 minute class periods
Overview
Students examine evidence for the relationship between UV and melanin in other animals; investigate the genetic basis for constitutive skin color humans; learn to test for natural selection in mouse fur color; investigate how interactions between UV and skin color in humans can affect fitness; and explore data on migrations and gene frequency to show convergent evolution of skin color.
Investigating Natural Selection
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- National Academy of Sciences
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Three class periods
Overview
Students experience one mechanism for evolution through a simulation that models the principles of natural selection and helps answer the question: How might biological change have occurred and been reinforced over time?
Las chinches de cama pican de nuevo gracias a la evolución
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Evo in the News article
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
Las chinches de cama puede parecer un viejo problema pasado de moda, sin embargo ahora están de vuelta — y con venganza. Hace cincuenta años, estas plagas chupadoras de sangre estaban casi erradicadas en los Estados Unidos gracias, en parte, al uso de pesticidas como el DDT. Hoy, se arrastran entre las sabanas — y atormentan a los desgraciados soñadores — en todo el país...
Malaria
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Seven 50-minute class periods
Overview
In this advanced 4-lesson curriculum unit, students examine evidence to compare four different explanations for why many malarial parasites are resistant to antimalarial drugs; investigate how scientific arguments using G6PD data show support for natural selection in humans; design an investigation using a simulation based on the Hardy-Weinberg principle to explore mechanisms of evolution; and apply their understanding to other alleles that have evolved in response to malaria.
Mecanismos: Los procesos de la evolución
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Tutorial
Time: Varies
Overview
Aprende sobre los procesos básicos que han moldeado la vida y producido su asombrosa diversidad.
Este artículo se encuentra en Evolución 101.
Mechanisms of evolution
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Tutorial
Time: Varies
Overview
Learn about the basic processes that have shaped life and produced its amazing diversity.
This article is located within Evolution 101.
Names, they are a-changing
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Evolution: Education and Outreach
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
The popular press often describes scientific controversies regarding which species ancient hominin fossils represent and how they are related to one another. How should students interpret the frequent name changes experienced by our extinct relatives? What should they make of headlines that trumpet major revisions of the branching patterns on our limb of the tree of life? This article will help teachers develop instruction surrounding these issues, discourage misconceptions, and help students interpret media coverage in light of the process of science.
This article appears at SpringerLink.
Natural Selection & Sexual Selection: An Illustrated Introduction
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
This illustrated video explores how natural and sexual selection can shape the way animals look and act, sometimes transforming the drab into the magnificent. To access the associated multiple choice and open answer questions, you'll need to register with the site.
Natural selection from the gene up: The work of Elizabeth Dahlhoff and Nathan Rank
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- Advanced
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Research profile
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Find out how we investigate evolutionary adaptations by following two scientists and their team as they figure out how the willow leaf beetle survives in different climates.
Relevance of evolution: Conservation
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 30-40 minutes
Overview
Explore just a few of the many cases in which evolutionary theory helps us form conservation strategies.
Relevance of evolution: Medicine
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 30-40 minutes
Overview
Explore just a few of the many cases in which evolutionary theory helps us understand and treat disease. Bacterial infections, HIV, and Huntington's disease are highlighted.
Testing a hypothesis
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
Students watch a short film about natural selection in humans and answer questions on a worksheet that reinforce the evolutionary story behind malaria and sickle cell anemia prevalence.
The Beetle Project: Investigating insects in a warming world
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Lab activity
Time: 30 min to 10 class periods
Overview
This adaptable instructional module uses insects as a model system to illustrate the biological impacts of climate change, with the goal of engaging students with a range of hands-on and minds-on activities that increase their understanding of how science works, evolutionary processes, and the impacts of climate change.
The Evolution Lab
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- NOVA Labs
Resource type:
- Lab activity
Time: 3 hours
Overview
The Evolution Lab contains two main parts. In the first, students build phylogenetic trees themed around the evidence of evolution, including fossils, biogeography, and similarities in DNA. In the second, students explore an interactive tree of life and trace the shared ancestry of numerous species.
The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaption
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- Student
Source:
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This 10-minute film describes the research of Dr. Michael Nachman and colleagues, whose work in the field and in the lab has documented and quantified physical and genetic evolutionary changes in rock pocket mouse populations.
The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection in Humans
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
- Student
Source:
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 15-30 minutes
Overview
This 14-minute film describes the connection between the infectious parasitic disease malaria and the genetic disease sickle cell anemia - one of the best-understood examples of natural selection in humans.
The Making of the Fittest: The Birth and Death of Genes
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- Student
Source:
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 15-20 minutes
Overview
This 13-minute film describes how scientists have pieced together the evolutionary history of the Antarctic icefish by studying its genome – an excellent case study for genetic evolution as both the gain and loss of genes have led to key adaptations.
Variability and Selection in Natural Populations of Wood Lice
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Berkelhamer, Rudi
Resource type:
- Lab activity
Time: 3-hour lab
Overview
In this lab, students measure the amount of variation in a natural population of terrestrial wood lice and then determine which traits are subject to selection by predators by performing a simulated predation experiment.
