 Read/post comments
- rated 10 times
To rate this resource, click a star:
|
Overview: Delve into our current understandings of the origins of life and how scientists are able to investigate the details of such ancient events.
This article is located within Evolution 101.Author/Source: UC Museum of Paleontology Grade level: 9-12 Time: 20 minutes Teaching tips: This tutorial is fairly advanced and may be more appropriate for an AP biology course. The tutorial also has many nice tie-ins to concepts in genetics, such as DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis. Concepts: Correspondence to the Next Generation Science Standards is indicated in parentheses after each relevant concept. See our conceptual framework for details. - Biological evolution accounts for diversity over long periods of time. (LS4.A, LS4.D)
- Through billions of years of evolution, life forms have continued to diversify in a branching pattern, from single-celled ancestors to the diversity of life on Earth today.
- Life forms of the past were in some ways very different from living forms of today, but in other ways very similar. (LS4.A)
- Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry. (LS4.A)
- Life on Earth 3.8 billion years ago consisted of one-celled organisms similar to present-day bacteria.
- The fossil record provides evidence for evolution.
- There are similarities and differences among fossils and living organisms.
- Similarities among existing organisms provide evidence for evolution. (LS4.A)
- There are similarities in the cell function of all organisms. (LS4.A)
- All life forms use the same basic DNA building blocks. (LS4.A)
- A hallmark of science is exposing ideas to testing. (P3, P4, P6, P7)
- Scientists test their ideas using multiple lines of evidence. (P6, NOS2)
- Scientists can test ideas about events and processes long past, very distant, and not directly observable.
- The real process of science is complex, iterative, and can take many different paths.
- Scientists use multiple research methods (experiments, observational research, comparative research, and modeling) to collect data. (P2, P3, P4, NOS1)
- Our knowledge of the evolution of living things is always being refined as we gather more evidence.
- Our understanding of life through time is based upon multiple lines of evidence.
- Scientists use fossils (including sequences of fossils showing gradual change over time) to learn about past life.
Teacher background: |