Understanding Evolution

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Understanding Evolution

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Found 23 resources for:
nature of science

A Strange Fish Indeed: The “Discovery” of a Living Fossil

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • Grant, Robert

Resource type:

  • Classroom activity

Time: 50-90 min.

Overview

Through a series of fictionalized diary entries, this case recounts the 1939 discovery by Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer (and identification by J.L.B. Smith) of a living coelacanth, a fish believed to have been extinct for 70 million years.

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A Survey About Science

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • WGBH

Resource type:

  • Classroom activity

Time: 2-3 class periods

Overview

Students conduct a survey about the nature of science, laws, theories, hypotheses, scientists, and evolution.

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Aloha, spider style! The work of Rosemary Gillespie

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: one class period

Overview

This research profile follows Dr. Rosemary Gillespie to Hawaii as she evaluates hypotheses about the evolution of the colorful happy-face spider.

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Ancient fossils and modern climate change: The work of Jennifer McElwain

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 40 minutes

Overview

Wondering how global warming will affect our planet? Scientist Jennifer McElwain studies the fossil record in order to learn more about how global warming has affected life on Earth in the past and how it might affect life on Earth in the future.

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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.

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Battling bacterial evolution: The work of Carl Bergstrom

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 30-40 minutes

Overview

This research profile examines how the scientist Carl Bergstrom uses computer modeling to understand and control the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria in hospitals.

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Dr. Bergstrom

Biological warfare and the coevolutionary arms race

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • Advanced
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Article

Time: 45 minutes

Overview

The rough-skinned newt looks harmless enough but is, in fact, packed full of one of the most potent neurotoxins known to man. Find out how an evolutionary arms race has pushed these mild-mannered critters to the extremes of toxicity and how evolutionary biologists have unraveled their fascinating story.

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Cells within cells: An extraordinary claim with extraordinary evidence

Grade Level(s):

  • 13-16
  • Advanced
  • General

Source:

  • Understanding Science

Resource type:

  • Article

Time: 30 minutes

Overview

When biologist Lynn Margulis revived the strange-sounding idea that the merging of cells played a prominent role in the evolution of complex life, the scientific community roundly rejected the notion. Today, this idea is accepted as a textbook fact. Learn more about the evidence and social factors that spurred the acceptance of this key aspect of evolutionary theory.
This article is available from the Understanding Science website.

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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.

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Great Fossil Find

Grade Level(s):

  • 6-8
  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • ENSI

Resource type:

  • Classroom activity

Time: 40 minutes

Overview

Students are taken on an imaginary fossil hunt and hypothesize as to the identity of the creature they discover. Students revise their hypotheses as new evidence is "found."

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How boogieing birds evolved: The work of Kim Bostwick

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 30 minutes

Overview

This research profile follows ornithologist Kim Bostwick through the jungles of Ecuador and the halls of museums as she investigates the evolution of an exotic bird's complex mating dance.

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How to survive a mass extinction: The work of David Jablonski

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 40 minutes

Overview

Through detailed analysis of patterns in the fossil record, scientist David Jablonski reconstructs the rules that helped dictate who lived and died in past mass extinctions. This research profile describes his surprising discoveries and their disturbing implications for the biodiversity crisis today.

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It takes teamwork: How endosymbiosis changed life on Earth

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • Advanced
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Article

Time: 30-40 minutes

Overview

You might be surprised to learn that descendants of an ancient bacterium are living in every cell of your body! Find out how endosymbiosis factored into the evolution of your own cells and learn about a modern example of this process.

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Journal Club Toolkit

Grade Level(s):

  • 13-16

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Annotated journal article

Time: Several class periods

Overview

This set of teaching materials aims to help instructors engage their students with the primary literature in evolutionary biology through a "journal club" that can be implemented in a discussion section or smaller class. It includes several helpful tools: annotated articles, a reading guide, additional suggested reading, and tips for students leading a discussion of a journal article.

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Mate choice and fitness consequences

Grade Level(s):

  • 13-16

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Annotated journal article

Time: 1 hour

Overview

Students read a 2005 paper on the fitness consequences of mate choice alongside an interactive guide that asks the reader to answer key questions about each section of the article.

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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.

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Not Just a Theory

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Classroom activity

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Overview

Students engage in an activity that clarifies the scientific meaning of the term theory.

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The Checks Lab

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • ENSI

Resource type:

  • Classroom activity

Time: One class period

Overview

Students construct plausible scenarios using bank checks to learn how human values and biases influence observation and interpretation.

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The genes that lie beneath: The work of Leslea Hlusko

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 40 minutes

Overview

Evolutionary biologist Leslea Hlusko's research takes her from the deserts of Ethiopia, where she hunts for hominid and primate fossils, to a baboon colony in San Antonio where she takes thousands of measurements of the primates' imposing canines. This research profile describes how the two projects are linked by a hunt for genetic variation, a key component of natural selection.

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Dr. Leslea Hlusko

Using trees to understand plants: The work of Chelsea Specht

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 30 minutes

Overview

This research profile follows scientist Chelsea Specht as she pieces together the evolutionary history of tropical plants and their pollinators--and in the process, tries to figure out how to conserve endangered species.

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Dr. Chelsea Specht

Using trees to uproot HIV: The work of Satish Pillai

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • Advanced
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Research profile

Time: 30 minutes

Overview

This research profile follows scientist Satish Pillai as he studies the evolution of HIV within infected individuals. His research uses the tools of phylogenetics to investigate vaccine development and the possibility of curing the disease.

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Dr. Satish Pillai

Visualizing life on Earth: Data interpretation in evolution

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Online activity or lab

Time: 2 hours

Overview

This web-based module leads students through an exploration of the patterns in the diversity of life across planet Earth. Students are scaffolded as they practice data interpretation and scientific reasoning skills.

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Geographical diversity

What does it mean to be human?

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16

Source:

  • Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Resource type:

  • Classroom activity

Time: 8 x 50-minute class periods

Overview

In this set of advanced lessons, students use different types of data to infer/interpret phylogenies among domains, within the vertebrates, and within primates while reflecting on how they answer the question "What do you think it means to be human?" and choose a characteristic that changed substantially in the human family tree to develop a scientific argument based on evidence for when the character evolved.

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Group photo of diverse people