UC Berkeley
We’ve assembled a database of lessons vetted for both scientific accuracy and pedagogical soundness. Search for lessons by topic or by keyword below, or check out the 6-8 Conceptual Framework to search by the concepts each lesson addresses.
In addition to lessons and classroom activities you will find:
- Articles: These feature articles can be assigned as homework or extra credit, and may be used as the basis for classroom discussion. Many come with essay/discussion questions.
- Tutorials: These articles written for students address major concepts in evolution. They can be used as homework or extra credit, or may be assigned to individual students who need additional clarification on basic concepts.
- Online activities and labs: These interactive web activities can be used directly by students working individually or in small groups at computers. Some are short interactives, and others are more extensive, lab-like investigations that engage students in problem solving and may require several class periods.
- Videos: These online videos can be used as a way to quickly pique student interest in a topic that will be addressed more thoroughly in class.
Search grades 6-8 lessons and resources:
Found 50 resources:
La Supervivencia del más Astuto
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Comic
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
Este cómic nos habla de los esfuerzos de un grillo macho para atraer a una pareja. Y en el proceso, revela (destruye) algunos típicos malentendidos sobre lo que significa estar evolutivamente “adaptado”.
Planta al ataque
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
- Comic
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
En este cómic/libro de actividades, conocerás a científicos que utilizan ideas evolutivas para resolver problemas médicos. También aprenderás sobre los árboles evolutivos mientras resuelves rompecabezas científicos y completas una actividad.
Plant on a Rampage
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
- Comic
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
In this printable comic/activity book, you'll meet scientists who use evolutionary ideas to solve medical problems. You'll also learn about evolutionary trees while you solve science puzzles and complete a craft.
Semejanzas y diferencias: Comprendamos las homologías y evolución convergente (nivel secundaria)
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Esta investigación interactiva explica qué son las homologías, cómo reconocerlas y cómo es que evolucionan.
Evidencias de la Evolución: La ciencia de la evolución
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Tutorial
Time: 30-40 minutes
Overview
Un rompecabezas Pleistoceno: Extinctión en América del Sur
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Comic
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
En este comic podrás seguir la investigación que hicieron María y Miguel para resolver un misterio paleontológico. Hace más de 11000 años, más del 80% de las especies de grandes animales de Sudamérica se extinguieron. ¿Por qué pasó? (Disponible en inglés, español y portugués.)
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."
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.
Stories from the Fossil Record
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: One to two class periods
Overview
This web-based module provides students with a basic understanding of how fossils can be used to interpret the past.
Spoons, forks, chopsticks, straws: Simulating natural selection
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Kathryn Flinn
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
In this classroom activity, students participate in demonstrating how natural selection works. They play the roles of predators with different feeding appendages (spoons, forks, chopsticks, or straws) and compete to gather beans as prey.
Speciation: An illustrated introduction
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- TED-ed
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
This video illustrates the speciation process in birds to help explain the basis of earth's biodiversity. Registration may be required to view the discussion and multiple choice questions that accompany the video.
Similarities and differences: Understanding homology and convergent evolution
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
This interactive investigation explains what homologies are, how to recognize them, and how convergent traits evolve.
Two- and ten-minute trees
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Use these quick and simple classroom activities to better develop your students' tree-thinking skills. Each takes just a few minutes and helps reinforce key ideas about tree reading and common ancestry.
Tree of Life poster without images (medium)
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Poster
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Print this 18x24" poster for your classroom wall. For ideas about how to use the poster in your class, visit Two- and Ten-minute Trees">Two- and Ten-minute Trees.
Sequencing Time
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Time: 40-50 minutes
Overview
Students assign relative and numerical times to events in their lives to understand how scientists developed the Geologic Time Scale.
Tree of Life poster without images (large)
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Poster
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Print this 28x36" poster for your classroom wall. For ideas about how to use the poster in your class, visit Two- and Ten-minute Trees.
Tree of life poster with images (large)
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Poster
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Print this 28x36" poster for your classroom wall. For ideas about how to use the poster in your class, visit .
Nature of science
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Tutorial
Time: 20-30 minutes
Overview
Understanding how science works allows one to easily distinguish science from non-science. Thus, to understand biological evolution, or any other science, it is essential to begin with the nature of science.
Modeling Evolutionary Relationships with Trees
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- Shape of Life
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 100-120 minutes
Overview
In this lesson, students will examine a beautiful tree of life poster by artist Ray Troll and use it as a launchpad to explore evolutionary, or phylogenetic trees. Students will take a pre-assessment to address misconceptions about phylogenetic trees before completing a modeling activity to give them a better understanding of how trees are used to model evolutionary relationships.
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.
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.
McKittrick Fossil Find Classroom Activity
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
In this lesson, students play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They “unearth” a few fossils at a time and attempt to reconstruct the animal the fossils represent.
Mantis shrimp shoulder their evolutionary baggage and bluff
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Like all organisms, mantis shrimp carry baggage from their evolutionary history. Find out how this baggage has coaxed them into a deadly bluffing game.
Lines of evidence: The science of evolution
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Tutorial
Time: 30-40 minutes
Overview
The theory of evolution is broadly accepted by scientists — and for good reason! Learn about the diverse and numerous lines of evidence that support the theory of evolution.
Interpreting the Tracks
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Two to three class periods
Overview
Students discover the relationships among foot length, leg length, stride length and speed in bipedal animals that provide clues about dinosaur speed.
Interactive investigation: The arthropod story
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: 3-4 class periods
Overview
This interactive investigation delves into the amazing world of the arthropods and examines their success and their evolutionary constraints.
Inferring Ancient Environments from Fossil Foraminifera
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- Olson, Hilary
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 40-50 minutes
Overview
Students analyze actual data from samples of microfossils collected from a particular locality. They use this data to infer water depths in the Miocene in order to locate potential petroleum reserves.
How Much is a Billion
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
Source:
- Monk, Anne
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Variable
Overview
In this activity, students get a sense of how big a billion really is, which is necessary in order to understand deep time.
How Did Plants Change Our Planet?
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- California Academy of Sciences
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
Botanist Dr. Nathalie Nagalingum explains how, more than 400 million years ago, early plants played a notable role in adjusting Earth's physical surface as well as our planet's climate. She meets with paleobotanist Dr. Cindy Looy to discuss the evidence that scientists currently have to support her story.
Getting into the Fossil Record
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: One class period
Overview
In this interactive module students are introduced to fossils and the fossilization process by examining how fossils are formed and the factors that promote or prevent fossilization.
Using pipe cleaners to bring the Tree of Life to life
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- American Biology Teacher
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
Students build a phylogenetic tree from pipe cleaners that allows them to rotate branches, compare topologies, map complete lineages, identify informative phylogenetic features, and examine the effects of superficial structural changes on the tree.
Understanding Geologic Time
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: One class period.
Overview
A web-based module in which students gain a basic understanding of geologic time, the evidence for events in Earth's history, relative and absolute dating techniques, and the significance of the Geologic Time Scale.
Dogs and Turnips
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 30 minutes each for three sessions
Overview
In this lesson students attempt to assemble a meaningful sentence by successively turning over cards with words on them. The point is made that we change our ideas of what a story may be as we gather more information.
Dino-Data
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Two class periods.
Overview
Students are presented with a set of data about dinosaurs and are asked to make hypotheses about what the data can tell us.
Comic strip: Survival of the sneakiest
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Comic
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This comic follows the efforts of a male cricket as he tries to attract a mate, and in the process, debunks common myths about what it means to be evolutionarily "fit."
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.
Climate Analysis Using Planktonic Foraminifera
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- Olson, Hilary
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 40-50 minutes
Overview
Students manipulate, plot, and interpret data on the occurence of a particular species of foraminifera in the fossil record in order to infer changes in climate during the last 160,000 years.
Born to Run: Artificial Selection Lab
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- Garland, Theodore
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Four 45-minute periods
Overview
Students are introduced to the field of experimental evolution by evaluating skeletal changes in mice that have been artificially selected over many generations for the behavioral trait of voluntary exercise wheel running.
Artificially Selecting Dogs
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Collins, Jennifer
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 90 minutes
Overview
Students learn how artificial selection can be used to develop new dog breeds with characteristics that make the dogs capable of performing a desirable task.
Adventures at Dry Creek
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: Three to four class periods.
Overview
In this interactive web-based module students conduct a simulated field study at a fossil dig in Montana.
Who’s on First? Relative Dating
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Students sequence familiar items and then do a similar sequencing activity using fossil pictures to learn how paleontologists use fossils to give relative dates to rock strata.
What did T. Rex Taste Like?
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: 2-4 hours
Overview
In this web-based module students are introduced to cladistics, which organizes living things by common ancestry and evolutionary relationships.
What Came First?
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 60 minutes
Overview
Students sequence actual events in the history of life on Earth and place them on a large timeline.
Xenosmilus
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: ~40 min
Overview
Students play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They "unearth" a few fossils at a time and attempt to reconstruct the animal the fossils represent.
Darwin’s “extreme” imperfection?
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 40 minutes
Overview
Darwin used the words "extreme imperfection" to describe the gappy nature of the fossil record - but is this really such a problem? This article delves into the topic of transitional fossils and explores what we have learned about them since Darwin's time.
This article appears at SpringerLink.
Darwin and Wallace: Natural selection
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
Darwin and Wallace came up with the idea of natural selection, but their idea of how evolution occurs was not without predecessors.
This article is located within History of Evolutionary Thought.
Big Beans, Little Beans
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Variable
Overview
Students measure and note the variation in the lengths of lima beans. Students then compare the growth rate of different sized beans.
Battle of the Beaks
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Two class periods.
Overview
Students learn about adaptive advantage, based on beak function, by simulating birds competing for various foods.
A Pleistocene Puzzle: Extinction in South America
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- General
- Student
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Comic
Time: 20 minutes
Overview
In this comic, you'll follow the investigation of scientists Maria and Miguel as they solve a paleontological mystery. About 11,000 years ago, more than 80% of the large animal species in South America went extinct. Why did it happen? (Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese)
A name by any other tree
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- Evolution: Education and Outreach
Resource type:
- Article
Time: 35 minutes
Overview
Phylogenetics has affected almost every area of biology - even the most basic one: how we classify organisms. Find out how phylogenetic classification works and what its advantages are.
This article appears at SpringerLink.
