Understanding Evolution

Your one-stop source for information on evolution

Understanding Evolution

Teaching Resources

Home → Teach Evolution → Lessons and Teaching Tools → Teaching Resources Database → Evo in the news: One small fossil, one giant step for polar bear evolution

Evo in the news: One small fossil, one giant step for polar bear evolution

Grade Level(s):

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

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Evo in the News article

Time: 30 minutes

Overview

This news brief from April 2010 describes what scientists have learned by extracting DNA from a polar bear fossil more than 100,000 years old. Though the fossil itself was just a fragment of the skeleton -the lower left portion of the jaw, still containing a tooth- the DNA had a lot to say about polar bear evolution.

Go to this resource »

  • [History of life: Grades 9-12] Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry. (LS4.A)
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry.
  • [History of life: Grades 9-12] Geological change and biological evolution are linked.
  • [History of life: Grades 9-12] Rates of evolution vary.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Geological change and biological evolution are linked.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Rates of evolution vary.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] The fossil record provides evidence for evolution.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] There are similarities and differences among fossils and living organisms.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] The fossil record provides evidence for evolution.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] Similarities among existing organisms (including morphological, developmental, and molecular similarities) reflect common ancestry and provide evidence for evolution.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] The geographic distribution of species often reflects how geologic change has influenced lineage splitting.
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 9-12] Our knowledge of the evolution of living things is always being refined as we gather more evidence.
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 9-12] As with other scientific disciplines, evolutionary biology has applications that factor into everyday life.
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 13-16] Our knowledge of the evolution of living things is always being refined as we gather more evidence.
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 13-16] As with other scientific disciplines, evolutionary biology has applications that factor into everyday life, for example in agriculture, biodiversity and conservation biology, and medicine and health.
  • Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity

This article encourages students to reason about scientific data. It includes a set of discussion and extension questions for use in class, as well as a video podcast. It also includes hints about related lessons that might be used in conjunction with this one. Get more tips for using Evo in the News articles in your classroom.