| Lesson Title (Description) |
Grade Level |
Lesson Type |
Adaptation: The case of penguins
The process of natural selection produces stunning adaptations. Learn about the history of this concept, while you explore the incredible adaptations that penguins have evolved, allowing them to survive and reproduce in a climate that reaches -60°C!
This article appears at Visionlearning. |
9-12 |
Article |
Aloha - spider style!
This research profile follows Dr. Rosemary Gillespie to Hawaii as she evaluates hypotheses about the evolution of the colorful happy-face spider. |
9-12 |
Article |
Battling bacterial evolution: The work of Carl Bergstrom
This research profile examines how the scientist Carl Bergstrom uses computer modeling to understand and control the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria in hospitals. |
9-12 |
Article |
Biological warfare and the coevolutionary arms race
The rough-skinned newt looks harmless enought 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. |
9-12 |
Article |
Breeding Bunnies
Students simulate breeding bunnies to show the impact that genetics can have on the evolution of a population of organisms. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Candy Dish Selection
Students find that selection occurs in a dish of mixed candies. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Clipbirds
Students learn about variation, reproductive isolation, natural selection, and adaptation through this version of the bird beak activity. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Evo in the news: Conserving the kakapo
This news brief, from April 2006, chronicles how researchers are using evolutionary theory to guide their strategies for conserving a critically endangered parrot - with some impressive results! |
9-12 |
Article |
Evo in the news: Coping with climate change
This news brief from May 2009 explores the difference between phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary change in relation to the media's coverage of climate change. |
9-12 |
Article |
Evo in the news: Evolution down under
This news brief, from September of 2008, describes an unusual contagious cancer currently decimating Tasmanian devil populations. Learn about the fascinating interplay between the evolution of the devils and the evolution of the disease. |
9-12 |
Article |
Evo in the news: Evolution's dating and mating game
This news brief from May of 2008 describes new research on octopus mating and reveals how evolution can favor some surprising courtship behaviors. |
9-12 |
Article |
Evo in the news: Quick evolution leads to quiet crickets
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. |
9-12 |
Article |
Evo in the news: Sex, speciation, and fishy physics
More than 500 species of cichlid fish inhabit Africa's Lake Victoria. This news brief from March 2009 explains new research suggesting that the physics of light may have played an important role in cichlid diversification and in the recent drop in their diversity. |
9-12 |
Article |
Evo in the news: Warming to evolution
Global warming increasingly affects many aspects of our environment—from the sea level to tropical storm strength. But that’s far from the full story. This news brief from July 2006 describes how global warming has already begun to affect the evolution of several species on Earth. |
9-12 |
Article |
Exploring Variation and Heritability
Students explore the natural variations present in a variety of organisms by examining sunflower seeds and Wisconsin Fast Plants™ to consider the role of heredity in natural selection. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Fire ants invade and evolve
Understanding the evolution of fire ants may help scientists control the spread of these pests, which have already taken over much of the U.S.! |
9-12 |
Article |
Investigating Natural Selection
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? |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Mechanisms of evolution
Learn about the basic processes that have shaped life and produced its amazing diversity.
This article is located within Evolution 101. |
9-12 |
Tutorial |
Monarch/Viceroy Case
Students work in groups to develop a Darwinian explanation for the bright coloration of monarch and viceroy butterflies and the similarity in color patterns seen between the two species. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Natural selection: The basics
Darwin's most famous idea, natural selection, explains much of the diversity of life. Learn how it works, explore examples, and find out how to avoid misconceptions.
This article is located within Evolution 101. |
9-12 |
Tutorial |
Origami Birds
Students build and evolve and modify paper-and-straw “birds” to simulate natural selection acting on random mutations. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Relevance of evolution: Medicine
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. |
9-12 |
Article |
Similarities and differences: Understanding homology and analogy
This interactive investigation explains what homologies and analogies are, how to recognize them, and how they evolve. |
9-12 |
Tutorial |
The Natural Selection Game
This is a board game that simulates natural selection. It is suitable for an introductory biology class and for more advanced classes where you could go into more detail on important principles such as the role of variation and mutation. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Using Magnetotactic Bacteria to Study Natural Selection
In this lab students observe bacteria that are able to orient themselves using the Earth's magnetic field, demonstrating that living organisms possess incredible adaptations which enable them to survive. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Viruses and Host Evolution
Students learn about natural selection in rabbits by observing the effects of a virus on the Australian rabbit population. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Webcast: Endless forms most beautiful
In lecture one of a four part series, evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll discusses Darwin and his two most important ideas: natural selection and common ancestry.
This lecture is available from Howard Hughes' BioInteractive website. |
9-12 |
Lecture |
