| Lesson Title (Description) |
Grade Level |
Lesson Type |
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 |
Ancient Farmers of the Amazon
In this activity, students find out about research being conducted on Amazon leafcutter ants. They also watch video segments to make their own virtual field observations and write their own research proposals. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Angling for evolutionary answers: The work of David O. Conover
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. |
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 |
Comparing Explanatory Models
This series of lessons introduces students to evolutionary reasoning and to the explanatory power of the Darwinian model of natural selection. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Darwin and Wallace: Natural selection
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. |
9-12 |
Article |
Darwin's Great Voyage of Discovery
Students learn about Darwin's voyage on the Beagle by reading excerpts from his letters and journals and mapping his route. |
9-12 |
Article |
Evolution and Antibiotic Resistance
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. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
From the origin of life to the future of biotech: The work of Andy Ellington
This research profile examines how scientist Andy Ellington has co-opted the power of artificial selection to construct new, useful molecules in his lab. The results of his work could help protect us from terrorist attacks and fight HIV and cancer. |
9-12 |
Article |
Great Fossil Find
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." |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
History of evolutionary thought
In this section, you will see how study in four disciplinary areas — Earth's history, life's history, mechanisms of evolution, and development and genetics — has contributed to our current understanding of evolution. |
9-12 |
Article |
How to survive a mass extinction: The work of David Jablonski
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. |
9-12 |
Article |
Interview: Geerat Vermeij on the fossil record
This interview with MacArthur Fellow and paleobiologist, Geerat Vermeij, covers much ground, including adaptations in the mollusks he studies, evolutionary arms races, punctuated equilibrium, extinctions, macroevolution, and the value of diversity. |
9-12 |
Interview with Scientist |
Nature of science
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. |
9-12 |
Tutorial |
Proposing the Theory of Biological Evolution
Students read short excerpts of original statements on evolution from Jean Lamarck, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace to gain historical perspective and an understanding of the nature of science. |
9-12 |
Article |
The Checks Lab
Students construct plausible scenarios using bank checks to learn how human values and biases influence observation and interpretation. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
Using trees to understand plants: The work of Chelsea Specht
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. |
9-12 |
Article |
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 |
Webcast: The science of evolution
Evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll introduces the field of Evo-Devo, using examples from fruit flies, butterflies, and icefish to explain how this research is transforming our understanding of evolution.
This video is available from the New York Times website. |
9-12 |
Video |
Xenosmilus
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. |
9-12 |
Classroom activity |
