Lesson summary for...

What did T. Rex Taste Like?

Author/Source: UC Museum of Paleontology
Overview:In this web-based module students are introduced to cladistics, which organizes living things by common ancestry and evolutionary relationships.
Concepts:This lesson covers the following concepts:
  • Biological evolution accounts for diversity over long periods of time.
  • All organisms, including humans, retain evidence of their evolutionary history.
  • Similarities among existing organisms provide evidence for evolution.
  • Anatomical similarities of living things reflect common ancestry.
  • Scientists pose, test, and revise multiple hypotheses to explain what they observe.
  • Scientists use anatomical evidence to infer the relatedness of taxa.
  • Scientists use fossils (including sequences of fossils showing gradual change over time) to learn about past life.
  • Classification is based on evolutionary relationships.
  • Evolutionary trees (e.g., phylogenies or cladograms) are built from multiple lines of evidence.
Grade Level:9-12
Time:Two to four class periods.
Teacher Background:Explore these links for additional information on the topics covered in this lesson: