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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Studying Evolution With Digital Organisms

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students observe natural selection in action and investigate the underlying mechanism, including random mutation and differential fitness based on environmental characteristics. They do this through use of the free AVIDA-ED digital...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Evolving Tce Biodegraders

For Teachers 11th - 12th
A hypothetical scenario is introduced in which the class is asked to apply their understanding of the forces that drive natural selection to prepare a proposal along with an environmental consulting company to help clean up an area near...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Competing Evolved & Engineered Digital Organisms

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students engineer and evolve digital organisms with the challenge to produce organisms with the highest fitness values in a particular environment. They do this through use of the free Avida-ED digital evolution software application. The...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Mice Rule! (Or Not)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students explore the relationships between genetics, biodiversity, and evolution through a simple activity involving hypothetical wild mouse populations. First, students toss coins to determine what traits a set of mouse parents...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Evolution of Digital Organisms

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Young scholars are introduced to the concepts of digital organisms and digital evolution. They learn about the research that digital evolution software makes possible, and compare and contrast it with biological evolution.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Introduction to Evolutionary Computation

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students are introduced to the concepts of evolution by natural selection and digital evolution software. They learn about the field of evolutionary computation, which applies the principles of natural selection to solve engineering...
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Website
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Hhmi: Biointeractive: Stickleback Film With Quiz

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out what scientist discovered about evolutionary processes while researching the stickleback fish.
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eBook
University of Pennsylvania

Project Gutenberg: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides the text of "The Autobiography of Charles Darwin" by Charles Darwin.
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Handout
University of Pennsylvania

Digital Library: Works of Charles Darwin

For Students 9th - 10th
The Digital Library provides links to the texts of a dozen of works by Charles Darwing including "On the Origins of Species."
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Primary
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Science Education Center: Natural Selection: Common Misconceptions

For Students 3rd - 8th
This video explores the misconceptions that students hold about natural selection. Go inside your student's heads to see what they are thinking during a lesson on evolution. Follow these suggestions for addressing these common...
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Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Scopes Trial

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] In 1925, Tennessee lawmakers passed the Butler Act, explaining that teachers were not to discount Creationism in the classroom. Through documents and discussion provided with this lesson, explore how...
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: William Jennings Bryan

For Students 9th - 10th
Here is a short biography on William Jennings Bryan, American politician of the Populist Party. Additional information can be found through the articles at the bottom of the page regarding Bryan's causes, his principles, and the Free...
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Online Course
Yale University

Open Yale Courses: Principles of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior

For Students 9th - 10th
Access any one of thirty-six lectures from a biological sciences course, in audio, video, and text format. Coverage includes evolution, natural selection, the fossil record, the history of life on Earth, ecological communities,...
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Website
Untamed Science

Untamed Science: Biology: Evolution

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover what evolution is through a case study of a Hawaiian snail species' survival. [7:20]
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Activity
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: Timeline: Remembering the Scopes Monkey Trial

For Students 9th - 10th
NPR presents a timeline on the events surrounding the Scopes Monkey Trial. Includes photos, recollections and information on the people involved in the trial.
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Interactive
PBS

Nova: Intelligent Design on Trial: Darwin's Predictions

For Students 9th - 10th
The resource examines the prophetic ideas of Charles Darwin. The interactive activity explores evolution, embryology, and the evolution of humans. The activity consists of a printable version, interactive version, and sources for the...
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Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: Human Origins: Human Family Tree

For Students 9th - 10th
Find the human ancestor you are interested in and click on it either in the timeline or the list below for more details. Each fossil or reconstruction pictured includes links to more details about it.
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Unit Plan
University of California

University of California Museum of Paleontology: Stories From the Fossil Record

For Students 4th - 9th
This colorful, interactive site demonstrates how fossils can be used to discover a range of information about the past. Topics include Past Lives, Paleoecology, Geologic History, and Biodiversity.
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Handout
University of Arizona

The Biology Project: Genetic Drift: An Explanation

For Students 9th - 10th
This explanation of genetic drift is straightforward and easy to understand. Illustrations are provided to help visual learners
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Handout
University of Arizona

University of Arizona: Genetic Drift Simulation

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site from the University of Arizona runs a two-step simulation of Genetic Drift. There are teacher's notes included. A great site to aid in understanding Genetic Drift.
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Activity
University of California

Ucmp: Island Biogeography and Evolution

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a lesson designed by a biology teacher. In it, students use maps and evidence of island age, molecular genetics, morphology, and distance apart to determine how the islands came to be occupied by different species of lizards. It...
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Online Course
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Courses: Civil Environmental: Ecology I: The Earth System

For Teachers 9th - 10th
College-level online course highlighting the fundamentals of ecology. Course topics include coevolution of the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere; photosynthesis and respiration; and the carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles....
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Interactive
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Natural Selection

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore natural selection by controlling the environment and causing mutations in bunnies.
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Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Natural Selection and Selective Breeding

For Students 9th - 10th
Use the 5E model to learn about natural selection and selective breeding.