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Natural Selection.... a Cumulative Process... it's in the cards!
Learners working in pairs attempt to produce a full sequence of 13 cards of one suit (ace - to king). This must be done by shuffling the suit of cards for each round, then checking the cards.
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Classroom Cladogram of Vertebrate/Human Evolution
Learners build a Colossal Classroom Cladogram of vertebrate evolution. After putting it together, they show the gradual, mosaic accumulation of the traits which we, as humans, possess.
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Theory, Theory, Who's got the theory?
Students analyze 5 separate theories of evolution in order to help them explain the different meanings of theory, how human values influence science, and that the scientific view of the origin of life does not involve supernatural forces.
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Darwinist Dogma?
Learners debate whether teachers should be mandated to present theories challenging evolution in their classrooms. For homework, they write letters to their local school board expressing their own opinions.
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Diversity/Natural Selection
High schoolers examine mechanisms behind biological evolution and the theories that feed it, and are able to demonstrate their knowledge of these theories in a story.
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The Arthropod Story
Students learn a number of evolutionary concepts by following the long history of the arthropods and have opportunities to think about arthropod evolution in terms of both opportunities and constraints.
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Clipbirds
Students attempt to pick up various objects with a wide variety of beaks, including scissors, spoons, etc.
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The Molecular Evidence for Evolution
High schoolers discover the structure of DNA, and determine how genetics have supported rather than refuted Darwin's ideas.
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Human Evolution
Students investigate hominid evolution to learn the difference between a relative and an ancestor. They study the emergence of bipedalism and the related physical adaptations and cultural ramifications, and chart patterns of hominid...
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How Evolution Works
High schoolers discuss the evolution of the eye and how a complex organ can evolve through natural selection. They research genetic variation, adaptation, and sexual selection. They analyze data to determine how beak length of Gal??pagos...
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Deep Time
Students compare geologic time periods to the calendar year. They set up a live-action student timeline in the classroom.
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Charles Darwin
Young scholars research Charles Darwin and the process he used to develop his theory of evolution. They keep a journal about the skill of observation and make a newspaper of their learning.
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Evolutionary Arms Race
Students recognize that a connection exists between an organism's physical and behavioral traits and its environment. They explore and define different types of interactions that can occur between organisms.
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Fossils 2: Uncovering The Facts
Students recognize the kind of information that can be accumulated by studying dinosaur fossils, and explain that some fossil facts are made based on comparisons with living organisms. They are introduced to the concept of evolution.
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Whose "Truth" Is Out There?
Students read article It's a Fact: Faith and Theory Collide Over Evolution, and examine different ways people arrive at what 'the truth' is, focusing on the evolution vs creationism debate that has been a hot topic throughout the 20th...
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The Cytochrome-C Lab
Learners examine a method biologists use to try to determine relationships. They examine how amino acid sequences have been determined for a number of proteins, and how scientists can make inferences about DNA based on the amino acid...
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Making Cladograms
Students construct cladograms (evolutionary trees), showing how shared derived characters can be used to reveal degrees of relationship. They interpret and analyze cladograms, and determine where unclassified vertebrates would fit on a...
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The Rise and Fall of the Mammoths
Students develop an understanding of the evolution of species in the context of the woolly mammoth. They examine the fossil record to explain natural selection.
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Introduction to Natural Selection
Students develop an understanding of natural selection, specifically, how it unfolds from generation to generation. They work in small groups to perform an experiment using beans. They use a worksheet imbedded in this plan to guide their...
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Becoming Whales: Experiencing Discoveries of
Students experience, through a "dig," the historical discovery of fossils which increasingly link whales to earlier land-dwelling mammals. They encounter the intermediate forms which show changes that lead to the modern whale.
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WHAT DARWIN NEVER SAW: Evolution, Science, Biology, Natural Selection
Students view video showing recent field work on a twenty two-year study of finch beaks on a small island in the Galapagos, showing natural selection clearly operating in the wild.
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VARVES: Dating Sedimentary Strata: Geology, Paleontological Patterns
Young scholars count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.
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Time Machine: Evolution, Geology
Students are taken on a simulated "voyage" backward in time, to the beginning of our planet. They "witness" that beginning, the origin of life, and a number of key events from then to the present.
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PRIMATE CLASSIFICATION: Evolution, Cladograms,
Students transfer examples (names) of primates from their location in an outline hierarchy of primate groups into a set of nested boxes reflecting that same hierarchy. A cladogram can then be drawn illustrating how these groups are...