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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding Cladistics

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students explore cladistics and create a cladogram of their own. They are shown how the scientist at the American Museum of Natural History use a method called cladistics to group animals. Students are asked how the animals (lion,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Phylogenetic Perspective for the Cladistically Challenged

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students observe the structures of skulls as presented in drawings, and determine which are most closely related to the skull of the mosasaur.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS A ZEBRA?

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students read the essay, "What, If Anything, Is a Zebra?" following a teacher made reading guide. They investigate cladistics, shared derived characteristics, with further online research to enhance their study of evolution and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cladistics Is a Zip...Baggie

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore how the grouping of organisms based on their shared derived characters forms the basis of a cladogram.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Cladistics?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars explore how biological classification is intimately associated with evolution.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Phylogenetic Perspective for the Cladistically Challenged

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students use M&Ms to simulate radioactive decay of elements.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wait, They Can do it by Themselves?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students recognize the concepts of evolution and natural selection as well as cladistics and phylogenetics. They observe the process of regeneration in a sea anemone to simulate asexual reproduction.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

AP: Chapter 25: Phylogeny and Systematics

For Students 9th - 12th
As a review or note taking guide, this resource wraps up a unit on the tree of life. Biology bigwigs define phylogeny and answer questions about the subsequent classification of organisms. The worksheet takes a straightforward and...
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Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Ebola: Disease Detectives

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
How did the Ebola virus first infect humans? Young virologists examine genetic sequences from the 2014 Sierra Leone outbreak to find similarities during a riveting activity. Following similar methods used by MIT and Harvard, partners...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

What Should You Know about Classification?

For Students 6th - 12th
Many learners have a tough time picking out pertinent information from a text or in class. Sometimes, all it takes is a study/reading guide to show them the way. The worksheet here focuses on taxonomy and classification, including...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Molecular Sequences & Primate Evolution: Amino Acids, Hemoglobins in Evolution

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students compare differences in amino acids in the beta hemoglobin from representative primates, complete a matrix of those differences, and from these data, construct and interpret cladograms as they reflect relationships and timing of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Species Diversity and Phylogeny

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the classification system of organisms: taxonomy. They examine prepared slides of Protozoans and record information on a Taxonomy Recording Sheet. Two additional classifying activities are also included in this lesson.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Taxonomy

For Students 9th - 10th
In this biology worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle with 39 questions on taxonomy. They identify the different classification systems used in biology.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grouping Dinosaurs

For Teachers K - 4th
Students investigate sets and subsets as they group coins and dinosaurs. Using scissors and provided sheet, they sort dinosaurs according to their commonalities. Their groupings are shared with the class.
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eBook
Biology Pages

Kimball's Biology Pages: Cladistics

For Students 9th - 10th
This page discusses how the cladistic level of classification includes information from molecular biology to establish evolutionary relationships. The page discusses how this information is used to do this.
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eBook
George Washington University

George Washington University: Basics of Cladistic Analysis [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an advanced level review of cladistic theory and methodology. Some sections are very dense but there are useful sections for teachers and students seeking a better understanding of the topic.
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Primary
University of California

Cladistics Notes [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes readings associated with lecture notes on cladistic classification. Provides definitions of many key vocabulary words used with cladistics.
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Unit Plan
City University of New York

Classification: Bringing Order Out of Chaos

For Students 9th - 10th
A self-directed module on all aspects of biological classifications that covers the species problem, diversity and chaos, cladistics, putting things in groups, and so on.
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Interactive
University of California

Ucmp: What Did T. Rex Taste Like?

For Students 9th - 10th
The title could be slightly misleading for this site. It is actually a teaching and learning module on the science of cladistics. As they go through the module, students will increase their understanding of, and appreciation for, the...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Phylogenetics Problems

For Teachers 11th - 12th
A lesson plan where students solve problems by using cladistics to determine phylogenies. Problems require that students determine which characteristics are ancestral or derived by looking at both dinosaurs' remains and primate skulls....
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Handout
University of California

Ucmp: Phylogenetic Systematics: Evolutionary Trees

For Students 9th - 10th
This page provides an introduction to phylogenetic systematics, the way that biologists reconstruct the pattern of events that have led to the distribution and diversity of life. A tutorial "journey" into the Introduction, Methodology,...
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Handout
University of California

Understanding Evolution: The History of Life: Looking at the Patterns

For Students 9th - 10th
See how scientists use cladistics to study evolutionary relationships.
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Article
BiologyWise

Biology Wise: Synapomorphy

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what synapomorphy is by using examples to demonstrate the concept, which plays an important role in the system of cladistics.
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Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Biology: Phylogenetic Classification

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Introduces phylogenetic classification and compares it with the Linnaean classification.

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