Rotating through five stations, evolutionary biologists explore the question of how changes in DNA facilitate the changes in a population over time. High-quality, colorful cards of animals, skeletons, skulls, and DNA sequences can all be...

A diagram, data table, and reading passage top this resource. Through it, biology beginners are introduced to the concept of natural selection. They answer some questions and then participate in a simulation using fabric as a habitat and...

Examine the evolution of various species of hominids from their earliest existence approximately 4.5 million years ago to today. In small groups, learners research one of the ten stages of hominid evolution and then create a poster and...

This quiz just looks neat! It has two cell diagrams for biology class members to label. They also describe the function of each organelle. A prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell are displayed for them to compare, and then they fill in the...

Thirty short-answer questions comprise this detailed review of evolution theory. Many of the questions ask scholars to define vocabulary. Because short answers are required, this worksheet will take some time to complete. You could give...

By counting differences in amino acids, biology stars examine the relationships between different primates. With information gleaned, they map out a phylogenic tree and discover common ancestry. You will need to create printable versions...

Students work in groups as they read chapters of Charles Darwin's, Voyage of the Beagle. They take notes on the chapter and in their group make a timeline of the chapter. They tape the timelines together in order to depict the entire...

In this evolution worksheet students complete a crossword puzzle by answering questions about the environment, evolution and populations. 

Students discuss animal needs and characteristics. In this animal mini-unit, students complete three activities studying different animals, their needs, how they have evolved, and how to protect them.

Students investigate the importance of sexual reproduction in evolution. In this sexual reproduction lesson plan, students simulate species with two traits: eye and skin color. They determine what characteristics are beneficial for the...

Young scholars recognize that achievements of human beings throughout human history can be considered part of the ongoing story of human evolution. They research settings such as the biosphere and Mars and write imaginative short stories...

Young scholars role-playing the concept of evolution through naturally occurring mutations. Working in pairs, they model how birds have adapted to the food sources in their environment through changes in their beak size and shapes....

Learners are shown why they should care about evolution. They become specialists in one sphere influenced by evolution and then share their findings with their group. Students are lead into a class discussion, so that each student can...

High schoolers examine the controversy surrounding evolution --- the challenges to science, the battles over teaching evolution in the schools, and the reconciliation of religion and science. They also examine an interactive time line...

Students research pertinent solar system formation and Earth development events and work together to determine which events occurred first, second, third, and so on. Students arrange themselves as a human timeline across the room. ...

Students discuss the difference between designed and natural elements. After reading an article, they discover information about current controversies in evolutionary science. In groups, they research and write dialogues between two...

Students 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...

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...

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...

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.

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.

Learners 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.

Learners 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.

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...