Test six various reagents for their ability to conduct electricity. Cooperating chemists research whether each is ionic or covalent and discover the relationship between bonding and conductivity. This laboratory exercise would be an...

Students are guided through a process in which three questions are addressed by retrieving beta hemoglobin sequences from online databases, and using online tools to compare those sequences in student-selected animals.

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 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...

High schoolers go on an imaginary fossil hunt. They follow a script read by the teacher, students "find" (remove from envelope) paper "fossils" of some unknown creature. They attempt to reconstruct fossil pieces into an animal.

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...

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.

Students practice identifying different groups of living organisms using a dichotomous key. Students also examine the history of an organism and its lineage by writing a paragraph about it and "three generations" of ancestors.

Teach your class how to get out of a cell — or break in. The third installment in a seven-part series introduces the class to cell membranes and their functions. The lesson plan includes information to present to the class,...

Turn a walk on the beach into an in-depth biology lesson! Scholars learn about the different classes of echinoderms in an informative PowerPoint presentation. The lesson explains the unique characteristics of the five different...

Students write an essay about evolution. They summarize Darwin's Theory and discuss its strength and weakness of evolutionary theory. Students discuss the struggle of existence and survival of the fittest. They discuss the evidence of...

Young scholars are shown how fossils are formed and to learn how extinct organisms lived based on their remains and surroundings. They are shown TAKS review problems on the overhead related to evolution and fossil evidence. Students...

Students examine fossils and analyzing their significance in relation to theories of evolution. Hand-outs are provided. This lesson could be supplementary to a broader unit on evolution or geology.

Did Scopes violate the Butler Act? Why did so many Americans follow the Scopes trial? See analytical reading in action with a fantastic five-day lesson plan in which class members consider the historical context that provoked public...

Though the website does not seem to have the mentioned video, a reding and lottery style games simulate the chances of finding intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. Without the video, this lesson is short, but it can be a useful...

Students measure and correlate their foot lengths and body heights, then use this data to estimate height of Laetoli hominids. They use metric measurement and graphing to determine these heights.

Students actively engage in the careful analysis of chromosome banding patterns and identify examples of inversion in homologous chromosomes.

Students illustrate the results of natural selection by identifying conditions that could lead to the development of new species (speciation) based on a given description of environmental conditions and description of variation within a...

High schoolers distinguish between walking, jogging and running trackways in humans. They analyze the phylogenetic progression of the leg position as described by pace width and angulation, comparing amphibians, reptiles and mammals....

How do scientists know they're right? Truth be told, they don't always know. Explore the scientific process using mystery tubes in an insightful activity. Young scientists discover how to approach and solve problems in science, how ideas...

In this creative writing worksheet, students work as a group to write a story using 13 words that are associated with the environment. They have 25 minutes to write using words such as poacher, rainforest, smog, ozone, evolution, and...

Students are given a variety of materials and are asked to design a heat loss experiment that results in a reasonable explanation of "Why don't whales have legs?" students work with the theory of natural selection.

Students explore different ways geological time can be measured: comparing the time dimensions for each method, the mechanisms of each method, and the materials used.