Big Idea 15: Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms

Complete a brochure for the Galapagos Islands. The purpose of your brochure is to attract tourists to the island in order to support research and preservation of the island and its many natural resources.

Type: Assessment

Students will create a public service announcement in Scratch about our civic responsibility to protect the habitat of a chosen endangered species. Students will use research from lesson 2 on this final part of a 3-lesson unit integrating computer science with civics.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students use a graphic organizer to guide the research of an endangered species/subspecies and evaluate the responsibility of citizens to protect their ecosystem. This is part 2 of a 3-part unit. 

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson 1 of a 3-part lesson unit.

Students will watch a sample public service announcement created on Scratch about ways to protect the endangered state saltwater reptile, the loggerhead sea turtle. Students will evaluate the civic duties of citizens to protect endangered species in Florida in this integrated lesson plan and discuss how well our citizens are currently fulfilling their civic responsibilities.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will attempt to identify, draw, and describe evolutionary relationships between a collection of reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic Era and that shared a common reptilian ancestor that lived earlier - in the Paleozoic Era.  The students will receive images of and facts about each of the reptiles, and will use those images and facts to prepare a cladogram – a tree-shaped diagram illustrating their hypotheses about those evolutionary relationships based on shared derived traits – and describe each of the branch points on the tree they construct.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes new research suggesting urban life creates evolutionary changes in plants and animals. Examples of changes to an urban growing plant (the white clover) and a Leapin' Lizard are described as they evolve to suit their new environment. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

Dr. Alex Wilson of the University of Miami is an evolutionary biologist whose research centers on symbiotic relationships. In this short animated film, she explains exactly how the bacteria aids the aphid. The film explores how scientists use what they learn to seek evolutionary patterns in nature. "" from Day's Edge Productions on Vimeo is the third of four films created with funding from the National Science Foundation. This lesson, which includes a pre-test, slide presentation, activity, and formative assessment was developed to support the learning concepts provided by Dr. Wilson's films.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students read an interesting article about a fish with a see-through head to help them think about traits that are beneficial in a certain environment (adaptation). They also consider how improved observations lead to more sophisticated science ideas.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be learning about interesting ancient organisms found within our oceans millions of years ago. Students will complete a card sort activity to elicit their thinking of how fossils are formed as well as how species evolve. They will then discover why the fossil record does not provide evolutionary evidence for all species.

Type: Lesson Plan

The lemurs of Madagascar are an interesting species that fully demonstrate the theory of evolution. By learning about these lemurs, students revisit geologic events of Earth, the fossil record, and evolution. Students are also exposed to various types of lemurs and their environments. Using this knowledge as a spring board, students will research one type of lemur and explain how it evolved, how it was affected by natural selection, how it relates to the fossil record, and what would happen if their lemur didn't adapt.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed to be an introduction to evolution, in which students will use pictures of fossil skeletons found throughout time to come up with evolutionary timelines. This will give them a basis for understanding evolution, and they will also be introduced to such topics as vestigial structures and the Law of Superposition.

Type: Lesson Plan

This role-playing activity will visually show students how genetic variation and environmental factors contribute to evolution by natural selection and diversity of organisms. During this activity, students will represent the alleles themselves! Students will "mate" to create various genotypes and phenotypes through an engaging, fun, and content-enriched activity. Students will use scientific and mathematical skills to complete and draw conclusions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will act as predators, using variation in their mouth parts to collect prey. Working in groups, students will be given a set of utensils to represent the variation that exists among predators within the population. Students are then tasked with collecting as many prey items as possible in a specific time frame.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is about Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution through natural selection. Students will explore the theory of evolution using anecdotal imagery (evolution of technology - pagers/phones, cars, computers, watches) that will help them understand how fossil evidence in biological systems is vital to mapping out the origin and development of life through time.

Type: Lesson Plan

Will corals adapt to changing ocean conditions and survive, or will they be unable to adapt quickly enough and become extinct? Investigate what corals are, how they make a coral reef and the effects of various environmental factors (e.g., increasing water temperature, ocean acidification, addition of nutrients) using a variety of information sources - text, infographic posters, and video. Students will research, draw a conclusion, support and refute that conclusion, and write a final position statement answering the opening question.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students simulate the process of natural selection and its effects on prey phenotype frequencies over multiple generations. Students are provided with four background patterns and many prey pieces in four corresponding patterns. In this way, each prey type is well-camouflaged for one corresponding background, but is less suited to the others in varying degrees. Following several rounds of natural selection simulation, students compare prey phenotype frequencies to those frequencies found using random selection.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will review fossil formation and evolutionary theory. Then students will study some intriguing fossil progressions and evaluate how well they support the theory of evolution.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will race across a game board, hoping their species adapts before it goes extinct.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will allow students to review adaptations and the importance of an organism's adaptations to it's environment. Students will observe examples of organisms that are adapted to various ecosystems and make inferences about how individual adaptations enable survival. They will also draw connections between adaptations and extinction.

Type: Lesson Plan

Whales had legs?! What?!!! Use this well researched and easily understood set of resources to explore the evidence for evolution in a way that is both non-threatening and engaging. Use a combination of article excerpts and videos, along with other activities, to show evidence for the clear progression of whales from land dwellers to sea masters.
This is best used, in totality, as the opener for your evolution unit. The resources provided may also support your current practices as well.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the relationship between environmental changes and the effects they have on various species. Polar Bears and Peppered Moths will be used as examples during the lesson. Students will engage in a hands-on simulation that will generate data for students to analyze. Students will also engage in guided reading in the content area as they read about the peppered moth and its changing environment. The concepts of adaptation, changing environments, and extinction will be evaluated throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed to help students to explore Natural Selection by the adaptation of bird feet to their habitat and food choices.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is an introductory lesson that enables students to explore camouflage as an adaptation that enables organisms to escape predation. Students decorate moths and place them around the classroom to hide them from the moth eater birds. Students then get the opportunity to be the birds and search for moths hidden by their classmates. This lesson lets students explore adaptations that help the moths survive in their environment.

Type: Lesson Plan

This resource uses a variety of techniques to address the factors that contribute to natural selection. Included in the lesson is a hook to engage students, a weblab exercise, a poster activity for expression and a hands-on simulation.

Type: Lesson Plan

The 5E lesson addresses the theory of evolution beginning with Darwin's travels and observations. The lesson builds on the evidence and observations of Darwin by teaching how genetic variation and environmental factors affect evolution. This is then related to the ability or inability of a species to adapt with in a changing environment.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students model using different kinds of tools that simulate bird beaks with the type of food the beaks is best suited for. Data is collected and presented in graphic form, and students also answer analysis questions and write conclusions about their findings. Students then extend their learning to other organisms' adaptations. Suggestions for research extensions is also provided. Suggested formative assessments are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will recognize and explain ways an organism can be affected by genetics, environmental factors and relate how an organism can be in danger of extinction if it cannot adapt to its environment.

The teacher implements a variety of instructional components:

• Students read two e! Science News articles (can read online if internet accessible or the teacher can make copies for class ahead of time) on bird adaptations.
• Students then research a Florida coastal bird from a list provided in the lesson to create a "Vote for Me" poster. With this, students summarize their research and information gathered on a Florida coastal bird and try to convince their classmates that their bird's beak is the "best."
• Students will engage in the Battle of the Beaks hands-on activity using everyday items to simulate different bird beaks.
• Finally, students will write a response to "Who has the best beak?" using references from the science news articles, the poster presentations, and their research (website links in lesson)

Type: Lesson Plan

Students learn that an animal's physical attributes, such as a bird's beak, may provide an advantage for survival in one environment but not in another. Students will participate in modeling and investigating structure and function relationships.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will see how evolution works with a simulated breeding bunnies lab using red and white beans, one representing dominant alleles and the other recessive alleles. This lesson can be used in sixth grade with some minor modifications of the directions and the data being recorded.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how evolution is influenced by genetic variation, natural selection, and allele frequency in this interactive tutorial.

This is part 1 in a two-part series. After you finish this tutorial, check out .

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Examine how evolution is influenced by genetic variation, natural selection, and allele frequency through the lens of organism genotype. 

Click below to open part 1.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to recognize that fossil evidence is consistent with the scientific theory of evolution, that living things evolved from earlier species by natural selection, with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how the environment on Earth is constantly changing and that populations of organisms adapt to this change by evolving via natural selection. In this interactive tutorial, you'll discover how organisms do and do not avoid extinction.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Nick Moore discusses his research behind optimizing wing design using inspiration from animals and how they swim and fly.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

One word. Two syllables. Rhymes with giants. It's science!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

This artistic approach to fossils will leave an imprint on your students.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Students collect fish using seine nets and observe/explain how the physical traits of fish are related to long term environmental factors and genetic variation and adaptation.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This is a culminating activity for 8th grade review lessons on classification and evidence of evolution.

Type: Teaching Idea

The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. That's a hard number to conceptualize. What does 4.6 billion look like, and what happened during all those hundreds of millions of years between the formation of our planet and now?

This BLOSSOMS lesson will help students conceptualize the enormity of geologic time and learn about important events in Earth's history. Students will also learn how geologic time can help explain seemingly incomprehensible processes, like the formation of the Himalayan Mountains from a flat plain to their current height, and the evolution of a tiny group of reptiles into enormous dinosaurs.

The lesson will take approximately 45 minutes. Students should have a basic understanding of biology, and a familiarity with geology is helpful but not necessary. The supplies required include a measuring tape that is at least 5 meters long, a 5 meter long piece of string, ribbon, or rope, index cards or other stiff pieces of paper, and calculators.

During the breaks, students will construct a geologic timeline of their own in the classroom and do simple calculations to determine how long amounts of time can lead to impressive changes in the height of the Himalayan Mountains and the size of a group of reptiles.

Type: Teaching Idea

This activity explores concepts studied by genetic scientists as well as biomedical and environmental engineers.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. It describes new research suggesting urban life creates evolutionary changes in plants and animals. Examples of changes to an urban growing plant (the white clover) and a Leapin' Lizard are presented as they evolve to suit their new environment.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area.  This article describes several fascinating examples of rapid evolution by natural selection. It explains research on three organisms, cichlids, crickets and sea urchins, that demonstrates how these creatures have quickly adapted to their changing environments. This is a very useful article for students beginning to explore the concepts of natural selection, evolution, and extinction.    

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article is mostly a biography of Charles Darwin, including his studies and what drove him to be a biologist. The second half of the article discusses his theory of evolution by natural selection and his influences on the development of the theory. It gives a synopsis of how natural selection operates.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The appendix has long been thought to be useless. However, new research suggests that the appendix actually can have a healthy function—to harbor bacteria beneficial to the immune system. This would have been vital early in humans' evolutionary history, when the chance of infection was much higher and medicine was lacking, and may still play that role for people in less developed parts of the world.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses how crickets on two Hawaiian islands have evolved wings that make them silent in response to parasitoid flies that locate male crickets via sound (and eat them from the inside out!). The crickets on Kauai and Oahu evolved completely different silent wing types, which is evidence that these two cricket populations evolved their silent wings independently.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The human evolution of bipedalism (walking upright) has resulted in a change in the morphology of the spine, feet, and other features of modern humans that are also present in fossils of our hominid ancestors. These changes have resulted in unintended consequences - body pains and injuries that our non-bipedal primate relatives do not experience.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses current thinking and popular hypotheses for the function of zebra stripes. A recent study indicates that zebra stripes may protect the animals from fly bites, which are both a nuisance to the animals and a means of spreading infectious fatal diseases.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Scientists used ancient bones to compare Neandertal DNA to that of modern humans from around the globe. The results are surprising: many of us are closer to Neandertals than previously thought. Once considered very unlikely, scientists now believe that humans and Neandertals may have interbred.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In this article, scientists explore the fossil of a dead fish whose cells were perfectly preserved from 100 million years ago. The remains led to further studies of decay and fossilization. Taphonomy, the study of what happens after plants and animals die, is discussed in detail, showing how studying fossilized animals can tell us about how they evolved.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes a study that suggests tropical animals are in danger of extinction due to climate change—more so than animals living in polar climates. This is because these species are already at their thermal tolerance limits, and further increases in temperature could greatly lower their fitness.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article explains how natural selection can lead to changes in populations. Variations in body types were observed in a species of climbing goby (a fish) in Hawaii. These variations allow differential success in avoiding predators and climbing waterfalls. Depending on conditions on different islands, individuals with certain body types are more likely to thrive because their body type makes it easier for them to survive and reproduce.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This short article is about how a changing environment has lead to a near extinction of tuatara (a lizard species) in New Zealand. It discusses how invasive species—in the tuatara's case, predatory mammals—can wipe out native species that are unable to adapt.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses how the early tyrannosaur's rise to dominance was likely delayed by the existence of a newly discovered, fiercer predator with which it competed. The new dino, Siats meekerorum, likely postponed tyrannosaur's emergence as the top predator in its ecosystem.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text describes the discovery of a new species of human, nicknamed "hobbits," believed to exist as recently as 12,000 years ago. It also covers the evidence in support of the hypothesis that hobbits are truly a new human species (and not deformed Homo sapiens).

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text compares the bone and muscle structure of early Homo sapiens and Neandertals. It describes the ability to run long distances in one and not the other and explains how this difference may have evolved.

Type: Text Resource

Fossil enthusiasts Roy Shephard and Luci Algar combined their professional skills in media and education to develop this informative and entertaining website. Designed to be educational and accessible to children, this site presents a wide variety of information about fossils found in Great Britain. The site contains a nice collection of images and diagrams; and includes a fossils guide for beginners, information on preparing fossils, a collection of fossil myths, information on ammonites, and more. The site also contains a Games & Activities section for teachers and students, a glossary of fossil terms, a neat diagram depicting the evolution of life on our planet, and even some free fossil desktop images.

Type: Text Resource

The news article describes the discovery of a placoderm (armored fish) fossil with a facial structure similar to modern vertebrates. It may represent the origin of facial structure for all modern vertebrates. This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The news article thoroughly describes a transitional primate fossil and includes artist illustrations of the animal in its environment, sidebar information describing the Messel Pit, life for animals in a maar, and how the fossil was named. The article also includes a pop-up glossary of potential problematic vocabulary.

Type: Text Resource

Students will explore natural selection by controlling the environment and causing mutations in bunnies. This will demonstrate how natural selection works in nature. They will have the opportunity to throw in different variables to see what will make their species of rabbit survive.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

PBS has developed an EXCELLENT unit on Evolution It has great activities, video clips, and games that lead a student through the mechanisms that lead to evolution, evidence that supports evolution, and the evolution ideas/scientific discoveries.

Type: WebQuest

This lesson on evolution consists of two activities.
In the first, students will take on the role of a paleontologist who is investigating a particular period of time in Earth's history using the Web Geological Time Machine at the University of California, Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Web site to make a detailed journal entry with illustrations.
In the second activity, Evolution WebQuest, students investigate a variety of types of evidence for evolution from different areas of science. Students divide into groups of six and each member of the group becomes a specialist in anatomy and physiology, paleontology or molecular biology. The anatomists study the structure, physiologists study function, molecular biologists study genetics, and the paleontologists study fossils to find examples of evidence for evolution.

Type: WebQuest