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This lesson focuses on mutations and genetic recombination and how they increases the diversity of a population. The concept is presented as a PowerPoint, computer activity, and literacy article. Glow in the dark monkeys, spider goats, and modern biotechnology are used as attention grabbers.

Type: Lesson Plan

This toolkit supports the development of an instructional unit on diversity and evolution and aligns with academic standards for science, English language arts, and mathematics for students in grades 9-12. The elements of this toolkit were assembled based upon their suitability for constructing a multi-day instructional unit on hominid evolution that corresponds with the 5E Learning Cycle of engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Your task as a lesson study team is to analyze the materials that are included in this toolkit and evaluate how they can be incorporated in a 5-E instructional unit plan that complies with the academic standards for science, English language arts, and mathematics. As you study these resources it is important to make note of any deficiencies or gaps that will need to be addressed and make modifications in the lesson resources and activities where needed.

Type: Lesson Study Resource Kit

This lesson study resource kit is designed to support lesson study teams in developing a unit of instruction for students in grades 9-12 on the topic of diversity and evolution.

Type: Lesson Study Resource Kit

Mutations don't just happen to comic book heroes and villains. Learn more about this natural biological phenomenon!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text describes a rare form of dwarfism called Laron's Syndrome, which is associated with an unusually low incidence of cancer and diabetes. This combination of characteristics allows scientists to speculate on the relationship between all three conditions. It appears that a mutation that causes dwarfism protects against the common diseases of cancer and diabetes.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article shows how, through experimentation, bacteria evolve over a short period of time. The E.coli bacteria show the ability to eat a new food, citrate, after 13,000 generations of gene mutation.

Type: Text Resource

This Khan Academy video explains how variation can be introduced into a species and the importance of sexual reproduction in this process.

Type: Tutorial

This is a lesson about phenotypical variation within populations and how these differences are essential for biological evolution. Students will use a model organism (in this case, kidney beans) to explore variation patterns and subsequently connect these differences to artificial & natural selection. The NGSS’ CrossCutting Concepts and Science & Engineering Practices are embedded throughout the lesson.

The main learning objectives are:

• Using a model (kidney beans) to explore the natural variations within a population.
• Measuring differences between individuals in a population (population of beans).
• Describing how genetic/phenotypic variation is a key part of biological evolution because it is a prerequisite for natural selection.
• Demonstrating in which ways genetic variation is advantageous to a population because it enables some individuals to adapt to the environment while maintaining the survival of the population.

The NGSS Performance Expectations covered are HS-LS4-2. & HS-LS4-4.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation