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Natural Selection
Students use discussion questions, handout information and research topics to explore several issues related to natural selection and evolution. They examine Darwin's research on the finch and antibiotic resistance.
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Lamarck vs Darwin: Dueling Theories
Students, in groups, study cheetah, blind cave organisms, and naked mole rats to explain facets of evolution.
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The Natural Selection of Stick-Worms
Students discuss and role-play the elements of natural selection. They use toothpicks to represent Stick-Worms and discover the mechanisms of change of traits in populations.
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Who Gets Eaten? A Study of Natural Selection
Fourth graders represent a new predator on a population of colored worms. They mathematically determine the effect of the new predator on the survival and reproductive rates of the worms, simulating natural selection at work.
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Candy Dish Selection
Learners explore natural selection. They explore the concepts of adaptations, and the way which random factors affect the survival of individuals and populations.
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Introduction to Natural Selection
Students develop an understanding of natural selection, specifically, how it unfolds from generation to generation.
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Evolution of the Peppered Moth
Seventh graders complete a timeline about the evolution of the peppered moth. In this biology lesson, 7th graders write an essay about how human can affect evolution. They share their essay with the class.
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Natural Selection in Action
Learners demonstrate natural selection through a lab activity. In this biology lesson, students explain how natural selection leads to speciation. They complete their lab report and discuss results in class.
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Hide and Survive: A Natural Selection Activity
Students explore the theory of natural selection given certain scenarios. In this biology instructional activity, students graph data taken from the experiment. They explain the factors that contribute to the survival of the fittest.
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Introduction to Biology
Young scholars examine the principles of natural selection and explain how it is the basis of the theory of evolution. In this natural selection lesson students research the web on the theory of evolution.Â
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Critter Characteristics
Students explore the adaptations of deep sea life forms. Â In this science lesson, students watch a video to observe characteristics which allow for the sea creature to thrive in it's environment. Students determine the physical,...
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Natural Selection and the Peppered Moth
Learners study natural selection and its process in the peppered moth. For this evolution lesson, students read about the concept of natural selection as suggested by Charles Darwin. Learners then complete a natural selection simulation...
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Exploring the Uses of Beaks
Students explore the uses of bird beaks in the wild by participating in experiment stations. In this bird adaptation lesson, students work in groups and complete experiment stations that represent different types of bird beaks. Students...
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How Science Works: Natural Selection
Learners are introduced to the topic of adaptation and discuss how various animals adapt to their environment. In groups, they participate in a simulation in which they are selected based on criteria. They discuss the results and relate...
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Using Magnetotactic Bacteria to Study Natural Selection
High schoolers demonstrate that living organisms may possess incredible adaptations which enable them to survive. They observe bacteria that are able to orient themselves using the Earth's magnetic field and formulate a hypothesis as to...
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Estimation of Population Growth By Counting Offspring: Seed Multiplication
Students calculate the reproductive rate of a plant that creates multi seed fruits. They graph exponential growth and the complete a series of questions that help them infer that natural selection processes are at work in this population.
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The Value of Behavioral Variation in Homo sapiens
High schoolers look at the behavioral characteristics of their peers from a historical perspective, and realize that, in the larger scheme of a community, these behaviors do have some value, and that a society as complex as ours does...
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Camouflage and Protective Coloration: A Model of Natural Selection
Young scholars collect data and compare whether protective coloration or camouflage provides better biological fitness in a given environment. They simulate predator prey interactions of two different species and use gene frequencies to...
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Change by Chance?
Sixth graders are able to see the role of chance in evolution. The activity is similar to the party game "gossip" or "telephone." Students start off with a drawing of an animal which changes as they pass their copies of the animal to...
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Natural Selection Simulation
Students simulate the changes in a natural population of birds or other species. They establish baseline data of population fluctuation for a closed population with a stable food supply. They graph the data to complete their mutations.
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Beans and Birds: A Natural Selection Simulation
Students examine the problem concerning the evolution of seed color in pinto bean plants "How does natural selection change the frequency of genes or traits over many generations"? Students work in teams to design an experiment that...
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Of Mice and Moths
Young scholars study the concept that genetic variation of offspring contributes to population control. They create a presentation showing natural selection and survival of the fittest.
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Animal Life Histories Derived From Morphology
Learners learn the mechanisms of natural selection by deducing information from the physical appearance of the animal.