Using origami paper birds, your biology class will experiment with mutations and natural selection to determine wing position, length, and width. It would be helpful to provide a worksheet to go with the activity that includes a...

Do you have what it takes to survive as a fit predator or will elusive prey lead to your extinction? Find out in a creative natural selection activity. Using different colors and shapes of grains to represent different species and...

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.

Students simulate natural selection using pinto beans. In this biology lesson, students identify the factors affecting organism evolution. They record data from the experiment and formulate a conclusion.

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.

With colored toothpicks representing genes, youngsters practice passing them through generations of fish and learn about heredity. Consider this as an introductory activity since it does not represent recessive genes with lowercase...

Students, in teams, use different colored paper chips to represent prey and a piece of fabric as the environment.

Using black and white construction paper, evolutionary biologists simulate the classic peppered moth study. They use beans in a frequency and natural selection exercise. Finally, they analyze germinated seeds for variations. All three...

Do you want a creative and fun way to teach about natural selection? Hop to it by turning your middle school princes and princesses into frogs trying to catch as many bugs as possible in a Hungry Hungry Hippos style game. For high...

Students explore natural selection. They explore the concepts of adaptations, and the way which random factors affect the survival of individuals and populations.

Students become birds and are given "beak-types". After completing the simulation, students relate results to adaptations and natural selection. Extensions of the simulation allow for comparative results and include population genetics.

Students determine the types of natural selection and variation that exists in a population, using beans.

Students explore the characteristics that distinguish different forms of animal life on Earth which are the results of natural selection and adaptations to their environment. The creatures are created using a game and then drawn by the...

Students demonstrate natural selection through a lab activity. In this biology instructional activity, students explain how natural selection leads to speciation. They complete their lab report and discuss results in class.

Teens experience natural selection firsthand (or first beak) in an activity that has them act as finches foraging for food. Using different household items  to act as different beak styles, your little finches will collect as much...

Students act as predators searching for prey (beans) in two different settings to demonstrate the processes of adaptation and selection.

Students use tools to represent bird beaks and pick up different types of food with them in order to discover which beak would help the bird survive depending on their food type.

Students 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...

Evolution occurs though change over time, but can it go any faster? Scholars speed up the process of evolution and observe a simulation of 20 blue organisms fighting for survival. A graph displays the changes in phenotype over time. By...

Students participate in a contrived natural selection simulation in which they build and modify simple paper airplanes. They study divergent and convergent evolution and how it is isolated in sub-populations.

At one point, all mammals carried only two color receptors, but now most humans carry three. An informative presentation and hands-on activity demonstrate how this evolved through genetics. By participating in the activity, pupils...

Students describe the anatomy of a virus. For this biology lesson, students compare and contrast the characteristics of bacteria and viruses. They discover the genetic adaptations of viruses over time.

Young scholars learn the mechanisms of natural selection by deducing information from the physical appearance of the animal.

A species-specific look at natural selection, the resource herein examines how adaptations have helped the population of rock pocket mice survive in a changing landscape. To begin, middle or high schoolers watch a 10.5 minute video,...