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The Great Fossil Find - Reconstructing the Pieces

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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.
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The Checks Lab

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Young scholars, in teams, have an envelope containing a series of bank checks. A few are removed at a time, and the team attempts to construct a plausible scenario which involves those checks.
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A STEP IN SPECIATION

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students place different subspecies of a CA salamander are placed on grid map of CA according to where samples were collected. Then discuss patterns of their distribution, their likely evolutionary relationships, and probable sequence of...
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Mystery Boxes: Uncertainty and Collaboration

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students manipulate boxes with unknown internal structure and contents to become familiar with the concept of uncertainty in science.
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Theory, Theory, Who's got the theory?

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students analyze 5 separate theories of evolution in order to help them explain the different meanings of theory, how human values influence science, and that the scientific view of the origin of life does not involve supernatural forces.
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Classroom Cladogram of Vertebrate/Human Evolution

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students build a Colossal Classroom Cladogram of vertebrate evolution. After putting it together, they show the gradual, mosaic accumulation of the traits which we, as humans, possess.
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The Natural Selection of Bean Hunters

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Young scholars, in groups, hunt for beans placed in the lawn. Each group uses a different tool (hand, spoon, fork, etc.) and there are three different colors of beens.
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The Chips Are Down: A Natural Selection Simulation

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students, in teams, use different colored paper chips to represent prey and a piece of fabric as the environment.
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The Selection and Variation in the Egyptian Origami Bird

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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.
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Natural Selection.... a Cumulative Process... it's in the cards!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students working in pairs attempt to produce a full sequence of 13 cards of one suit (ace - to king). This must be done by shuffling the suit of cards for each round, then checking the cards.
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Creating Coacervates

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create and observe coacervates. In this origin of life lesson, students create coacervates by mixing carbohydrate and protein solutions. They observe the life-like qualities of the structures and discuss the origin of life.
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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Four scenarios of unusual human behaviors are given to your psychology class. Based on their knowledge of brain anatomy and function, they consider what parts of the brain might be affected in order to result in the behaviors. This case...
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Pre-Activity Worksheet: Natural Selection

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Although the instructions include reading from a specific textbook, the tasks are appropriate for any unit dealing with how genotype frequency changes over time. Junior biologists define five vocabulary terms and then answer five...
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WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS A ZEBRA?

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students read the essay, "What, If Anything, Is a Zebra?" following a teacher made reading guide. They investigate cladistics, shared derived characteristics, with further online research to enhance their study of evolution and...
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Pseudogene Suite

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners use Biology Workbench to explore DNA sequence data for the GULOP gene in humans, chimpanzees, orangutans, and crab-eating macaques and the beta globin gene and its pseduogene in humans, gorillas, and chimpanzees.
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Hominoid Cranium Comparison

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students describe, measure and compare cranial casts from contemporary apes (chimpanzees and gorillas, typically), modern humans and fossil "hominids" (erect and bipedal forms evolutionarily separated from apes).
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FOOTSTEPS IN TIME

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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.
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Comparison of Human and Chimpanzee Chromosomes

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students actively engage in the careful analysis of chromosome banding patterns and identify examples of inversion in homologous chromosomes.
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A Peek at the Past: Gradualism vs. Punctuated Equilibria

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider two sets of simulated fossils (caminalcules) that are provided as cutouts. They arrange them on two time scales. One set produces a visual example of gradualism, the other shows punctuated equilibria.
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Perception is Not Always Reality

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students view various types of illusions. Using one of the illusions, they try to determine how a scientist might explain them. They discover a t-illusion and use their own words to analyze them. In groups, they research a different...
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The Magic Hooey Stick

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the use of a "magic hooey stick". They discover the concept of illusions and how science can reveal them. They answer discussion questions to end the lesson.
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How's Your Horoscope?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the concept of astrology. They compare their traits with those of standard astrological descriptions. They discuss their findings.
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Crime Scene: The Case of the Missing Computer Chip

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars, in teams, attempt to solve a simulated crime scene.
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Women's Brains

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Pupils experience an example of bias in science dealing with women and gender.

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