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Interactive
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Creating Phylogenetic Trees from DNA Sequences

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
How closely are animals related? Check their phylogenetic trees! The use of DNA sequencing altered our understanding of these relationships. Individuals explore and gain a better understanding of how scientists sort, align, and determine...
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Lesson Plan
Computer Science Unplugged

Phylogenetics

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class to the concept of creating phylogenetic trees by playing a game of Telephone. Participants create a mixed-up message and through the use of distance matrices, the evolution of the message is recreated. 
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Interactive
PBS

NOVA Evolution Lab Game

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Many scholars study phylogenetic trees without understanding how they are made. Through an online game, young scientists use the given data to create phylogenetic trees of increasing complexity. They rely on the trees they create to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Automobile Phylogenetic Tree

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study a list of cars and trucks and think about characteristics that can be used to show an "evolutionary relationship". From the characteristics they identity, students construct a phylogenetic tree to show how the automotive...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Amino Acid Sequences to Show Evolutionary Relationships

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Junior biologists compare the amino acid sequences from fragments of five different globin molecules. They count the letter differences between each species pair. They construct a graphic representation of the evolutionary relationships...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree of Life

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Students study genetics and evolution. They evaluate a group of organisms and estimate their genetic relatedness. Then they use an online program to check the accuracy of their estimations and make a branching phylogenetic tree which...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vertebrate Dioramas

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students are able to describe the development of their chosen form of vertebrate life from the past to the present in a four to six page typed paper. They explain the use of phylogenetic tree. Students use the phylogenetic tree to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Embryology as Evidence of Evolution

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students observe the two major developmental pathways (protostome and deuterostome). They analyze data regarding differences in nucleotide sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree. They observe the similar evolutionary history shared...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vertebrate Dioramas

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Young scholars describe the development of their chosen form of vertebrate life from the past to the present in a four to six page paper. They explain the use of a phylogenetic tree, and use this to exemplify an organism's evolutionary...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Phylogenetic Tree

For Students 11th - 12th
In this biology instructional activity, students label parts of a phylogenetic tree and differentiate between bilateral symmetry and radial symmetry.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Constructing a Phylogenetic Tree Using DNA Sequence Data

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students analyze DNA sequence differences between organisms in order to establish a reasonable picture of the evolutionary relationships between them. They take the role of molecular biologists and make genetic changes and constructing...
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AP Test Prep
College Board

2018 AP® Biology Free-Response Questions

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
The average AP Biology score dropped in 2018 with the addition of more data tables and graphs. Offer additional practice free-response questions by using the questions from the 2018 AP exam covering phylogenetic trees, cell structure and...
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Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Using DNA to Explore Lizard Phylogeny

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
On the Caribbean islands, lizards expanded into different niches instead of competing for resources. Scholars discuss and learn from experts in a video how scientists prove the theory. They build phylogenetic trees based on appearances...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Automobile Phylogenetic Tree

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students construct a phylogenetic tree for various automobiles and trucks after considering important characteristics of these "organisms". They work in small groups to construct the trees and complete a set of questions then they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Constructing a Phylogenetic Tree

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are given the opportunity to analyze DNA sequence differences between organisms in order to establish a reasonable picture of the evolutionary relationships between them (Phylogenetic Tree). In the simulation form they are...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Systematics and the Phylogenetic Revolution

For Students 9th - 12th
This assignment conducts a thorough exploration of systematics. Clearly designed for an AP biology course, questions pertain to taxonomic categories, phylogeny, and construction of cladograms. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cut-Off Genes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explain the concept of gene sequence analysis. For this gene lesson, students draw inferences about phylogenetic similarities of different organisms.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Organizing Principles of Plants and Animals

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Three lessons and five assessments are contained in this material. Various paper shapes are sorted as a simulation of biological classification. Learners gather a list of living things that they are familiar with and design a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Molecular Biology and Primate Phylogenetics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pairs of high school biologists compare amino acid differences in the beta hemoglobin of different primates. They use the information collected to construct a phylogenic tree. Follow-up discussion questions are provided. This is a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Island Biogeography and Evolution: Solving a Phylogenetic Puzzle With Molecular Genetics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers engage in solving a logic problem based on real organisms and real data. They develop phylogenies for seven related populations of lizards living on the Canary Islands.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Phylogenetic Perspective for the Cladistically Challenged

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars observe the structures of skulls as presented in drawings, and determine which are most closely related to the skull of the mosasaur.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fun with Phylogenetic Trees

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders differentiate angiosperms and gymnosperms. In this biology instructional activity, 10th graders construct a musical phylogenetic tree from information they gathered on resource websites. They present their project in class.
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Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Biodiversity and Evolutionary Trees

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Compare what shells look like on the outside with what makes that happen on the inside. Scholars begin by sorting an various seashells by their physical characteristics into phylogenetic trees. They then conduct a DNA comparison of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Playing Hot and Cold

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students read about homeothermy. Through research and poster projects, they gain insight into the diversity among mammals and the ways specific mammals survive in their native climates.

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