Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Survival of the Fittest - Variations in the Clam Species Clamys sweetus
It's not often that you come across a clever laboratory activity that is both imaginative and comprehensive! Using M&M's and Reese's peanut butter candies to represent two different clam species, young biologists test for "relative...
University of Pennsylvania
Evolution by Natural Selection
A diagram, data table, and reading passage top this resource. Through it, biology beginners are introduced to the concept of natural selection. They answer some questions and then participate in a simulation using fabric as a habitat and...
Curated OER
Life's Lessons: Survival of the Fittest
Students analyze Jack London's use of anthropomorphism to identify the importance of adaptability in life. In this literature lesson, students use the novel The Call of the Wild to identify key elements in survival. Students complete...
Curated OER
Dining Out With Fishes and Birds of the Hudson
The class will make observations to determine how environment has shaped the way particular birds and fish eat. They will view a series of photographs, read two short articles, and then consider how food availability has determined how...
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest Microbes
Students explore the harsh conditions of Spain's Rio Tinto River and research the microbes that nonetheless manage to thrive there. They synthesize their knowledge by creating a reality television show set in the Rio Tinto with microbes...
Curated OER
Animal Adaptations
Fifth graders discover the adaptation of species through analyzing pictures. In this scientific discovery lesson, 5th graders discuss the concept of adaptation in order for survival. Students view many images of extinct animals and...
Curated OER
Structural and Behavioral Adaptations
Students participate in a role playing lab that allows students to experience how different beak adaptations play a role in the type of food the animal can eat, therefore playing a role in the survival of the species.
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest
Students explore plant needs and growth. In this plant science lesson, students use a cereal box to complete a plant growth graph activity.
Columbus City Schools
Diversity of Living Things
Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have changed along...
Curated OER
Fittest of the Survivors
students consider the reality television show 'Survivor' as a means to contemplate what it means to be a survivor. They create fictional characters and explore how different personal qualities would help and hinder their success on...
American Physiological Society
Sticky Adaptations A Lesson on Natural Selection
Now you see it, now you don't! The stick bug exhibits the ability to disappear into a wooded environment. Why does this adaptation manifest in some species, but not in others? Life science students explore animal adaptations in nature...
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest – Battling Beetles
Students explore natural selection. For this genetic adaptation lesson, students discover why certain traits continue and some traits disappear. Students discover how species evolve and change. Resources are provided.
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest -- Battling Beetles
Students experiment with traits. In this Science lesson, students test the strength of beetles using M&M candies in lieu of the insects. Students use the Hardy-Weinberg Equation to calculate possible offspring traits of further...
Serendip
Evolution and Adaptations
Survival of the fittest isn't just for the movies! A five-part lesson explores several different species with known adaptations and analyzes them for their survival strategies. Using both video and research data, scholars draw...
Curated OER
Survival Of The Fittest
Seventh graders examine the concept of an ecosystem and how there is a variety of representations of life that exist there. They look at the equilibrium that is reached in stable communities and how the variable of change in...
Bill of Rights Institute
The Gilded Age, Robber Barons and the Rise of Big Business
Survival of the fittest! Scholars investigate an AP review video to discover the era of big business during the Gilded Age. Viewers examine the place of Robber Barons in society and its impact on the workforce in America. This is the...
Personal Genetics Education Project
Using Primary Sources to Examine the History of Eugenics
Eugenics philosophy takes survival of the fittest to a whole new level. With a research-focused lesson, young scientists examine the history of the eugenics movement and its impact on society. Pupils engage with a video clip, primary...
Curated OER
Nowhere to Hide
Young scholars examine the topic of natural selection. As a class, they write their own definition to survival of the fittest and watch a video. Using the internet, they research how Darwin started to examine this process using finches...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Making of the Fittest: The Birth and Death of Genes
Adaptations must be made as environments change. This fabulous presentation features Icelandic icefish, a transparent, scaleless specimen that even has colorless blood. Genetics and adaptations concepts are explored as scientists study...
Curated OER
Populations – The Survival of the Fittest (Part 1)
Students explain in their own words why organisms live together. In this biology lesson, students model what happens to organisms if their environment changes. They explain the importance of evolution.
Curated OER
Populations- The Survival of the Fittest
Students examine the ways that populations become diverse and how mutation changes the diversity of a population. In this exploratory lesson students study natural selection by completing a lab activity and discussing what they learned.
Curated OER
Escape! Survival of the Fittest Grasshopper
Fourth graders, in groups, design a paperclip grasshopper. They determine its ability to survive a prey by jumping high, far, or with a distracting behavior.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Evolution Begins with the Inheritance of Gene Variations
Connect Mendelian genetics with Darwinian theories. An interactive lesson lets pupils explore how George Shull used research from other scientists to explore genetic variation. The resource outlines the statistical analysis of genetic...
Curated OER
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.