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Lesson Plans:
Animal
Adaptations
Teaching evolutionary concepts can be tough, especially to young audiences.
The purpose of this demonstration is to introduce a simple concept in
evolution, adaptations. Students learn what an adaptation is by
constructing two animals from different habitats.
Darwin/Lamarck Court Case
This is a fun activity where students learn about evolution by staging a
trial. Dicussions and notes are then taken after
the trial using the court reporters' notes. This is one the kids will
remember all year.
Mammoth
Extinction
To explore various hypotheses concerning the extinction of the woolly
mammoth.
Introduction
to Natural Selection
To develop an understanding of natural selection, specifically, how it
unfolds from generation to generation.
Natural
Selection
Introduction to natural selection and the Chi square method of statistical
analysis.
The
Natural Selection of Forks and Beans
Students will observe how population size can vary from generation to
generation in response to changing environmental conditions.
Rat
Islands
This activity allows students to use some of their creativity to imagine
how rats would adapt to a particular island in order to survive. You can
make up a story as elaborate as you want to explain how the rats ended up
on their Island (A, B, C or D) and how
long they have been on the island in order to change so much.
Comparing
Theories: Lamarck and Darwin
To compare Lamarck's mechanism for evolution with
Darwin’s
theory of natural selection.
Hominid Series
Compare hominids.
Fossilworks
Making fossils then comparing them.
Beans
and Birds - A Natural Selection Simulation:
In this natural selection simulation students solve the following
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?"
A
Fishy Twist On Adaptations:
Students design a fish based on certain criteria (adaptations) and
determine the type of habitat which would be best suited for their fish's
survival.
Thumbs
Up, Thumbs Down - Grasping the Idea of Evolution:
Students compare their performance of a series of tasks using their thumb
and fingers to their performance of the same tasks without the use of their
thumb. The class discussion that follows the activity defines and discusses
the role of fine and gross motor skills and speculates on the role of the
opposable thumb in primate evolution.
Investigating
Natural Selection:
In this activity, the students experience one mechanism for evolution
through a simulation that models the principles of natural selection and
helps answer the question: How might biological change have occurred and
been reinforced over time?
Darwin's
Great Voyage of Discovery
Follow in Darwin's
footsteps as he travels the world and changes from an amateur naturalist to
a noted scientist.
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