Classroom Resources

This video follows germplasm bank coordinator Cristian Zavala Espinosa and geneticist Sarah Hearne, who are part of the global effort to preserve the genetic diversity of maize (corn).

This activity explores images of elephants with and without tusks, which serve as phenomena for learning about selection and human impacts on the frequency of traits within populations.

This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from the world’s longest-running controlled artificial selection study, in which scientists tested whether they could use selective breeding to change the protein concentration of maize (corn).

A number of questions are embedded within the short film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn, which explores the genetic and archaeological evidence that corn was domesticated from a wild Mexican grass called teosinte.

This activity explores how scientists determined how and where corn was domesticated, as discussed in the short film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn.