Classroom Resources

In this activity, students investigate the phenomenon of lactase persistence by making sense of a series of data sets.

In this phenomenon-driven activity, students investigate how cells are signaled to make melanin and explain how mutations in melanin pathway proteins affect the coat color of various organisms.

In this inquiry-based activity, students investigate the phenomenon of fur colors in rock pocket mice to connect genotypes to phenotypes and molecular genetics to evolution.

This activity supports the film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn. Students analyze data on the expression of the tb1 gene to explain how variations in this gene played a role in the evolution of corn.

In this activity, students explore how experimental work in zebrafish led to a better understanding of the role of the gene SLC24A5 in human skin color. The activity complements the film The Biology of Skin Color.

A number of interactive questions are embedded within the short film The Biology of Skin Color, which explores the hypothesis that the variations in skin color in humans arose as adaptations to the intensity of ultraviolet radiation in different parts of the world.

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 guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that investigated a gene involved in determining human skin color.

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.

This activity explores the evidence that differences in human skin color are adaptations to varying intensity of UV light, as discussed in the short film The Biology of Skin Color.

This activity explores the content and research presented in the short film The Making of the Fittest: Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture, which describes a case of recent human evolution influenced by cultural factors.

This interactive module explores how the process of eukaryotic gene expression is regulated, using the production of the enzyme lactase as an example.