Classroom Resources

In this inquiry-based activity, students engage in science practices to figure out ways environmental factors drive the natural selection and adaptation of Galápagos finches.

This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that investigated how anole lizards may adapt to extremely cold temperatures.

In this activity, students collect and analyze evidence for each of the major conditions for evolution by natural selection to develop an explanation for how populations change over time.

In this activity, students develop arguments for the adaptation and natural selection of Darwin’s finches, based on evidence presented in the film The Beak of the Finch.

In this case study, students explore the story of the evolution of lactase persistence based on the short film Making of the Fittest: Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture and makes connections between genotype, phenotype, and culture using graphical analysis skills.

In this activity, students formulate a hypothesis and collect and analyze real research data about how quickly natural selection can act on specific traits in a population as a result of predation. It is accompanied by a short video that describes the experiment this activity is based on.

This activity supports the viewing of the film The Making of a Theory. Students evaluate and discuss several claims relating to the history and evidence that led to the theory of evolution by natural selection.

In this activity, students collect and analyze data from a hands-on model to discover why even slight variations in beak size can impact a bird’s ability to obtain food and survive.

In this activity, students analyze and graph data taken from a population of Galápagos finches before and after a major drought.

This activity explores the concepts and research presented in the short film The Origin of Species: The Making of a Theory, which documents the epic voyages of naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.

This activity reinforces concepts of variation and natural selection covered in the short film Natural Selection and Adaptation. Students apply the Hardy-Weinberg equation to real data collected on rock pocket mouse populations.