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 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.
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).
This activity explores images of chalk formations and coccolithophores, which serve as phenomena for learning about the interactions between biological and geological processes.
In this activity, students further explore the short film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn, by working through the mathematical concepts behind George Beadle’s claim that teosinte is the wild ancestor of maize.
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.
In this activity, students explore single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with different traits in dogs to identify genes associated with those traits.
This activity reinforces concepts presented in the short film The Making of a Theory. Using a map of the Malay Archipelago and information about the animals found on different islands, students discover the Wallace Line: a sharp boundary that separates distinct Asian and Australian fauna.
This activity supports concepts covered in the film The Day the Mesozoic Died. Students will analyze geological evidence from 10 different sites around the world to predict the location of the asteroid impact that caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
This activity allows students to calculate the mass, size, and kinetic energy of an asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago, based on the total abundance of iridium in a sediment layer. It supports concepts presented in the short film The Day the Mesozoic Died.
This activity allows students to analyze the chemical data that led researchers to conclude that a layer of clay at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene rock layers (the K-Pg boundary) contained an extraordinary concentration of iridium. It supports concepts presented in the short film The Day the Mesozoic Died.