In this activity, students explore a map of the global "human footprint," created when researchers overlaid the locations of more than 400 hypoxic systems linked to eutrophication. Students will analyze the map and then answer a series of questions to better understand the connection between dead zones and areas that are heavily impacted by humans.
In this lesson, 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. This activity is based on the classic study of the evolution of fur color in rock pocket mouse populations. It supports the short film, â€œThe Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation.â€ Students summarize the evidence for evolution by natural selection presented in the film and in figures from a scientific paper. They should then be able to apply the same concepts to any trait that changes in response to natural selection in any species. The activity helps students develop useful skills aligned with the science practices of constructing explanations and engaging in argument from evidence.
Students learn that atmospheric composition is one of the major factors in the long-term control of Earth's climate. They then build a model of how carbon cycles through the Earth system.
In this activity, students evaluate data from a study conducted on the island of Daphne Major in the Galapagos Islands investigating the change in beak depths of finches after a drought. Students will analyze a graph and then answer discussion questions based on the graph characteristics and what the data shows.
In this activity, students review the research data of a team of scientists who studied the effects of introducing a lizard predator on the food webs of a group of small islands in the Bahamas. After analyzing graphs, students will answer a series of questions based on the data.
Students explore the phases, checkpoints, and protein regulators of the cell cycle and find out how mutated versions of these proteins can lead to the development of cancer in this interactive resource.
These two activities support the film The Origin of Species: The Beak of the Finch. They provide students with the opportunity to analyze data collected by Princeton University evolutionary biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant.
This interactive explores different anatomical features of the human body and what they reveal about the evolutionary history humans share with other organisms, including earlier, long-extinct species.
In this interactive activity, students explain a phenomenon, make hypotheses and predictions, and then test their predictions with data. Students will measure the biomass of primary producers in a defined area and extrapolate the amount of algal biomass in a river pool. Students will also investigate the relationship between biomass pyramids and pyramids of productivity and the role of the physical environment (mainly the amount of sunlight versus shade) on trophic biomass pyramids. This activity is based on the fieldwork of ecologist Dr. Mary Power.
These classroom-ready resources complement the film "Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans," which reveals the history of our evolutionary origins.
This worksheet supports the HHMI short film The Day the Mesozoic Died. As students watch the film, they will write down the evidence that led to the discovery that an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, causing a mass extinction. Through this exercise students gain an appreciation for the scientific process, which consists of asking questions, making observations, formulating hypotheses, and gathering and evaluating evidence.
This "Click and Learn" presents how West Nile virus infects mosquitoes, birds, and people - with very different consequences.
In this activity, students review research where scientists studied the genetic origin of variation in human skin color using a model organism, the zebrafish. Students will analyze histograms and then answer a series of questions to better understand mutations.
Students explore transitional forms with features of both fish and tetrapods, and see the progression of anatomical changes from reconstructed fossil skeletons in this interactive.
In the second film of the Great Transitions trilogy, paleontologist Julia Clarke takes us on a journey to uncover the evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs. The film illustrates many of the practices of science, including asking important questions, formulating and testing hypotheses, analyzing and interpreting evidence, and revising explanations as new evidence becomes available.
In this film, part of the Great Transitions trilogy, Sean Carroll and Tim White discuss the most important human fossils and how they illuminate key phases of human evolution, focusing in particular on three traits: larger brains, tool use, and bipedality.