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Hello! I am currently a graduate student at Indiana University getting licensed to teach secondary science, specifically biology. My final project for one of my classes requires me to devise a unit plan; the unit I would like to do covers natural selection. I have already found a handful of activities and videos I think would be wonderful. I wanted to know if any experienced teachers found any activities or videos they use to be particularly effective. Thanks for your time! Alex

Hi Alex,

I'm sure that you are done with your final project, but just in case anyone else reads this and wants to know where they can find a good plethora of videos on evolution and natural selection, here is a link that might be helpful that spells out a lot of youtube videos that categorize in evolution and natural selection.

Youtube links

Hi Everyone -

NSTA has many journal articles with evolution teaching ideas (search the Learning Center library for evolution).

In addition, The NSTA Toolkit for Teaching Evolution is a great resource http://learningcenter.nsta.org/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781933531465 as are many other NSTA Press books on Evolution.

Two great (free) sources for videoclips for teaching evolution:

1) Evolution (PBS)Student Videos http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/teachstuds/svideos.html
This webpage has short videoclips (approx. 3 - 5 min. each) you can use in your classroom

The entire Evolution (PBS) website has a great deal of information for teachers.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/index.html (click on For Teachers)

2) HHMI - Howard Hughes Medical Institute - BioInteractive http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/index.html

They have a great deal of free material for teachers on evolution.
Check out the 3 short video clips (10 - 15 min. each) of evolution in action on the free DVD 'The Making of the Fittest' Also available as streaming video or downloadable video. Teacher support materials on the website too.

Dorothy

I have actually used the PBS website and made question sheets for the students to work on while watching the videos.

I have also used this website along with a work sheet and the smartboard with my students
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/similarity_hs_01
They found it very fun and exciting.

Attachments

Evolution_PBS_Movie_Questions.docx (0.10 Mb)

In_class_web_activity_(evolution).docx (0.07 Mb)

Hi Everyone -

Thanks for the terrific teaching resources Traci.
Your website link to Understanding Evolution (UC Berkely) did not work.
Here is the home page for Understanding Evolution http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/home.php

Was there a specific article title you were trying to point us to? If so, please repost the link.

The Making of the Fittest - Volume 2 has just been released from
HHMI - Howard Hughes Medical Institute - BioInteractive http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/index.html

It has short videos on:
- Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture
- Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies

I already used 'Got Lactoase' with my high school biology class. Downloaded it from the website as the DVD was not yet available. It was terrific.

These are also available as streaming video or downloadable video. Teacher support materials on the website too.

Dorothy

Alexander,
I would piggyback on the comments that Dorothy made in the previous post. HHMI's resources are wonderful. You might have a look at the Virtual Stickleback Evolution lab which is located here. The lab includes three experiments. Students collect and analyze data using photographs of modern day stickleback. They also look at photographs of fossilized fish and compare their pelvic structures to see how they have changed over time.

I really appreciate the link for the human evolution series. A mentor teacher of mine mentioned that she had great success with using human evolution as the main mechanism or starting off point for high school students because they are frankly rather self-centered, and are most interested in themselves. This, of course, is opposite from my appreciation of evolution with all the biodiversity that has been a product of this process. Also, being a teacher from Hawaii, evolutionary processes are so apparent to our ecosystem. I was wondering if any of your veteran science teachers have ever used Hawaii as an example for the evolutionary process and if so if you might have so good references or examples. Thanks!

Hi Alex, Try something from BrightStorm. The explanations are so very clear. Also, Learn Genetics has some clear, short discussions on the peppered moth and natural selection. Also, try looking for a popular link on mice on a lava flow as examples of selection pressure and evolution. finally, there is something online about California and the kinds of lizards there undergoing an adaptive radiation much like Darwin's finches.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjcFSy1KCTI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7mLxvNTSog