How did Charles Darwin support his controversial theory of evolution with evidence? Use an excerpt from his 1859 work On the Origin of Species to reinforce the importance of making inferences within an informational text, and to...

Why did many Tennesseeans support the 1925 Butler Act, which forbade the teaching of evolution? Using several primary source documents and a brief video clip, your young historians will draw connections between the broader historical...

Was the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists? As part of a structured academic controversy (SAC) activity, pupils consider multiple perspectives of the Butler Act and engage in close...

Teens experience natural selection firsthand (or first beak) in an activity that has them act as finches foraging for food. Using different household items  to act as different beak styles, your little finches will collect as much...

Everything evolved from a common ancestor, but how did modern plants and animals develop so many more genes? Scholars use an online interactive to learn about the process. They begin to understand common genes with an animation, multiple...

Did Scopes violate the Butler Act? Why did so many Americans follow the Scopes trial? See analytical reading in action with a fantastic five-day lesson plan in which class members consider the historical context that provoked public...

Young scholars explore the uses of bird beaks in the wild by participating in experiment stations. In this bird adaptation instructional activity, students work in groups and complete experiment stations that represent different types of...

On the Caribbean islands, lizards expanded into different niches instead of competing for resources. Scholars discuss and learn from experts in a video how scientists prove the theory. They build phylogenetic trees based on appearances...

Seventh graders differentiate evolution and adaptation. In this biology lesson, 7th graders make new words from a given word by adding or changing a letter. They set up a T-chart and enumerate how adaptation is like or unlike evolution.

Students study natural selection and its process in the peppered moth. For this evolution lesson, students read about the concept of natural selection as suggested by Charles Darwin. Students then complete a natural selection simulation...