Students examine laws that have benefited the nation in a variety of ways. The congressperson in the legislative branch of the government primarily responsible for the passage of the law and the current representatives are sought in this...

Students use the internet to research and determine who their representative is. In groups, they discuss how the representatives set their priorities and identify the various roles they can play. They determine which role their own...

Learners review the roles and responsibitlies of members of Congress. After reading excerpts of a book about one member, they write their own version about the same representative. They also identify the challenges and benefits of begin...

Students identify the roles and responsibilies of a member of Congress. In groups, they brainstorm a list of qualities senators and representatives should have. They also work together to develop a brochure for someone to examine if they...

Students research how the government works together to create a budget. In groups, they examine each major spending category and their purpose. They identify the many challenges and compromises that must take place to agree on a budget.

A lot happened to European economics, policy, and social systems after WWII. This 24 page social studies packet provides images, reading passages, comprehension questions, and critical thinking questions regarding all things Europe from...

Students experience, through a "dig," the historical discovery of fossils which increasingly link whales to earlier land-dwelling mammals. They encounter the intermediate forms which show changes that lead to the modern whale.

Students view video showing recent field work on a twenty two-year study of finch beaks on a small island in the Galapagos, showing natural selection clearly operating in the wild.

Students count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.

Students are taken on a simulated "voyage" backward in time, to the beginning of our planet. They "witness" that beginning, the origin of life, and a number of key events from then to the present.

Learners transfer examples (names) of primates from their location in an outline hierarchy of primate groups into a set of nested boxes reflecting that same hierarchy. A cladogram can then be drawn illustrating how these groups are...

Students are guided through a process in which three questions are addressed by retrieving beta hemoglobin sequences from online databases, and using online tools to compare those sequences in student-selected animals.

Young scholars compare differences in amino acids in the beta hemoglobin from representative primates, complete a matrix of those differences, and from these data, construct and interpret cladograms as they reflect relationships and...

Young scholars examine a method biologists use to try to determine relationships. They examine how amino acid sequences have been determined for a number of proteins, and how scientists can make inferences about DNA based on the amino...

Students construct cladograms (evolutionary trees), showing how shared derived characters can be used to reveal degrees of relationship. They interpret and analyze cladograms, and determine where unclassified vertebrates would fit on a...

Students go on an imaginary fossil hunt. They follow a script read by the teacher, students "find" (remove from envelope) paper "fossils" of some unknown creature. They attempt to reconstruct fossil pieces into an animal.

Students analyze 5 separate theories of evolution in order to help them explain the different meanings of theory, how human values influence science, and that the scientific view of the origin of life does not involve supernatural forces.

Middle schoolers build a Colossal Classroom Cladogram of vertebrate evolution. After putting it together, they show the gradual, mosaic accumulation of the traits which we, as humans, possess.

Students, in groups, hunt for beans placed in the lawn. Each group uses a different tool (hand, spoon, fork, etc.) and there are three different colors of beens.

Students, in teams, use different colored paper chips to represent prey and a piece of fabric as the environment.

Students participate in a contrived natural selection simulation in which they build and modify simple paper airplanes. They study divergent and convergent evolution and how it is isolated in sub-populations.

Learners working in pairs attempt to produce a full sequence of 13 cards of one suit (ace - to king). This must be done by shuffling the suit of cards for each round, then checking the cards.

Students practice dating fossils. They learn the concept of "deep time"--that earth was formed billions of years ago. They experience excellent hand-outs and virtual age tutorial links.

Students explore the realm and limits of science. Engages students to give examples of topics that can be studied by science, and those that cannot. This also takes a examine descriptive terms, which reflect the true nature of modern...