University of Pennsylvania
Evolution by Natural Selection
A diagram, data table, and reading passage top this resource. Through it, biology beginners are introduced to the concept of natural selection. They answer some questions and then participate in a simulation using fabric as a habitat and...
Curated OER
Life's Lessons: Survival of the Fittest
Students analyze Jack London's use of anthropomorphism to identify the importance of adaptability in life. In this literature lesson, students use the novel The Call of the Wild to identify key elements in survival. Students complete...
Curated OER
Dining Out With Fishes and Birds of the Hudson
The class will make observations to determine how environment has shaped the way particular birds and fish eat. They will view a series of photographs, read two short articles, and then consider how food availability has determined how...
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest Microbes
Students explore the harsh conditions of Spain's Rio Tinto River and research the microbes that nonetheless manage to thrive there. They synthesize their knowledge by creating a reality television show set in the Rio Tinto with microbes...
Curated OER
Animal Adaptations
Fifth graders discover the adaptation of species through analyzing pictures. In this scientific discovery lesson, 5th graders discuss the concept of adaptation in order for survival. Students view many images of extinct animals and...
Curated OER
Structural and Behavioral Adaptations
Learners participate in a role playing lab that allows students to experience how different beak adaptations play a role in the type of food the animal can eat, therefore playing a role in the survival of the species.
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest
Students explore plant needs and growth. In this plant science lesson, students use a cereal box to complete a plant growth graph activity.
Columbus City Schools
Diversity of Living Things
Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have changed along...
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest – Battling Beetles
Students explore natural selection. For this genetic adaptation lesson, students discover why certain traits continue and some traits disappear. Students discover how species evolve and change. Resources are provided.
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest -- Battling Beetles
Learners experiment with traits. In this Science instructional activity, students test the strength of beetles using M&M candies in lieu of the insects. Learners use the Hardy-Weinberg Equation to calculate possible offspring traits...
Curated OER
Survival Of The Fittest
Seventh graders examine the concept of an ecosystem and how there is a variety of representations of life that exist there. They look at the equilibrium that is reached in stable communities and how the variable of change in...
Curated OER
Nowhere to Hide
Young scholars examine the topic of natural selection. As a class, they write their own definition to survival of the fittest and watch a video. Using the internet, they research how Darwin started to examine this process using finches...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Making of the Fittest: The Birth and Death of Genes
Adaptations must be made as environments change. This fabulous presentation features Icelandic icefish, a transparent, scaleless specimen that even has colorless blood. Genetics and adaptations concepts are explored as scientists study...
Curated OER
Populations – The Survival of the Fittest (Part 1)
Students explain in their own words why organisms live together. In this biology lesson, students model what happens to organisms if their environment changes. They explain the importance of evolution.
Curated OER
Populations- The Survival of the Fittest
Students examine the ways that populations become diverse and how mutation changes the diversity of a population. In this exploratory lesson students study natural selection by completing a lab activity and discussing what they learned.
Curated OER
Escape! Survival of the Fittest Grasshopper
Fourth graders, in groups, design a paperclip grasshopper. They determine its ability to survive a prey by jumping high, far, or with a distracting behavior.
Curated OER
Hide and Survive: A Natural Selection Activity
Students explore the theory of natural selection given certain scenarios. In this biology lesson, students graph data taken from the experiment. They explain the factors that contribute to the survival of the fittest.
Curated OER
Eat and Run
Students 'browse' like a deer, demonstrate how deer react when danger appears, demonstrate survival of the fittest, identify 4-5 sources of danger to deer and describe 1-2 ways deer protect themselves.
Curated OER
Survival of the Fittest
Sixth graders create their own "never before seen" marine creatures and examine how not all creatures in the sea swim, not all have sharp teeth
Curated OER
Morphing
Students examine how organisms adapt to their environment in order to survive. As a class, they discuss the extinction of the dinosaurs and review Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. They select an animal to morph in the future...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Color Variation over Time in Rock Pocket Mouse Populations
A species-specific look at natural selection, the resource herein examines how adaptations have helped the population of rock pocket mice survive in a changing landscape. To begin, middle or high schoolers watch a 10.5 minute video,...
Curated OER
Allele and Phenotype Frequencies in Rock Pocket Mouse Populations
In the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, some tiny creatures show just how quickly natural selection can turn a mutation into an advantageous adaptation. Watch a video about rock pocket mice, who show that one small change can make all...
Curated OER
The Living Environment
Fourth graders make a chart of animals and plants that live in either the desert, the ocean, or the tundra. For this environment lesson plan, 4th graders work in groups to discover characteristics needed for these animals to live in that...
Curated OER
How Does Evolution Work?
Students are introduced to how the process of evolution works. As a class, they review the characteristics of natural selection and how those with advantageous traits reproduce and survive. To test this theory of natural selection,...