A Peek at the Past: Gradualism vs. Punctuated Equilibria

Young scholars read an article by Niles Eldridge about species and the environment and break into small groups to discuss it. They write essays noting strengths and weaknesses of punctuated equilibrium and gradualism, or other topics...

The greenhouse effect is important, for without it, life on Earth would not exist. An activity that includes modeling the greenhouse effect and acting out the Earth's energy balance makes up the first part in a series of seven lessons....

Young geologists piece together the puzzle of plate tectonics in an earth science lesson. Given a physical map of the world, they search for land formations that indicate the location of different types of plate boundaries.

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...

Who wants to go fast? The answer? Your sixth-grade science superstars! The complete resource offers the ultimate, all-inclusive playbook for mastering the important concepts of speed versus time; distance versus time; and how to graph...

An exceptionally creative approach is taken to assessing your biologists' grasp of natural selection concepts. They are to imagine hosting Charles Darwin for dinner and having, to their surpise, a few other noted scientists crash the...

Poor, misunderstood spiders! They are feared, disrespected, and detested by many people, yet they do so many positive things. A great addition to any insect unit, learn about some of the more common spiders, while hopefully dispelling...

Investigate the choices people make between economic growth and personal growth and development using the ethical/decision making model. Small groups create and present a position paper describing their feeling for or against the...

Students, in groups, examine the fossils, work on various rearrangements, and attempt to show any patterns, trends, and rates of change over time.

Students create an evolutionary tree based on fossil morphology and their ages. In this fossil record lesson plan, students are given 23 pictures of fossil. They study their morphology and arrange the fossils by age and structures on a...