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In this lab, students simulate the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

Students learn about the role of adaptations in natural selection through this mandated State Lab.

In this performance task, students use evidence to create and justify a timeline of the history of life on Earth.

Ordinarily, traits evolve in organisms, based on conditions in their environment, because those traits confer a reproductive advantage. This process of evolution, through natural selection, can take place over a long period of time, particularly in more complex species. Students may have already learned about the rapid evolution of antibiotic resistance in Unit 4; this is a chance to revisit that concept in the context of natural vs. human-driven species change. This is especially important for this unit, as it will be important to surface the difference between adaptation (through natural selection) and an individual organism's ability to acclimate to the environment.

In this simulation from Phet Sim, students observe concepts behind natural selection, but in a sped-up time frame.

In this 5E sequence students model nuclear decay by emptying a bag of one hundred pennies on a table and removing all the pennies that are on the tails side (or that have decayed). Students repeat this process with remaining non-decayed pennies several times and record the data. Then students make connections to a radiometric dating and calculate the age of several objects using nuclear decay data. Finally, students elaborate on their learning so far in the unit by completing a 3-level guide that supports them in reading and interpreting the Geologic Time Scale found in the Earth Science Reference Table.  

Students work in groups to complete this reading guide as a tool for making sense of a complex diagram in the Earth Science Reference Tables.

Reproduction and development are necessary for the continuation of any species, and as such all species have unique but related strategies for reproduction. In this unit, students learn about continuity and diversity of life in a variety organisms, including humans, and use their findings to discern evolutionary relationships. Exploring print texts, visuals, and hands-on experiences, students compare the mechanisms through which different living things reproduce, with a focus on comparisons to human reproduction.