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

Commonalities in embryo development across vertebrates highlight evolutionary relationships and provide evidence for common descent. Human reproduction is highlighted in this sequence, and students explore the role of the placenta and how toxins may impact development.

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.

In this task, students create a cladogram that most accurately represents the evolutionary relationships between the organisms given. Students use evidence from the unit to justify the choices made in your cladogram, including an explanation of why there are both similarities and differences across all of the organisms.