HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity Lesson Plans
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Deep Time: Finding the Ages of Rocks & Fossils Lesson Plan
Worksheet
Students are taken through a combination of some background information and interactive experiences using a narrative that includes concepts of isotopes, radioactive decay, half-life, mineral formation, age analysis, Fair Test questions, and isochrons.NGSS Standard
HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
Published by Larry Flammer High School
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Dinosaur Evolution Project Lesson Plan (PDF)
Lesson Plan (DOCX) with Membership
Project
Students pretend to evolve a dinosaur using Darwin's principles of evolution and watch how the dinosaur adapts to an environmental change. This is a very comprehensive project including natural selection, adaptations, chromosome and point mutations, gene pools, isolation, Mendel genetics, protein synthesis, fossils, ecology, competition,and speciation.NGSS Standard
HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
HS-LS4.B: Natural Selection
HS-LS4.C: Adaptation
Published by NGSS Life Science High School
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Experience Deep Time & Earliest Fossils Lesson Plan
Activity
Students gradually build a realistic sense of deep, geological time from familiar linear analogs, e.g. calendars and football fields. Students also learn to associate the earliest fossils of specific groups of vertebrates with the geologic time of their emergence, on the now-familiar scale of relative distances from their school. From this, students discover the pattern of gradual vertebrate emergence and how well it consistently fits vertebrate phylogeny.NGSS Standard
HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
Published by Larry Flammer High School
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The Great Fossil Find Lesson Plan
Activity
Students are taken on an imaginary fossil hunt. Following a script read by the teacher, students "find" (remove from envelope) paper "fossils" of some unknown creature, only a few at a time. Each time, they attempt to reconstruct the creature, and each time their interpretation tends to change as new pieces are "found". This lesson is great for students to understand that science is tentative and as new evidence is revealed, ideas may change.NGSS Standard
HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
Published by Steve Randak and Michael Kimmel High School
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Examining the Fossil Record Lesson Plan
Worksheet
Students analyze the characteristics of fossils, organize paper "fossils" to show change over time by developing an evolutionary tree based on the morphology and age of fossils.NGSS Standard
HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
Published by Shannan Muskopf High School
More HS-LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity lesson plans are in the works.