Evolution: Examining Fossil & DNA Evidence

SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS/PROCESSES

• Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
• Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes, such as natural selection, over many generations.
• Scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature using observation.
• Scientific inquiry includes critical thinking to evaluate evidence and the explanations proposed by other scientists.

In Activity One, students investigate how fossil whales provide a line of evidence in support of the theory of evolution. Students then apply the theory of natural selection to whale evolution, using anatomical adaptations to infer the habitats and lifestyles of extinct species.

Contents List

• 1 Teachers Guide with MSDS
• 28 Worksheets and Guides
• 12 sets of five Skeleton cards
• 12 Whale Fossil charts
• 12 Mysticetes Skeleton cards
• 12 sets of five DNA cards
• 3 Transparency