In this adapted video segment, ZOOM guest Tommy takes us on a tour of the Florida Everglades. He describes what makes a wetland biome unique, including the soil, precipitation, and biodiversity.

In common experience, the term "adapting" usually refers to changes during an organism's lifetime. In contrast, evolutionary biologists use the term "adaptation" to refer to a heritable trait that increases fitness. To help students reconcile these different concepts, this activity introduces the concept of phenotypic plasticity (the ability of an organism to adapt to different environments within its lifetime). Questions guide students in analyzing how the balance between the advantages and disadvantages of a characteristic (e.g. an animal's color) can vary in different circumstances, how phenotypic plasticity can be a heritable trait that can optimize fitness in a variable environment, and how natural selection can influence the amount of phenotypic plasticity in a population. This activity is designed to help high school students meet the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards.

In the first video segment, we analyze the population dynamics for a test-tube of cells that affect each others' likelihoods of replication when they collide. The particular example we use is a prisoner's dilemma, which has the almost paradoxical property that survival of the relatively most fit leads overall fitness to decrease. In the second video segment, we suggest that the population dynamics from the first segment can be related to an analysis that uses payoff matrices found in traditional game theory.

In this online activity, learners discover how random variation influences biological evolution. Biological evolution is often thought of as a process by which adaptation is generated through selection.Œć While it is recognized that random variation underlies the process, emphasis is usually placed on selection and resulting adaptation, leaving a sense that it is selection that drives evolution.Œć This simulation highlights the creative role of random variation, offering a somewhat different perspective: that of evolution as open-ended exploration driven by randomness and constrained by selection, with adaptation as a dynamic, transient consequence rather than an objective.

Students develop their understanding of natural selection by analyzing specific examples and carrying out a simulation. The questions in the first section introduce students to the basic process of natural selection, including key concepts and vocabulary. The second section includes a simulation activity, data analysis, and questions to deepen students' understanding of natural selection, including the conditions that are required for natural selection to occur. In the third section, students interpret evidence concerning natural selection in the peppered moth and answer questions to consolidate a scientifically accurate understanding of the process of natural selection, including the role of changes in allele frequency. This activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" illustrates the remarkable camouflage of a praying mantis against its leafy backdrop.

This video from Evolution explores the evolution of humans from a common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and other apes.

This video from Evolution highlights Charles Darwin's personal struggle to bring to light his theory of evolution through natural selection.

In this video from Evolution, an exploration of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in the Russian prison system highlights one reason it is important to understand evolution.

This is a lesson about using analogues to look for life on other planets. Learners will use the results of previous lessons to write a scientific proposal to explore another planet or moon in our solar system for signs of life. This proposal should predict the types of energy and nutrients available to sustain life and describe equipment and instruments necessary for exploration and characterization of the target environment. This is activity 4, the capstone activity, in Exploring Deep-Subsurface Life. Earth Analogues for Possible Life on Mars: Lessons and Activities.

Once the pride of the German Navy, this 700 foot long heavy cruiser was used by the U.S. as a test target for not one but two atom bombs at Bikini atoll. Today, at the bottom of the ocean, the radiation levels of the Prinz Eugen are low enough for safe exploration. In this video, Jonathan joins historian Mark Miller on a trip to explore this mysterious shipwreck. What they find about the condition of this wreck is surprising. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

This is a lesson about extremophiles and using DNA sequences to classify them. Learners will describe the characteristics of a newly discoverd thermophyllic organism and use the DNA sequence to place that organism in the phylogenetic tree of life. Includes teacher notes, learning objectives, and assessment of prior knowledge and preconceptions. This is Lesson 3 in Exploring Deep-Subsurface Life. Earth Analogues for Possible Life on Mars: Lessons and Activities

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students explore brain injuries called concussions: what they are, how they occur, the challenges in diagnosing them, and ways to protect yourself from them.

This online exhibit is a visual illusion in which a fuzzy blue dot disappears into a green background. The illusion is created by the tiny jittering movements that your eyes are continually making. Take your investigation further by making your own hands-on fading dot illusion - instructions are at the Exploratorium Snack website (see related link).

In this video from Common Ground and Cleaner Water, Tribby Vice, a Kentucky farmer, talks about the changes he has made on his farm to protect the water quality of the stream running through his property and the watershed in which he lives.

Do shark feeding frenzies really exist? Will sharks turn into a bunch of cannibals if they start competing for food? In this video, Jonathan wants to find out, and travels to Micronesia for an experiment. You won‰ŰŞt believe the fantastic result! Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

In this video from Nature, watch how ravensŰ__Ű__ŒŒÇ smarts can be observed in many situations, such as when they hunt and store food.

This video describes the role of the brain in regulating body temperature and how sometimes fever is employed to fight off infection.

This video segment from the teacher video series Learning That Works uses a case study to highlight the effectiveness of a project-based, real-world approach to teaching science.

This reference includes individual titles of note along with the most popular field guide series. For each guide, the author, publisher, and publication date are given. The diverse list has 17 individual titles, which cover everything from wildflowers in the Colorado mountains and insects north of Mexico to the natural history of vacant lots. There are detailed descriptions of four of the most popular field guide series: Audubon Society Guides, Golden Guides, Peterson Guides, and Stokes Nature Guide Series.