This is a two page evolution learning module (with answer key), containing text and questions, that covers the topic of the rate of speciation and patterns in speciation (adaptive radiation, convergent evolution, divergent evolution and coevolution). On the left side of each page is original text describing and explaining this topic and on the right side of each page are questions that refer directly to the adjacent text. Below each question is a space where students can directly record their answers. Printable and Google Slides options are provided.

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THIS MODULE IS FOUND IN THESE DISCOUNTED BUNDLES:

► Evolution Learning Modules BUNDLE - 17 Modules for 35% OFF (This reduces the price of each module from $3.99 to $2.59.)

► Evolution BUNDLE - 17 Modules and 6 Science Reading Sub Plans for 40% OFF

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► Click on the Preview to read the text and questions.

► Click on the Video Preview to see this resource in action.

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THE CONCEPTS COVERED IN THIS MODULE

Students will learn about the speed at which speciation progresses; gradualism vs. punctuated equilibrium; adaptive radiation and how it gives rise to homologous structures; divergent evolution; convergent evolution and coevolution.

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HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE

This is a great supplement to any textbook in your course and it can be used to replace a textbook if you do not have one for your students. When working through this module, there is high student buy-in and task completion due to the two page format and because the answers can be written directly on the paper next to the text (or typed directly into a Google Slide). It can be used as a pre-reading assignment before a lesson or a post-lesson assignment (either in class or as homework). It also functions as a no-prep sub plan that is easily implemented by any substitute teacher.

► Download this FREE SAMPLE of one of my Evolution Learning Modules (The Development of Evolutionary Ideas) to see how my learning modules work.

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WHAT YOU WILL GET IN THIS RESOURCE

1) A non-editable PDF version of the module. (Great for easy printing)

2) An editable PowerPoint version of the module. (Only questions are editable)

3) A Google Slides version of the module. (Students type answers directly into text boxes and have the option of listening to voice recordings of the text)

4) An editable Google Slides version of the module. (Only questions are editable)

5) Answer Key (PDF and Google Slides formats)

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ALL EVOLUTION LEARNING MODULES:

(Scroll below for descriptions of each module.)

Module 1: Development of Evolutionary Ideas FREE

Module 2: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection

Module 3: Conditions Required for Natural Selection

Module 4: Stabilizing, Directional and Disruptive Selection

Module 5: Artificial Selection

Module 6: Fossils and Biogeography

Module 7: Homologous, Analogous and Vestigial Structures

Module 8: Genetic Drift and Gene Flow

Module 9: Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

Module 10: Sexual Selection

Module 11: Speciation

Module 12: Reproductive Isolation Mechanisms

Module 13: Rates of Speciation and Patterns of Evolution

Module 14: Phylogeny and Cladistics

Module 15: Common Ancestry

Module 16: Origins of Life on Earth

Module 17: Extinction and Continuing Evolution

Evolution Learning Modules BUNDLE (All the above modules for 35% OFF)

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SUMMARY OF EACH EVOLUTION LEARNING MODULE:

Module 1: Development of Evolutionary Ideas (FREE)

Students will learn about important thinkers/scientists and the ideas they contributed about the natural world, eventually leading up to the idea of evolution by natural selection: Artistotle and his scala naturae; George Cuvier who popularized paleontology and who proposed the idea of catastrophism; James Hutton who proposed the idea of gradualism; Charles Lyell who proposed the concept of uniformitarianism; Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who was a proponent of evolution, but unfortunately proposed an incorrect mechanism for evolution; and finally Charles Darwin who came up with the concept of evolution by natural selection.

Module 2: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection

Students will learn about Charles Darwin’s main ideas; how he explains that evolution (descent with modification) is caused by natural selection; his time on the HMS Beagle and how it convinced him that evolution was real; Darwin’s four main observations that led him to his concept of natural selection; an explanation of how evolutionary fitness has to do with reproductive success, not (merely) the ability to survive; how favored phenotypes can alter due to changes in the environment.

Module 3: Conditions Required for Natural Selection

Students will learn about natural selection and about the three conditions that must exist for natural selection to occur: 1) variation must exist in the population (mutation is the initial source of all variation), 2) variability must be able to influence fitness (different types of mutations are examined – neutral, beneficial and deleterious); and 3) any variability must be heritable (beneficial mutations must occur in germ-line cells).

Module 4: Stabilizing, Directional and Disruptive Selection

Students will learn about natural selection and about how natural selection acts directly on phenotypes and indirectly on genotypes to alter the allele distribution in a population in three main ways, through: 1) stabilizing selection, 2) directional selection and 3) disruptive selection. Graphs and examples are given for each.

Module 5: Artificial Selection

Students will learn about artificial selection; the process and goal of artificial selection and how it differs from natural selection; and the shortcomings of artificial selection like the decrease in biodiversity and increase in susceptibility to pests due to monoculture, inbreeding depression, breeding traits desirable to humans but against the welfare of domesticated organisms, and undesirable traits paired with desirable traits.

Module 6: Fossils and Biogeography

Students will learn about fossils, paleontology and the fossil record; how the fossil record provides evidence for evolution; why missing links are important to piecing together the fossil record; why determining the age of fossils is vital to creating the fossil record; methods of dating fossils (index fossils and radiometric dating); biogeography and how it is used to understand the evolution of organisms; and continental drift and plate tectonics.

Module 7: Homologous, Analogous and Vestigial Structures

Students will learn about how studying homologies provides evidence for evolution. Homologous structures, comparative embryology, and biochemical homologies (protein and DNA sequences) all provide evidence for evolution. Students will also learn about analogous and vestigial structures and how vestigial structures provide evidence for evolution.

Module 8: Genetic Drift and Gene Flow

Students will learn about the difference between random and non-random agents of evolutionary change and how genetic drift and gene flow are representatives of random agents; genetic drift is examined using the founder effect and the bottleneck effect; genetic drift functions to make populations more different from one another; and gene flow is examined and as well as its function in keeping populations from diverging too far apart from one another (preventing speciation).

Module 9: Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

Students will learn about the Hardy-Weinberg equation and how it is used to determine allele frequencies as well as genotype frequencies. Two multi-step problems with complete solutions are provided. Students will also learn about which five criteria must be met in order for populations to stay in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. When these criteria are not met, this can indicate that a population is evolving or may evolve in the future.

Module 10: Sexual Selection

Students will learn about sexual selection; how it leads to sexual dimorphism; intersexual selection (specifically female mate choice); intrasexual selection (specifically male-male competition); as well as different mating strategies depending on differences in male and female reproductive investment.

Module 11: Speciation

Students will learn about speciation; the definition of a species; the differences between microevolution and macroevolution; the vital role of reproductive isolation in species formation; allopatric speciation versus sympatric speciation; and polyploidy in the role of sympatric speciation.

Module 12: Reproductive Isolation Mechanisms

Students will learn about reproductive isolation; mechanisms of reproductive isolation that fall under the categories of prezygotic barriers and postzygotic barriers; prezygotic barriers that include mechanical isolation, temporal isolation, behavioral isolation, habitat isolation and gamete isolation; and postzygotic barriers that include hybrid inviability, hybrid infertility and hybrid breakdown.

Module 13: Rates of Speciation and Patterns of Evolution

Students will learn about the speed at which speciation progresses; gradualism vs. punctuated equilibrium; adaptive radiation and how it gives rise to homologous structures; divergent evolution; convergent evolution and coevolution.

Module 14: Phylogeny and Cladistics

Students will learn about phylogeny; types of phylogenetic trees (cladograms and phylograms); the anatomy and function of phylogenetic trees (e.g. nodes, branches, clades, shared derived traits, shared ancestral traits, sister taxa, outgroup etc.); the different ways phylogenetic trees can be depicted (e.g. horizontal, vertical and diagonal); how along with morphological data, molecular clocks are also used to help group organisms on phylogenetic trees; and how all phylogenetic trees are working hypotheses which change and revise with new data.

Module 15: Common Ancestry

Students will learn about the three domains of life; how endosymbiotic theory explains the evolution of chloroplasts and mitochondria in eukaryotes; evidence for common ancestry of all life; and evidence for common ancestry in all members of the domain Eukarya.

Module 16: Origins of Life on Earth

Students will learn about the hostile conditions of early Earth and how these needed to change to support life; a theory that proposes four stages to the development of the first unicellular life on the planet; laboratory experiments that try to reproduce conditions found in the four stages to see if the four stages of were possible (this includes the famous Miller-Urey experiment that proved that organic molecules can form from inorganic ones in a completely abiotic environment); and the RNA World Hypothesis.

Module 17: Extinction and Continuing Evolution

Students will learn about background extinction; mass extinctions; the six mass extinctions Earth has faced including the current Holocene extinction driven by human activity; how adaptive radiation usually follows mass extinctions; how evolution is a constant process affecting all life; how evolution can be seen in our lifetimes through microorganisms that reproduce or replicate quickly; antibiotic resistance as an example of evolution; and SARS-CoV-2 evolution as an example of evolution.

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OTHER EVOLUTION RESOURCES:

► Evolution Articles BUNDLE - 6 Articles for 24% OFF.

► Science Article #3 – Beyond the Appendix: Vestigial Structures

► Science Article #25 – The Science and Evolution of Human Skin Color

► Science Article #41 – Natural Selection Explained

► Science Article #42 – The Evolution of Pretty Boys

► Science Article #49 – Mitochondrial Eve

► Great Minds in Science Article #3 – Charles Darwin

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Copyright © Anh-Thi Tang (Tangstar Science)

All rights reserved by author.

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