In this unit, students observe evidence to support evolution, including DNA, fossils, comparative structures, and embryology. Students also learn how to make phylogenetic trees to relate species during time of life on Earth.
Power standards: Use evidence from fossils, embryology, DNA, and comparative anatomy to reason that evolution of species occurs. Use fossil evidence to describe past environments and extinction.
State standards: 6.MS-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret evidence from the fossil record to describe organisms and their environment, extinctions, and changes to life forms throughout the history of Earth.
6.MS-LS4-2. Construct an argument using anatomical structures to support evolutionary relationships among and between fossil organisms and modern organisms.
What are pieces of evidence that support evolution?
How can phylogenetic trees show us how species are related?
Why are their extinctions of species?
Evidence of Evolution
Fossil Lab
common ancestor: evolved from the same ancestor organism a long time ago.
homologous structures: structures that have a common function and suggest common ancestry
analogous structures: structures that have a common function but do not suggest common ancestry
vestigial structures: structures that have lost their use through evolution
embryology: the study of how organisms develop
fossil: preserved evidence of life
extinct: when no individuals of a species exist
phylogenetic tree: a model of speciation
species: a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding
No items released for the standard yet.