In the authors' science classrooms, students respond favorably and with more enthusiasm when they engage them with doing activities and building their own connections, as opposed to simply listening to or reading about the important concepts. Creative activities are important in science classrooms because creativity is not only an integral…

Most middle school students comprehend that organisms have adaptations that enable their survival and that successful adaptations prevail in a population over time. Yet they often miss that those bird beaks, moth-wing colors, or whatever traits are the result of random, normal genetic variations that just happen to confer a negative, neutral, or…

One common argument used by those who oppose evolution is that evolution is just a theory. This argument suggests that a theory has little support and is simply a glorified guess. This reasoning is not sound because it uses the everyday definition of theory in place of the scientific definition of the word. However, many citizens are persuaded by…

Many secondary students hold misconceptions about evolution, even after instruction, that are often inconsistent with what is accepted by evolutionary biologists. Understanding evolution is difficult due to major conceptual difficulties concerning variation, differential survival, adaptation, and natural selection. In this article, the author…

Introduces a teaching instrument called The Big Picture which is a student-generated overview of a unit. Provides a chart of units and summaries for The Big Picture. (YDS)

Describes hands-on physical anthropology activities for teaching students about evolution. Using evidence found in hominid skulls, students conduct investigations that involve calculating ratios. Eight full-page photographs of skulls from the program Stones and Bones are included. (PR)