Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes (ENSI).
A variety of valuable lessons are on the ENSI web site that are appropriate for high school age students. However, the developers indicate that many can be used by younger students with slight modification depending on teacher's approach and the experience levels of the students. This incredibly useful resource can be found at -- www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/home.html.
Be sure to look at the Nature of Science lessons as well as the lessons on Evolution and on the Origin of Life as well as the links to Teaching Units and Resources. In the Resource section, a number of books are suggested. One of the most highly recommended is Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science by the National Academy of Sciences (1998). The book contains much of the philosophy and background information of the ENSI program as well as a sampling of lessons reflecting the title. (The ENSI web site expands that resource many times.)
Our colleagues at ENSI also recommend the following resources:
(1) NSTA Evolution Resources: www.nsta.org/publications/evolution.aspx (links, publications, Q&A);
(2) NABT Evolution Resources: www.nabt.org/sites/S1/index.php?p=211;
(3) PBS Evolution: www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/ Lessons and video clips including lessons from the ENSI collection.
(4) NOVA: Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/ This video provides information on why “intelligent design” is essentially a religious point of view, non-scientific, and inappropriate for science classes. See also Judgment Day Followup with suggestions for using the material on the NOVA site: www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/judg.day.follow.html.
(5) HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) 2 free DVDs: "Evolution" and "Evolution - Miller" Also excellent video clips teachers can use in class. www.biointeractive.org
In the section of the ENSI website on Evolution, you will find a very wide variety of lessons in two major categories: Evolution Patterns and Evolution Processes. Each lesson is summarized with a brief synopsis. Here are two brief examples followed by the actual lesson plans.
Teaching About Evolution & Special Creation (Mini-Lesson) A recent article by Anton Lawson presents a clever and interesting activity which provides vivid experience in the Fair-Test approach scientists use to determine the "Best Explanation." Students study a representative collection of fossils from the total geological column, look for patterns of fossil distributions, and raise testable questions about which idea (spontaneous generation, special creation, or evolution) best explains the origin of life's diversity and is consistent with the patterns observed in the fossil record.
Natural Selection: A Cumulative Process. A common criticism of natural selection is "how can it produce novel complex useful structures by pure random chance?" Darwin's answer to this "difficulty," (which he actually raised himself), was that selection is NOT a random process, and furthermore, it is cumulative, which he ably explained. Unfortunately, these facts are seldom included in typical classroom work on evolution. It should be a required part for every presentation of natural selection. This lesson provides an easy way for students to actually compare Darwin's cumulative non-random to actually compare Darwin's cumulative non-random selection with the non-cumulative version so often erroneously implied. Students working in pairs attempt to produce a full sequence of 13 cards of one suit (ace - to king). This must be done by shuffling the suit of cards for each round, then checking the cards. Half the teams must look for the full sequence each time, and repeat the process until this is accomplished. The other teams start to "build" their sequence by pulling the ace when it first appears as the top card, then adding to the stack whenever the "next" card for the sequence is shuffled to the top. Discussion clearly reveals how the second method mimics Darwinian natural selection, while the first does not.
