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Anomalocaris on black background

 Evolution and Cambrian explosion

Evolution

Biological evolution is driven by genes adapting animals to changing environments. Both paleontology and genetics help us understand the evolution of the animal kingdom and the explosion of animal diversity during the Cambrian.

Videos

Cambrian Explosion
Des Collins, Paleontologist: The Burgess Shale
Paleontology: Paleontologists Study Fossils
Paleontology: New Evidence Revises Thinking, Anomalocaris
Paleontology: Paleontologists Study Tracks and Traces
Bilateral Body Plan
Genetics: Genes Tell Us About Evolution
Genetics: How Genes Direct Development
Introduction: A New View of the Evolution of Animals
Taxonomy
Ultimate Animal

Cambrian Explosion

General Info

Causes

Fossil Sites

Animals

Key Concepts

Lesson Plans

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    Lesson Plan
    Who Was "Hunter Eve?"
    The paleontological evidence of the first animal to hunt is tiny trails that have been fossilized in rocks. To start this lesson, students will consider the tracks and traces left by modern animals and what they can learn about an animal from its tracks. They then think about which animal might have been the first hunter. The class considers what it takes to be a hunter and what kind of evidence…

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    Darwins Tree
    Lesson Plan
    A Pipe Cleaner Model of Animal Evolution
    The evolutionary tree shown here was drawn by Charles Darwin, a scientist who lived more than 150 years ago. It was Darwin, and another man named Alfred Russel Wallace that came up with the idea of natural selection, which is one of the ways that life evolves. Darwin wasn’t the first person to suggest that life evolves, the idea had been around for a while, but he was one of the first to use…

    Full Lesson Plan

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    Lesson Plan
    Cambrian Explosion
    In this lesson, students will watch a short film about the Cambrian Explosion and the extraordinary fossils of the Burgess Shale. Students will address preconceptions and misconceptions about early Cambrian life, and complete a timeline activity that will enable them to better appreciate just how recently—relatively speaking—multicellular life evolved on Earth.

    Full Lesson Plan

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    Lesson Plan
    Ages Of Rock
    This collection consists of six lesson plans designed to help students construct an explanation of the geologic time scale based on personal connections, science concepts and nature of science ideas.

    Full Lesson Plan

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    Lesson Plan
    The Secrets of Fossils
    In this lesson students make connections between fossils and modern day organisms. Using the information about the Cambrian Explosion, they explore theories about how and why organisms diversified. Students hypothesize what evidence might be helpful to connect fossil organisms to modern organisms to show evolutionary connections. Students use three videos from shapeoflife.org.

    Full Lesson Plan

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    Top of the Tree of Life with Species
    Factsheet
    Cambrian Explosion
    The Cambrian Explosion was a burst of animal evolution that occurred in the ocean about 540 million years ago.

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Cambrian Explosion Readings

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    Earth from space
    Reading
    Cambrian Explosion: A BIG BANG in the Evolution of Animals
    For most of Earth's early history, there simply was no fossil record. Only recently have we come to discover otherwise: Life is virtually as old as the planet itself, and even the most ancient sedimentary rocks have yielded fossilized remains of primitive forms of life.

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