Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
Cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts look like six different plants. They are all one species, bred from a wild plant that still grows on rocky coasts in Europe. Nobody made them in a lab. Farmers did it, one harvest at a time. Your team's job: visit five cases where a species changed, find out who did the choosing and how fast it happened, and decide what this tells us about natural selection.
Teams of three, with rotating jobs at each station: Reader (reads the case aloud), Detective (finds the trait and the time), Recorder (fills in the table).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
9 printable pages
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Case cards
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My predictions
- Case table
- Fox graph
- Which case is not selection at all? Why?
- Leaflet advice
- Exit ticket
- Case cards
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Uses the cases
- Compares selections
- Explains resistance
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “How fast can people change a species?” take?
50–60 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
10 minutes. Print the five case cards and tape one at each of five stations around the room (desks or walls). Print the student sheet for everyone.
What materials do I need?
None. No materials needed: just the printed sheets.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
NGSS (US): MS-LS4-5 (partly) and MS-LS4-6. It also matches Cambridge Lower Secondary Science (not endorsed by Cambridge).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My predictions”, “Case table”, “Fox graph”, “Which case is not selection at all? Why?”, “Leaflet advice”, “Exit ticket”, “Case cards”, “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$199 a year.