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Build it Yourself
Evolution: How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment With 25 Projects
Why do humans walk on two legs? Why do fish have gills? Life on Earth is incredibly diverse and part of the reason for this is evolution, or the theory that living things change with time.
How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment explores the theory of evolution, its history, how we think it works, examples of creatures who have evolved in response to specific circumstances, and what this might mean for the future of our planet. For billions of years, the amazing story of life on Earth has been unfolding. Millions of years ago, life on earth was nothing like it is today. Dinosaurs roamed the earth and pterosaurs flew through the skies. Millions of years before the dinosaurs, it was even more different. Strange ocean creatures lived in the seas, while the land was barren. Throughout its history, Earth has been home to an incredible diversity of living things that have changed dramatically over the many millennia. How have these living creatures changed so much? And how did that change happen? The evolution! In How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment , readers ages 9 to 12 will study evolution, or the process by which living things change over time. One of the most important ideas in biology, evolution explains why there are so many different living organisms on earth. It also explains why you are the way you are. Because of evolution, you walk on two legs and communicate with language. And although evolution is the story of our past, it also helps us understand our future and how we continue to evolve. Throughout Evolution, investigations and experiments provide hands-on, problem-solving opportunities for students, incorporating various challenges and tools. Readers simulate the process of natural selection, trace the blue whale’s evolutionary tree, and examine how fossils provide evidence of evolution and adaptation. Using readily available household and recycled materials, each activity takes the reader through an inquiry-based, open-ended investigation that leaves plenty of room to explore individual creativity. How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment takes readers on a journey from our common ancestry to our shared future on an incredibly diverse planet.
Nomad Press books in the Build It Yourself series integrate content with participation. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.
How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment explores the theory of evolution, its history, how we think it works, examples of creatures who have evolved in response to specific circumstances, and what this might mean for the future of our planet. For billions of years, the amazing story of life on Earth has been unfolding. Millions of years ago, life on earth was nothing like it is today. Dinosaurs roamed the earth and pterosaurs flew through the skies. Millions of years before the dinosaurs, it was even more different. Strange ocean creatures lived in the seas, while the land was barren. Throughout its history, Earth has been home to an incredible diversity of living things that have changed dramatically over the many millennia. How have these living creatures changed so much? And how did that change happen? The evolution! In How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment , readers ages 9 to 12 will study evolution, or the process by which living things change over time. One of the most important ideas in biology, evolution explains why there are so many different living organisms on earth. It also explains why you are the way you are. Because of evolution, you walk on two legs and communicate with language. And although evolution is the story of our past, it also helps us understand our future and how we continue to evolve. Throughout Evolution, investigations and experiments provide hands-on, problem-solving opportunities for students, incorporating various challenges and tools. Readers simulate the process of natural selection, trace the blue whale’s evolutionary tree, and examine how fossils provide evidence of evolution and adaptation. Using readily available household and recycled materials, each activity takes the reader through an inquiry-based, open-ended investigation that leaves plenty of room to explore individual creativity. How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment takes readers on a journey from our common ancestry to our shared future on an incredibly diverse planet.
Nomad Press books in the Build It Yourself series integrate content with participation. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
128 pages, Hardcover
Published November 15, 2017
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Carla Mooney
295 books12 followersCarla Mooney is an award-winning author of numerous nonfiction STEAM books for kids and teens. She hopes to spark a healthy curiosity and love of nonfiction in youth.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 8, 2018
Throughout the long history of the Earth, plants and animals have evolved as conditions around them have changed. Evolution: How Life Adapts to a Changing Environment by Carla Mooney takes on the task of explaining what evolution is and how it happens. Chapters talk about topics like how evolution works, identifying species, evidence for evolution and why it matters, as well as other topics. Each chapter contains pullouts with words to know and sidebars highlighting other interesting information. 25 projects are designed to give hands-on learning experiences about many of the concepts.
Evolution can be used by teachers in the classroom to enhance lessons, or by parents who homeschool their children. While the book says it’s recommended for ages 9 to 12, I found some basic concepts mixed with advanced concepts that may be more difficult for that age group to follow. For instance, one list of “words to know” included the words habitat and migration, which seems appropriate for 9 year-olds, but it also included the terms reproductive isolation and allopatric speciation, which would definitely be more challenging. Evolution can be a great tool for the right reader. I recommend parents and teachers consider where it can fit in with other learning.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Evolution can be used by teachers in the classroom to enhance lessons, or by parents who homeschool their children. While the book says it’s recommended for ages 9 to 12, I found some basic concepts mixed with advanced concepts that may be more difficult for that age group to follow. For instance, one list of “words to know” included the words habitat and migration, which seems appropriate for 9 year-olds, but it also included the terms reproductive isolation and allopatric speciation, which would definitely be more challenging. Evolution can be a great tool for the right reader. I recommend parents and teachers consider where it can fit in with other learning.
The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
October 8, 2017
I love this book. It has great easy to read and understand information, activities that kids can do to help understand evolution and resources they can access on evolution by using QR symbols instead of having to type in long addresses or doing a Google search. I learned a lot more about evolution and had ideas clarified for me. There are previously published guides on Forensics and Genetics and I’d love to own those too. Excellent.
February 12, 2018
An advanced middles grades workbook featuring in-depth information on biology and anatomy. Words to know are defined in text boxes on the left hand side of the page. Each chapter dives into a case for evolution, with a corresponding activity. A fine add-on for a class, but perhaps not a library.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews