Timelines in Evolution

Year 9 are studying the fossil evidence of evolution and the timelines of key events starting 4.5 billion years ago. Students have studied the transition from aquatic to terrestrial vertebrates and analysed fossils from the Mesozoic era. One fossil they have looked at is the Tiktaalik discovered in 2006. The Tiktaalik shows development of an early five fingered limb. They built timelines of key events including the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. This gives students an idea of how long the evolutionary process can be and how rare catastrophic events chance change the course of evolution.

Using this knowledge and other examples of natural selection they have been working on detailed explanations of how evolution works. One student shows how in a short space of time we can observe evolution happening in a population of mice by natural selection in the deserts of Nevada.