Students will encounter puzzling evolutionary phenomena, generate and refine investigable research questions about a chosen species’ adaptation, and draft a focused hypothesis with rationale that will guide the rest of their investigation.

Students will design a systematic, evidence-based methodology to investigate how environmental changes influenced a specific adaptation in their chosen species. They will justify their approach, identify variables or sources, plan quality data collection procedures, and revise their methodology based on structured peer critique.

Students will systematically gather, document, and quality-check evidence (fossil images, anatomical diagrams, ecological case data, and timeline milestones) aligned to their investigable research question about a specific evolutionary adaptation. They will maintain organized raw data tables and observation logs in their Evolution Investigation Research Notebook to prepare for analysis in the next phase.

Students will interpret their collected evolutionary evidence by creating data visualizations, identifying patterns and anomalies, and determining whether their findings support, contradict, or complicate their original hypothesis about how environmental changes influenced their chosen species.

Students will finalize evidence-based conclusions about their species’ evolutionary changes, explicitly acknowledge limitations, generate new investigable questions, and present their full investigation during a peer review symposium and Evolution Gallery Walk.