Certain organisms relate more closely on the evolutionary level. This means that, at some point, two organisms appeared through evolutionary processes, and both of these survived to the current day. Look at the relationships in amino acid and DNA sequences to determine relationships in evolution. To do this as a classroom activity, show slides that depict sections of DNA of different members of an animal group – such as horses, donkeys and zebras – and compare and contrast the strands. To expand, add an unrelated organism, such as an earthworm, and show how greatly they differ.
A majority of scientists believe that man evolved from a common ancestor with gorillas and chimpanzees. Other than superficial characteristics, all of these animals share genetic markers, which scientists used to argue for an evolutionary chain. Create an activity that teaches the theoretical biochemical changes that occurred as man evolved from its ancestors. Look at the order of DNA changes that scientists believed occurred, then instruct your students to create an art project that explains these changes in common terms. Some possible projects include: a poem, a funny song, a sculpture or a painting.
Mythozoology is a field of study which researches mythological creatures. You can use mythozoology to entertain your students and teach them about how DNA changes connect with changes in the organism. Instruct each student (or groups of students) to choose a mythological creature, such as a sphinx, a unicorn or Pegasus. Have students write out a list of superficial characteristics for this animal, including color, shape and intelligence. The more detailed the list, the better. Then instruct your students to find a closely related real animal. For example, if your students chose a sphinx, they might select the lion as the closely related animal. Students should research the evolutionary history of the real animal and find the hypothetical common ancestor for both. Instruct your students to create fake DNA markers for each of the characteristics of the mythological animal and show how these differ from the real animal.
Protein shapes affect (or help cause) the function of the protein within an organism, according to A Creation Perspective. Teach a lesson that shares the possible shapes of proteins and how these evolve over time, causing superficial mutations in organisms. First, show the students different possible shapes and the possible connection strengths of amino acids. Then, encourage each student to draw a picture of how this amino acid could change over the course of millions of years, using evolutionary principles.