Unity and diversity of life
The documents below can be used to organize a workshop introducing evolution in elementary schools.
The two key concepts presented are the unity and diversity of living organisms.
Living things all share a common ancestor who lived billions of years ago, but show great diversity in size, shape, lifestyle and living environment.
Schoolchildren engage in several activities to understand these concepts, manipulating high-quality illustrations.
First, they try to classify vertebrates in groups, without any particular instructions. Next, the notion of heredity is introduced by reconstructing the genealogy of a little girl. Finally, the phylogeny of living organisms is presented in two stages: first at the level of vertebrates, then at the level of the tree of all living organisms. Throughout the activities, students are asked questions to help them grasp the concepts.
This workshop has been used with 8 to 10 year old children, but can also be used with older children. It lasts between 1h30 and 2h.
Design: Mathilde Paris (IGFL), Annabelle Haudry and Bastien Boussau (LBBE). Illustrations by Julie Gamart. Funding: IGFL, LBBE, CNRS.
To access the teaching resources, consisting of an indicative timetable and printable documents, please fill in the form at the bottom of the page. This form enables us to keep track of the number of downloads, and, from time to time, to request feedback.
Examples of pictures used during the workshop
