In this lesson, each student is given a block of wood and a screw (or nail), and is asked to put the screw into the block, without any tool (like a screwdriver or hammer). Their efforts, with varying success, lead to a discussion of contrivances, using various items and strategies as make-do (contrived) tools for which they were not intended, and an exploration of many examples of contrivances or ... Full description.

This introduction to the concept of biological complexity demystifies and debunks the argument of Paley that a complex watch is compelling evidence requiring a (complex) watchmaker (designer or creator). It employs a mathematical exercise to demonstrate this, involving a randomizing component (a die), and a simple mathematical rule (the non-random component), resulting in the repeated plotting of ... Full description.

This lesson teaches students that traits are usually favored by natural selection only when they result in more reproductively successful offspring. Students go out onto the school lawn and play the role of birds, picking up toothpick stick worms which have been previously scattered in equal numbers of green-stained and unstained. Birds are chased away before the worm population drops too low. Back ... Full description.