Download in natural selection. Therefore, next time, I may

Subject: Biology
Grade: 11
Date: 9th Dec
Duration:
75 minutes
Class Composition:
Curriculum Organizer/Big
Idea/Focus:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
(PLOs) and Achievement
Indicators
Natural/Artificial Selection
C1 – describe the process of evolution
Describe the five agents of evolutionary change:
mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, non-random
mating, and natural selection
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to (SWBAT):
Content
Objectives:
Why do species change over time?
By the end of this class, you will know:
· Why you should not overuse antibiotics
· Evolution happens whenever any change in a
population happens
●
●
●
Evolution happens on a population level
Natural selection is a driving force for evolution
Understand that natural selection is dictated by forces in
the environment
What should students have concluded with the case studies?
1. Change occurs on a population, not an individual level
2. Traits are passed on to the next generation
3. Successful traits are passed on more than less successful
traits
4. Variation of traits in the population
Materials and Equipment Needed
●
●
●
Case Study group Handouts
Antibiotic Case study handout.
Group peer evaluation handout
Lesson
Components
Shape of the
Day
Hook
5 minutes
Teacher activity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction
Group Activity
Discussion
Individual Activity for Marks!
Vocabulary on the board
- Traits
- Selection
- Variation
Review what we’ve learnt, where we are
going
Student Activity
-
Settle
Get ready to
learn
Sit listen, Participate
in Pokemon
discussion
Who’s watched Pokemon before?
http://pokemondb.net/evolution
Link to how the pokemons evolve!
Get student interest in evolution using Pokemon as example.
Introduction
5 minutes
Explain the task
1. You are given the first line and the last line of a story.
2. As a group write the in between part - you can choose
to draw a comic strip, write a paragraph or perform a
2 minute role play.
3. You may use these terms to help: Selection, Variation,
Traits.
Students break up
into groups of 3.
4. Present your story to class.
5. This is NOT being MARKED
Peer
Development
Present posters
With vocabulary cards provided: selection, traits,
variation
10 minutes
“What do you already know about evolution?”
Case studies
1. Moths & industrial revolution (Raphael)
2. Finch beaks (Joanne)
3. Dog Breeds (Juhee)
4. Hummingbirds and Flowers (Vivian) (apparently,
the evolution of long necks in giraffes due to
competition has recently been challenged… might
change the topic for something simpler) ●
Class
Discussion
30 min
Collaborative
Activity
Work on writing
case study stories. In
groups of threes
(→10 case studies for
a class of 30)
Write the STORY using the terms on the board
Guide discussion of stories; relate to the Natural Selection
postulates.
Teacher feedback on each poster
● On the board identify key aspects of each story. Ones
that relate to this is where we’re headed. So if the
story includes that traits are passed on to offspring
we highlight that etc..
1. Change occurs on a population, not an individual
level
2. Genetic material coding for certain traits are
inherited by the next generation
3. Successful traits (genetic material) are passed on
more than less successful traits
4. Variation of traits (genetic variation) in the
population
Present stories
Highlight key vocabulary on the board
Lecture Bring
it all home
10 min
Formalize all the things that were discussed into coherent
theory of Natural selection in prep for Assessment Activity
Summarize key points of lesson
Sit take notes.
“What have we learned?”
Record key points on the board
Assessment
Activity
10 min
Administer Antibiotics Case Study
- can be written on the board. Or a ppt. slide
- Brief lecture (going over basics of antibiotics and
what happens when you get sick)
In recent years the incidence of antibiotic resistant bacterial
infections has risen. Using the things that you learned about
Natural Selection describe how it is that Bacteria are
becoming resistant to Antibiotics.
Use learned
knowledge to
complete Antibiotic
story.
This WILL be MARKED.
Closure
Extension
Students hand in assignment.
If students are not finished, they may take it home to finish it
as homework.
If students finish early; teacher can challenge students for more detail.
Marking scheme/Rubrics for individual activity
Criteria
Exceeding expectations
Meets expectations
Below expectations
Content use
-Uses four elements of Natural
selection
-Uses three or less
elements of Natural
selection
-Does not use
elements of Natural
selection
Vocabulary
-Proper use of vocabulary
-Generally proper use
of vocabulary with
some mistakes
-Improper use of
vocabulary
Concept use
-Demonstrates clear
understanding of concepts
-Demonstrates
somewhat clear
understanding of
concepts
-Does not
demonstrate
understanding of
concepts
Writing
-Writing is clear and
understandable
-Writing is generally
understandable, lacks
good flow
-Writing is hard to
follow; unclear; full of
filler
Evaluation for Raphael, Juhee, Vivian, Joanne
Circle your response
Comments
The lesson effectively
communicated the topic.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Examples provided in case
studies were relevant.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Activities enriched learning of
topic.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Formative assessment
(individual case study) was
effective at testing student
knowledge.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Lesson was an effective use of
Structural Inquiry to teach the
topic.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Presenters were pimp
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Additional Comments
Thanks for the feedback.
Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
Over the years, there have been more and more cases of “super-bacteria” that have grown resistant
to antibiotics. Experts put the blame on over-prescription, misuse and over-reliance on antibiotic
drugs.
How would using antibiotic drugs lead to bacteria that are resistant?
Using what you have learned about natural selection write a paragraph to describe how this
could have happened. We’re looking for a clear and concise paragraph that describes the
events that lead to antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Hummingbirds
Hundreds of years ago all hummingbirds had long straight beaks. Now, in areas where
curved flowers grow, hummingbird beaks are curved. How did the humming bird beaks curve?
● You are to come up with a creative story that explains how the above processes took place.
● All the group members should agree on the same storyline.
● You may or may not use the terms written on the board.
● You can choose to draw a comic strip, write a paragraph or perform a 2 minute role play to
present your work to the rest of the class.
Finch Beaks
Geospiza fortis, a species of finch with small beaks migrated to Daphne Major (an island in
the Galapagos). On this island, there is a high abundance of Tribulus seeds, which are enclosed in
a hard shell. After hundreds of years on the island the Geospiza fortis finch population has a
significantly larger beak size. How did the finches get bigger beaks?
● You are to come up with a creative story that explains how the above processes took place.
● All the group members should agree on the same storyline.
● You may or may not use the terms written on the board.
● You can choose to draw a comic strip, write a paragraph or perform a 2 minute role play to
present your work to the rest of the class.
Wolves and Dogs
Approximately 30,000 years ago, our pet dogs did not exist. They were all wolves roaming free
in the wild. So how did these wolves turn into cute domesticated puppies?
●
●
●
●
You are to come up with a creative story that explains how the above processes took place.
All the group members should agree on the same storyline.
You may or may not use the terms written on the board.
You can choose to draw a comic strip, write a paragraph or perform a 2 minute role play to
present your work to the rest of the class.
The White/Black Pepper Moth.
Pre the Industrial Revolution, In the english countryside, white Pepper moths rest on the white bark
of Birch trees which provide excellent camouflage. The majority of moths are white in colour. During
the industrial revolution the majority of moths resting on trees are black in colour. How and why did
the moths change colour?
● You are to come up with a creative story that explains how the above processes took place.
● All the group members should agree on the same storyline.
● You may or may not use the terms written on the board.
● You can choose to draw a comic strip, write a paragraph or perform a 2 minute role play to
present your work to the rest of the class.
Student Marking Rubric
Exceeds
expectations
(Excellent)
Paragraph is clearly written.
Explanation includes the four key elements of natural selection, clearly
and correctly outlines the steps in which natural selection occurs:
Clearly explains that change resulting from natural selection is driven by the
environmental pressures which favours certain randomly occurring
(variation) traits (genes), resulting in those traits being more successfully
passed on to the next generation, and raising their occurrence in the overall
population. Ideas are presented in a logical flow.
Meets expectations Paragraph is understandable.
Explanation includes the four key elements of natural selection, outlines
(Good)
the steps in which natural selection occurs, with few errors or missing
steps.
Demonstrates understanding of how traits are passed on and selected for by
environment and traits occur randomly, but ideas are not clearly connected.
Approaching
expectations
(Needs
improvements)
Paragraph is somewhat understandable.
Explanation is missing some of the four key elements of natural
selection. Significant errors or missing steps in the explanation.
Demonstrates little understanding of how traits are passed on and selected for
by environments and traits occur randomly. Ideas are hard to follow.
Not meeting
expectations
Paragraph is incomprehensible.
Explanation lacks few, if any, references to the four key elements of
natural selection. Steps follow little, if any, logical sequence.
Demonstrates little to no understanding of how traits are passed on and
selected for by environments and traits occur randomly.
Chowderhead
Student is a chowderhead.
Sample Answers
Antibiotics Overuse
Antibiotics are drugs used to fight bacterial infections. The antibiotics does not kill all bacteria
causing the infection. Some bacteria have a trait (or genes) of resistance against the antibiotics
used. The reason why doctors tell us to finish all the antibiotics prescribed is to kill those bacteria
which may not have died with the first few antibiotics taken. If there were any bacteria which
survived the antibiotics, those would be considered having the successful trait since they would be
able to survive if the same antibiotics were used. The variation in this population would be the
resistant bacteria versus the non-resistant bacteria. Since the bacteria with the resistance would be
able to survive the antibiotics attacks, that trait would be passed on to the next generation since they
would be the ones that survive and reproduce. The bacteria with the resistance would be selected
over the ones without.
Hummingbirds & Flowers
●
●
Thousands of years ago all hummingbirds had long straight beaks.
However, there was variation in the population, some had straight beaks while some had
beaks which were more curved.
● The hummingbirds with more curved beaks were better able to feed on the curved flowers.
● These hummingbirds with curved beaks received more food and nutrition, were more fit, and
better able to compete for resources, mates and reproduce.
● The curved bill trait is passed on to the next generation at a greater rate than straight bills.
● The curved bill became more and more frequent in the population. .
● Eventually, all hummingbirds in the population adapted to the flowers with more curved bills.
(Bonus)
● The flower is co-evolving with the birds
● There was variation in the flower population, some were more curved than others.
● The ones with petals that were more curved were more likely to be pollinated, since
pollinators have to stick more closely into the flower, where all the pollen sticks to their
bodies and pollinates other flowers.
● The flowers with more curved petals were therefore better able to reproduce, and were more
fit.
● The curved flower trait is passed on to the next generation at a greater rate than straight bills.
● The curved flower trait became more and more frequent in the population
● Eventually all flowers in the population an ever increasingly curved flower.
Finches & Seeds
The finches with the larger beaks have an advantage over the ones will small beaks. Larger
beaks are able to break the shell to obtain the seeds, whereas individuals with smaller beaks cannot,
therefore a large beak is an advantageous trait. Since there is variation in the beak size of the
population, some finches are more successful at getting seeds than others. The finches with smaller
beaks will have less food to eat because they can’t eat Tribulus seeds. Finches with larger beaks will
have more access to food and will have a higher chance of surviving and reproducing. In other
words, the larger beak size will be favoured in natural selection. If the all the finches now have large
beaks, this could mean that the ones with smaller beaks did not survive and reproduce.
Wolves to domestic dogs
Approximately 30, 000 years ago, human beings would not have been living in comfortable
houses like our own but in caves where they had to hunt animals in the wild to not go hungry. This
means that people did not have time for pet dogs because they would have been busy outside trying to
find food or shelter or a way to stay warm. However, with advancement of human civilization, people
started to live in homes where they could now have pets which they could feed and keep warm without
having to worry about themselves. So children and adults alike started to bring home abandoned baby
wolves and some less aggressive wolves, which were willing to stay home with them. They realized
how cute these wolves could be and started to take more and more of them home of which reproduced
and made more wolf babies. Now that they could have pets, people wanted to choose and pick
characteristics that they preferred by taking different types of wolves and breeding them and only
choosing to breed the cute ones. So with the sausage dog above, people only chose to breed the dogs
with the shorter legs.
White & Peppered Moth
Pre the industrial evolution genes for white coloured wings and for dark coloured wings exist. White
moths are better hidden from predators on the white bark of the Birch trees. During the industrial
revolution pollution covers the white bark with black soot making the white moths visible to predators.
Predation exerts a selective pressure eliminating white moths before they can successfully breed.
Moths born with dark wings are now better hidden than the white moths and better able to breed. The
elimination of white moths also frees up more resources for the dark coloured moths. The population
of dark coloured moths rises.
Dec 2015
Reflection on Group Unit plan
Vivian Hui
Of all the fundamental biological concepts, evolution is amongst the most critical, but
difficult concepts for students to learn. While many students accept that species change over
time, many misunderstand the mechanism. In particular, some students believe that
evolutionary change occurs via an individual’s will to improve.
Through a process of inquiry, we hoped to encourage students to consider for
themselves how species change over time.
Invitation to Inquiry: We began first with a brief introduction. I invited the students to look at
a picture of a giraffe, okra and their shared ancestor Cathumeryx Syrtensis
·
Positive areas: The picture invited students to ask many fruitful questions about the
giraffe. For example, how did it sleep, how does it eat, why the leopard spots etc. The
pictures seemed to be a good way to lead students into inquiry.
·
Areas for improvement: Due to miscommunication, the questions were deleted from
the board. Symbolically, this act suggested to the class that their questions did not
matter to the structure of the lesson, which is counter to the spirit of inquiry.
Afterwards, I had a moment of panic and started referring to only the questions and
points that related to the question I wanted them to ask most (“What gave the giraffe
its long neck?”). That also made it seem as if I were disregarding other student’s
questions.
·
What to do similarly next time: I like the idea of introducing an odd looking animal
and inviting questions. It primes students into considering questions, hooks them in
with curiosity as to why some animals would look so strange (or rather evolve to be so
strange). Next time I might introduce an even stranger animal such as a goblin shark.
·
What to do differently next time: In my mind, I had one question that I wanted my
students to ask (“how did the giraffe get its long neck”?), so much so that I failed to
see that all other questions that were asked also related to the ultimate question of the
lesson, which was “how do animals change”? Perhaps I could have even gone
broader, and lead the class on the inquiry question of “how and why do animals obtain
their traits”? Such a question would have been able to accommodate more of the
questions about the very odd looking giraffe. Also, it may allow me to omit the picture
of Cathumeryx Syrtensis, whom I introduced as the ancestor of the okra and giraffe.
Introducing this piece of information as fact did not seem to follow a spirit of inquiry
either. Instead it may have been more productive for me to have come back to the
giraffe later on in the lesson or series of lessons and had students consider whether
the giraffe had always had a long neck.
Story time! We gave students ‘stories’ and asked them to hypothesize how the various
organisms may have changed over time. The stories were centralized around that theme. We
also scaffolded the activity by giving students three words that they may consider using to
‘help’ them in their explanation (trait, selection and variation)
·
Positive areas: Students seemed to have a great time and were very engaged! The three
words were not always used, and not always in the way we would expect. However, at least
having students consider the three words allowed them to engage with the concepts, and
primed them for later discussion.
·
Areas for improvement: Some students were finished earlier than others. In a classroom
particularly with younger grades, this may be a significant issue of classroom management.
In a real classroom, students may also be disengaged or uninterested, and put in minimal
effort into participating. Or, in group settings, some students may participate at a minimal
level while other students dominate the activity.
·
What to do similarly: Incorporate this activity and open the floor for creative interpretations.
·
What to do differently: In a classroom setting, I may assign students into smaller groups
(three or four at the most). This minimizes the chance that some students may be
disengaged. Having students present their claims at the front of the class may also help to
increase accountability and encourage students to put deeper thought into their story.
I may also circulate and ask some challenging questions (e.g. how do the finches bend their
beaks? Are their children also bendy beaked?).
Class discussion. The goal of the class discussion is to integrate all the stories together and
find common threads. The common threads had to do with our three terms: traits, variations
and selection.
·
Positive Areas: The class discussion was a great way to bring ideas together and
see that although the cases were vastly different, each shared common themes.
Asking challenging questions also allowed conceptual change to take place. Using the
board also allowed students to follow the conversation. Having students engage with
the case studies instead of simply presenting it to them produced more questions and
areas of discussion than we had even prepared for, which was great!
·
Areas for improvement: I feel as if the discussion may have dragged on a bit too
long. Some students may have lost the discussion by this time and become
disengaged. As well, we had not introduced genetics as a factor for consideration,
which may have deepened the misunderstanding that traits are passed on as a
package to the next generation.
·
What to do similarly: The board work really helped students to keep track of the
conversation and keep engaged. As well the class discussion encouraged students
to challenge their pre-conceptions/ideas.
·
What to do differently: Next time, instead of having me write the points on the board
(which may take a lot of time) I may have student present their posters, and pin them
up in the front of the classroom side by side. Then, instead of me challenging them, I
may have students challenge each other in a debate form, where one team will
challenge the other with questions about their story (“how does the hummingbird
curve their bill”? “where would the birds get steroids?”). Even if the stories were
completely preposterous and silly, students will at least be challenged to consider the
questions. This way, students are more likely to remain engaged, instead of
depending on the one or two students who keep answering all the questions.
Closure and Antibiotics Worksheet. The closure was where we wrapped everything
together and finalized the class discussion with the four criteria for natural selection.
·
Positive Areas: Bringing everything together and providing a summary at the end is
very critical, especially in an inquiry setting. It is necessary to at least have some
closure and bring some order to the chaos. Applying the new found knowledge to a
novel situation (Pikachu and antibiotics) helped to reinforce learning and memory.
·
Areas for Improvement: Due again to miscommunication, we tried to apply the
criteria of natural selection to explain how Pikachu evolves, when the picture was
there for students to explain how it is that Pikachu does not evolve, at least not via
natural selection. Also, at that point, I had focused on natural selection instead of
“evolution” per se, but used the term “evolution” as if the two were synonymous. There
were also some concerns that students would not be familiar enough with anti-biotics
and bacteria to apply their knowledge to the new case study.
·
What to do similarly: Sum up what we have learned and bring the class to some sort
of an orderly closure, without ignoring or “throwing away” any ideas that did not fit.
·
What to do differently: While the Pikachu example was good for challenging
students to apply their new knowledge to novel situations, perhaps it was still too
much in “storyland”. Next time, I may quickly run through the example, but focus on
the picture introduced at the start of class to bring the students back to the
introduction, when they asked the questions about the organism. I would ask the
students if they can answer them now, or at least know how to go about trying to
answer it (in terms of structure, function and evolution). For the anti-biotics worksheet,
for students who may as yet be unfamiliar with anti-biotics and how they work, I may
include a short introduction in class about what the function of antibiotics in the body.
Other comments: The presentation was organized in such a way that assumed students had
not yet known, and did not need to know, the DNA structure. However, this also robbed
students of the opportunity to make connections from genetics to the ‘passing of traits’ in
natural selection. Therefore, next time, I may choose to introduce “genes” as another key
word, or challenge students to consider the mechanism of trait transfer via genetics during
the class discussion.