The week before break we started our unit on evolution. We began by discussing the history of the Earth. We talked about how the Earth was formed and the four major eras. We also discussed the process of fossilization and the different ways to determine the age of fossils. We ended the week before break with a lab determining the evolutionary pattern of an imaginary species called Barbellus and using relative dating. We watched a really cool video about how flight has evolved and some of the experiments that scientists have conducted in order to better understand why species decided to move into the air.
Last week we began the week by discussing the process of radioactive decay. We used twizzlers to represent some that was decaying and the students were excited that we got to eat all of the pieces at the end. Then we started into a lab that used pennies to simulate the idea of K-40 decaying into Ar-40. The students used excel to make graphs and had to extrapolate information from the graph when they were finished. Then the students got to examine the amino acid structures of different species to determine how closely related all of the species were. This was the beginning of building up the evidence for evolution. In our class we will talk about five major pieces of evidence for evolution - fossil record, biochemical (amino acid similarities), structural, embryological and geographic distribution. To finish off the last three pieces of evidence, the students are in the process of working through a station labs. That brings us to this week: 4.10: On Tuesday, the students are going to finish up the last station and then will discuss all of the pieces of evidece as a group to make sure that we are all on the right page. We will also use some time to review all of the information that we have covered through out the unit as we will have a quiz tomorrow. If we have time we are going to start a mini simulation that shows how some moths in England changed. The homework will be to study for the quiz and the students will be given a review sheet for this. 4.11: We will start Wednesday with any last minute questions and then take the quiz. When we have finished the quiz, we are going to either start or finish the simulation of natural selection using the moth analogy. This activity will give the students a chance to have a hands on experience with natural selection before we really move into the lecture of natural selection which is the process by which evolution happens. Once we have wrapped up the activity, we are going to start a lecture about Darwin, his findings and his ideas. 4.12: Today will be the day we use to wrap up any of the lecture that we still have remaining and go through some really cool examples of evolution! We will also hopefully have some time to start talking about their lab tomorrow. 4.13 : Friday is a perfect day for this very interactive lab. We are going to simulate the process of natural selection of different colored pom poms in two different environments with three different types of predators. Many students will act as the predators and others will be in charge of resupplying the pompom popuations and hopefully by the end we will see how the overall population has changed and be able to explain why! It is a really fun lab with a lot of energy so be sure to ask your student how it went! 4.16: We will use this M |
AuthorThe world around us is an amazing place that functions in beautiful harmony & I get to teach young minds all about it! Archives
December 2018
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