Lesson Plan Format - Science Math Master



Objectives: Identify and organize fossil species to illustrate how common ancestry and biological evolution occur.

Next Generation Sunshine State Standard(s)

SC.912.L.15.1

Explain how the scientific theory of evolution is supported by the fossil record, comparative anatomy, comparative embryology, biogeography, molecular biology, and observed evolutionary change.

SC.912.L.15.2

Discuss the use of molecular clocks to estimate how long ago various groups of organisms diverged evolutionarily from one another.

SC.912.L.15.10

Identify basic trends in hominid evolution from early ancestors six million years ago to modern humans, including brain size, jaw size, language, and manufacture of tools.

SC.912.L.15.11

Discuss specific fossil hominids and what they show about human evolution.

SC.912.L.15.14

Discuss methods of evolutionary change other than natural selection such as genetic drift and gene flow.

Student Materials/Equipment (3-6 students/group)

Whales:

1 Set per group - Whales in the Making – 6 Whale strips without names

1 page Whale Hunt: Searching for whale fossils: a shorter Narrative – Retyped and info on environment added.

Hominids:

1 Set per group – 4 Hominid skull images (skull casts if available)

Metric rulers (1 per student)

Student lab handout

Timeline:

Paper for timeline or Pre-made timeline (line 2 inches from bottom, 1 inch = 1 million years)

Ruler

Scissors

Fossil Images

Description Cards

Vocabulary: biogeography, fossil record, comparative anatomy, natural selection, adaptation, genetic drift, gene flow, evolutionary change.

Procedures

Lesson Introduction: Hook: Seaweed eating sheep: North Ronaldsay Sheep in Scotland

Short version of hook:

The following clip is silent. While students are watching provide the background of how the sheep were walled off from pastureland after 1832 and over time have changed their grazing habits to eating seaweed twice per day because of tides while ruminating in between, verses traditional grazing during the day and ruminating at night. The sheep’s digestive systems have adapted to use the sugars present in brown seaweed. To reach seaweed some sheep have even been seen swimming to rocky outcrops to graze, though if not strong swimmers they are caught by the current and are swept away.



Longer version of hook:

Show the following video while students complete a CIS worksheet. After completion discuss as a class how sheep have changed over time.



Advanced students: CER on Sheep Article

Alternative/Addition Intro: Visualization of Pangea breaking apart.



Animation of Pangea Breaking apart: Discuss how Earth surface changed over time and affected environment.

Student Activity 1: Timeline

Provide each student group with a pre-made timeline and a narrative of important geologic events. Direct students to read over and place important geological events (highlighted) onto timeline.

Student Activity 2: Whale Evolution and Evolutionary Time

Provide each student group with a set of whale fossil images and narrative of Whale Fossils: Evidence for Evolution.

Direct students to match images to description and cut and glue image onto timeline at appropriate date. Label with Scientific Name and draw sample of environment of each whale onto timeline. Write adaptations of each whale species next to image on timeline.

Student Activity 3: Hominid Evolution

Identify on timeline Hominid evolution using descriptions of hominid cards.

Complete Changes in Hominid Lab Activity.

Student Individual Practice: Write conclusion to the activity that summarizes how fossil evidence supports evolution and how certain events (changes in climate) can drive evolution.

Assessment:

Analysis: Conclusion written applying vocabulary correctly to results observed

Differentiation:

Time Scale: For classrooms with advanced learners, students can investigate appropriate units of time to use for timescale in order to decide how to display timeline of Earth’s changes, with scale present of what unit of time equals unit of measure.

Extensions:

Advanced Hook: Complete Directed Reading on Article on Sheep:



Article: Sheep Saga – The North Ronaldsays by Gordon McLachlan. An article on unique breed geographically isolated in Scotland that adapted to swim and eat seaweed. The eating habits and digestive systems of the sheep have changed with their diet.

Virtual Timeline of Deep Time – this interactive timeline begins 4.55 billion years ago and correlates geology, transformations on earth (different evolutionary organisms), and extinctions during four time periods: Precambrian eon and the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Eras. Students could create an entire classroom timeline and add major evolutionary events as different topics are studied in Biology.

Fossil Image Cards and Human Family Tree



An extensive source of information on Human Evolution. Students could be assigned a particular hominid and create hominid identification cards that illustrate specific evolutionary changes within their species and the implications of these evolutionary changes that could be used to create a family tree bulletin board.

Take it a step further:

• Once timeline is created, offer students images of environmental geography to match with fossil to highlight adaptation to environment.

• Assign students a gap in record and providing only a description of the environmental geography have students create an image of the “missing species”

Exploration:

Podcast/Video: T. Rex Blood? PBS Nova video (about 12 min) with accompanying activities that introduce and explore paleontology and the geologic timescale through analysis of fossil bones.



Students research types of animals that lived in Florida during a comparable time on their timeline.



Students read and complete directed note-taking from the article: Smithsonian – Dinosaurs in Our Backyard – Reconstructing Extinct Animals

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