April 8-9

Evolution Study Guide: Final Review Before the Test 🧬📚

📅 Assigned: April 8
📅 Due: April 10 (after completing the End-of-Unit Test)

To prepare for the Evolution Unit Test, students completed a comprehensive study guide that reviewed all key concepts from the unit. This included vocabulary, scientific concepts, real-life examples, and application of ideas discussed in class.

📝 What the Study Guide Covered:

🧠 Key Vocabulary Terms

Students reviewed and defined major terms such as:

• Evolution

• Natural Selection

• Mutation

• Adaptation

• Variation

• Extinction

• Fossil

• Homologous Structures

• Radioactive Dating

• Missing Links
  
  

🔁 Understanding the Process of Evolution

• How mutations introduce new traits into populations.

• How natural selection “chooses” traits that best help organisms survive and reproduce.

• The meaning behind "survival of the fittest" and how it's connected to adaptation.
  
  

🔍 Real-World Examples & Analysis

• Why peppered moths changed color during the Industrial Revolution.

• How camels’ eyelashes and humps help them survive in deserts.

• What Darwin’s finches taught us about resource-based evolution.

• How climate change contributed to the extinction of the woolly mammoth.

• How our bird beak lab showed the connection between traits and food sources.
  
  

🌍 Adaptations in Different Environments

Students identified three adaptations and benefits for animals in:

• Swamps or marshes

• Deserts

• Snowy tundras
  
  

🦎 Camouflage & Survival

• Defined and gave examples of the three types of camouflage:
  ✅ Concealing Coloration
  ✅ Disruptive Coloration
  ✅ Mimicry
  
  

🌟 Why This Matters:

This study guide helped students organize and reinforce their understanding of how life on Earth changes over time. It also provided a chance to connect vocabulary, models, and lab activities to real evolutionary concepts that drive diversity in nature.

✅ Reminder: The study guide was due after the test on April 10 and counted as an important review tool for success! Great job wrapping up our unit on evolution! 🦕📖✨