Performance Objective: Given three different examples of species changing over time, students will correctly explain at least 2 out of 3 examples to their peers using evidence to support their explanation.
Content: Journal Prompt:
“Four friends were discussing the meaning of the term biological evolution. This is what they said:
Mario: "I think it is another term for natural selection."
Sally: "I think it mainly explains how life started."
Cameron: "I think it mainly explains how life changed after it started."
Paz: "I think it includes both how life started and how it changed after it started."
1. Which person do you agree with the most? _____________
2. Explain what you think biological evolution is.”
Snurfle Islands
Together, read through the "Background" section of the Snurfle Islands video game.
Using the "Background" section of the game, answer the following three Pre-Snurfle Questions (Respond with your table mates and/or write "Pre-Snurfle Questions" and respond in your journal):
What is evolution (use the "background" button for your answer)?
What are the steps in the process of natural selection?
What is the goal of the Snurfle Islands game?
Then do the following:
Play the Snurfle Islands video game (link below),
Take the Snurfle online quiz, and
Answer all the "Post-Snurfle" questions that are written below.
*always ALLOW and ACCEPT any prompts
**make sure you are playing through Google Chrome or on a Chromebook
A few things you should know:
Choose adaptations wisely, it’ll cost you survival points.
On the islands, find fruit to eat. Each piece of fruit is worth 10 survival points.
You need to find a mate to produce offspring, but you’ll only be able to produce offspring if you have a net gain of survival points at the end.
More survival points = more offspring!
Snurfle Islands Game: Click Here
Post-Snurfle Questions (Respond with your table mates and/or write "Post-Snurfle Questions" and respond in your journal):
Which island needed the fewest adaptations? Why?
Which island needed the most adaptations? Why?
What did you find to be the most beneficial adaptation overall? Why?
What did you find to be the least beneficial adaptation overall? Why?
What were some constraints (limiting factors) Snurfles face in their lives?
Why is natural selection sometimes referred to as "survival of the fittest?
One More Reason
Evolution has led to tens of millions of different species living on Earth now and in the past.
Watch and listen to 20 Million Reasons music video. (music only - lyrics only)
See the Port Angeles Procession of the Species website and the Olympia Procession of the Species website for some background.
Following the guidelines in the "20 Million Reasons" song, write a new verse, and sing it while projecting it on the front board.
Change Over Time Prompts
The teacher gives at least one of these prompts and facilitates discussion with student responses.
Prompt: Early in their development, human embryos have gills. Later in development, these gills go away and humans develop lungs.
What does the phrase "the fish inside of us" mean?
Prompt: Vestigial structures are body parts that organisms have but no longer use to survive.
At the base of our spines, we humans have tail bones that look just like the tail bones of monkeys that do have tails. Even though we don't have tails, we have these tail bones just like monkeys.
What does the phrase "the monkey inside of us" mean?
Teacher Note: Research basis for these prompts
Follow-Through Activities:
Watch a video on antibiotic resistant bacteria from Harvard University that shows bacteria changing drastically over a short time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plVk4NVIUh8).
Lesson Plan Summary:
The lesson includes a journal prompt, an interactive musical activity about species, a series of prompts on evolution, an online natural selection/evolution game with content and questions related to natural selection and evolution, and a rock-paper-scissors tournament based on evolutionary examples. Because students choose examples that fit best within their mental frameworks, this is a cognitivist objective. Cognitivist techniques that support students building upon their prior knowledge will be most helpful. This lesson also involves constructivism as students come up with their own species and verse for the “20 Million Reasons” song.