g8sci5e biological

(1)

Our Changing Earth Part 1: Biological Evolution

PURPOSE: To understand biological evolution (that living things on Earth have changed over time).

GOAL / OBJECTIVE

Goal 1 –The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.

Objectives 1.01, 1.05, 1.08, 1.09, 1.10

Goal 5 - The learner will conduct investigations and utilize appropriate technologies and information systems to build an understanding of evidence of evolution in organisms and landforms.

Objective 5.01. 5.02, 5.03

Language (ELD) Objective. The learner will: -

ENGAGE:

Note to Teacher: You will need to prepare the stations for the walkabout by writing the questions on chart paper.

Ask students to bring in 2 pictures of themselves at different ages, preferably as an infant and at their current age. If some students cannot bring in pictures, have some pictures of yourself at different ages for them to use. Ask the students to observe the pictures for evidence of change and record their observations in a chart. (See handout.)

OBSERVATIONS Then Now

Physical Features

Clothing

Surroundings

(2)

Station 2. Define evolution. How do you know if something has evolved? Station 3. Is there a difference between change and evolution?

Station 4. In what ways are you changing now? Station 5. In what ways are you going to change? Station 6. Is the earth changing right now? If so how?

Station 7. Was the surface of the earth ever different than it is now? If so how?

Station 8. Were the animals on the earth ever different than they are now? If so how?

Tell the students they are going on a “walkabout.” The students are to walk around the room to each piece of paper and respond to the questions. You can use the word “change” to signal to them it is time to move to the next paper. When the students have answered each of the questions, have a class discussion about the responses to the questions. Keep the papers with the responses during the time you are working on this unit so you can refer back to them if needed.

EXPLORE:

Part 1: “Isn’t Evolution Just a Theory?”

Explain to students how to use the Alpha-Box handout. Directions: As you listen to the video, “Isn’t Evolution Just a Theory?”, write words, phrases, or ideas you hear in the video, that you think are important, into the corresponding letter box on the handout.

Show the video, “Isn’t Evolution Just a Theory?”

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/teachstuds/svideos.html

After the video, ask the students to share some of the words or phrases they have written. Then, have the students work in groups to complete the following concept map about evolution.

EVOLUTION

Biological

(3)

Part 2: Ask a Fossil

Set up 7 stations with the station cards provided (if possible display the actual fossils that are represented in the pictures) around the room for the students to explore. Computer access is necessary for the students to investigate each type of fossil with the given websites.

The students will create a 7 Tab-Top foldable. This foldable will be used to record

information during this exploration. Each tab will represent one of the 7 types of fossils that will be explored.

Creating the foldable:

1. Fold 7 sheets of paper in half. Cut along the center fold

2. Fold one of the half sheets 3 times each time folding like hamburger style. Then fold again 3 more times the other direction. This should give you 32 squares. This sheet will be used as a pattern for cutting the tabs.

3. Place the sheet that you folded into 32 squares on top of one of the half sheets and cut the bottom right hand square out of both sheets set this sheet aside.

4. Repeat this process with another one of the half sheets except cut the first and second squares. Place this sheet on top of the first.

5. Repeat 5 more times except cut one more square each time creating 7 tabs at the top. 6. Place the last uncut half sheet behind the cut sheets and then place a final half sheet

with no tab on top and staple along the left side to form a cover. The cover should say: “What evidence can geologists gather from a study of fossils?”

7. Have students to answer the questions on the left side and leave the right side for teacher information.

Note to Teacher:

The following website was used to get pictures of fossils to be used if you do not have actual examples: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Education.htm

The following website can also be used by teachers or students to further explore fossils. http://www.teachnet-lab.org/glasgold/lesson2.htm

EXPLAIN:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/stories/middle/intro.html

Have the students walk through this website on the Past Lives section before discussing the foldable. Use the questions on the handout as a guide to navigating the website. After the students are allowed to explore the website and complete the answers to the questions, discuss the information acquired from the explain section.

See student handout.

(4)

2. List behaviors that might not leave any trace fossils.

3. Explain how an index fossil is used to determine the age of surrounding fossils? 4. What 3 kinds of information can geologists gather from a study of fossils?

5. What is the difference between the fossil of a plant and the fossil of an organism? 6. What do fossilized tracks tell you about the animal that left them?

ELABORATE: “Who Will Survive and Who Will Go?”

The students will simulate natural selection using beans and a Styrofoam bowl. Have the students work in small groups. The teacher will need to provide each group with a mixture of beans. The beans that work best for this activity are lentils, pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, red beans, black beans, great northern beans, split peas, and black-eyed peas. Be sure to include multiple of the same bean to represent population. The students will then poke a hole in the bottom of the bowl and gently shake the bowl allowing the species that will not evolve to survive. The students will then answer a series of questions that will help them understand natural selection and survival of the fittest. The teacher will need to purchase the beans and Styrofoam bowls before doing the activity.

EVALUATE:

1. Create a visual that answers this question: How has life on earth changed over time? 2. Complete the “Compare and Contrast: Molds and Casts” worksheet.

3. Create a model or visual to show what kind of fossil could be found 100 million years from now to show that you existed on Earth. Tell what kind of fossil it would be, how the fossil would be formed, and what evidence it would give future geologists to show the environment you lived in.

**Although these activities seem rather wide open, students need to be able to answer the questions using a multitude of strategies.

Additional Resources

(5)

ENGAGE, Part 1 Name ___________________________________ Handout Date ____________________________________

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words Purpose: To study how you have changed over your lifetime.

Materials: 2 pictures of yourself at different ages (as an infant and the present)

Procedure:

1. Place 2 pictures of yourself at different ages on the table face up. 2. Observe the pictures for evidence of change.

3. Record your observations in the chart below.

OBSERVATIONS Then Now

Physical Features

Clothing

Surroundings

Conclusions:

1. How would you define change?

2. How can you tell if something has changed?

3. How have you changed since you were a baby?

(6)

ENGAGE, Part 1 Name ________________________________

Handout Date _________________________________

A L P H A – B O X

Topic / Source __________________________________________

Listen carefully. Write words or phrases for each letter box below.

A B C D

E F G H

I J K L

M N O P

Q R S T

(7)

EXPLORE, Part 1 Station Cards

Ask Fossil # 1

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture # 1:

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

Websites to search for information:

http://www.gpc.edu/~pgore/geology/historical_lab/preservationlab.php http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/paleo/fossils/index.html

(8)

Ask Fossil # 2

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture # 2:

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(9)

Ask Fossil # 3

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture #3

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(10)

Ask Fossil # 4

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture #4

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(11)

Ask Fossil # 5

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture #5

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(12)

Ask Fossil # 6

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture #6

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(13)

Ask Fossil # 7

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture #7

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(14)

Ask Fossil # 8

Directions:

Study the following picture. Use the websites to answer the

questions about this fossil.

Picture #8

1. What kind of fossil are you?

2. How were you formed? How did it feel to become

fossilized?

3. What conditions made it possible for you to be fossilized?

4. How are you a “window into the past?”

5. What can you tell me about your environment?

6. How did you change during your lifetime? Are you still on

Earth today? Why or why not?

7. What kind of information could scientists find out by

studying you?

(15)

EXPLAIN, Part 1 Name ________________________________

Handout Date _________________________________

What Does a Fossil Tell Us? Use the website to answer the following questions.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/stories/middle/intro.html

Choose the section on “Past Lives”

I. What Fossils Teach Us

a. What do fossils teach us?

II. Age of the Organism

a. Give two examples of organisms that show a record of their own age.

b. How many rings represent a year for a tree?

III. Information About an Organism’s Lifetime

a. What is a trilobite?

b. How many trilobites existed on the earth?

c. Why was the trilobite fossil unusual?

d. Why did the trilobite role up?

IV. Family Behavior

a. What did scientists infer about dinosaur behavior after their young had hatched?

V. Social Behavior

a. How have scientists determined that dinosaurs lived in herds?

VI. How Organisms Came to Be

a. How can fossils show evolution?

(16)

ELABORATE, Part 1 Name ___________________________________

Handout Date ____________________________________

Who Will Survive and Who Will Go?

Purpose: To model the theory of natural selection and “survival of the fittest.”

Materials:

Bowl of mixed beans Styrofoam Bowl Pencil

Procedure:

1. Obtain a bowl of mixed beans from the teacher. Count each type of bean in the bowl and record it in the table in the data section.

2. Use the pencil to poke a hole in the bottom of the bowl.

3. Shake the bowl gently and allow the beans to fall out of the bowl—if they will.

4. Count the number of beans remaining in the bowl and record this in the table in the data section.

5. Repeat the process 3 more times.

*The beans that remain in the bowl have “evolved” to withstand the change in climate or geologic features that may threaten their species’ survival. The beans that fall through the hole are those that could not “evolve” and withstand the stress to their species.

Data:

Record the number of each type of bean that remains in the bowl after each shake in the table below.

Lentils Pintos Navy Beans Kidney Beans Red Beans Black Beans G-Nort. Beans Split Peas B-eyed Peas Shake 1 Shake 2 Shake 3 Shake 4 Analysis:

(17)

2. Which bean(s) were able to remain and continue their species? Why were these beans able to stay within the confines of the bowl?

3. How are the beans that fell through the bowl similar to the dinosaurs? What do you think kept the dinosaurs from being able to survive?

4. How are the beans that remained in the bowl similar to cockroaches, which have survived for thousands of years? What do you think has allowed this species to continue to survive?

(18)

EVALUATE, Part 1

Transparency

Create a visual that answers this question:

How has life on Earth

changed over time?

Think . . .

Draw . . .

Explain . . .

(19)

EVALUATE, Part 1 Name ___________________________

Handout Date ____________________________

Compare and Contrast

I am investigating . . .

Molds

and Casts

How are they alike?

• _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________