Final+Project

====Topic: Evolution and Natural Selection  ====

Essential Questions: 1) How does evolution occur? 2) What is natural selection, and what is needed for it to occur? 3) What does "survival of the fittest" mean in biological terms?

State Frameworks: Content: 5.3 Explain how evolution through natural selection can result in changes in biodiversity through the increase or decrease of genetic diversity within a population. Technology Literacy Standards: G9-12: 3.8 Use online communication tools to collaborate with peers, community members, and field experts as appropriate. G9-12: 1.9 Use editing features appropriately.  G9-12: 2.1 Demostrate compliance with the school's Acceptable Use Policy.

 Objectives: The students will be able to: 1) explain what the three things that are necessary for natural selection to occur are. 2) explain how natural selection leads to evolution. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3) explain what "fitness" is in biological terms, and how "Survival of the Fittest" is related to natural selection. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4) analyze a comic strip to pick out important aspects of natural selection. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">5) communicate with classmates using the wikipage. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">6) annotate a word document.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Pre Assignment: Read the attached comic strip and answer the questions at the end. Focus on which cricket was the "strongest". Post to the class wiki page what you think survival of the fittest means and how that might lead to a change in a species. Reply to at least one post to a person in your group. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Survival of the Sneakiest]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Opener/Do Now: Based on your homework, come up with a definition of "fittest" or "fitness". <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">- Discuss definitions, using the comic strip as a source to apply the definitions to. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">- Discuss that the cricket (from the comic strip) that had the highest fitness reproduced more, therefore passing on his genetic traits = Natural Selection

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Direct Instruction/Notes: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Use the following site to explain what natural selection is. [|Natural Selection] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Use the following site to explain how fitness leads to natural selection. [|Fitness] <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Copy and paste the text to a word document and highlight and mark up the text as we discuss the most important things.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Guided and Independent Work: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Watch the following video clip. [|Evolution and Camouflage] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Have the students list how the mantis in the video exhibits what is necessary for natural selection to occur. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Discuss with their neighbor and explain what type of mantis would have the highest fitness, and if this in natural selection at work. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Discuss as a class

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Closure: Show a picture of Darwin's Finches and the Galapagos Islands, listing what food is available on each of the islands. Have the students identify what bird would be found on which island and explain why? This will be a ticket to leave, and I will make sure they use what we talked about in class for their explanations. Formative assessment

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Homework: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Evolution on Viruses]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Resources <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Teachers Domain <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Understanding Evolution