Unit: Classification & Natural Selection

Date: 3/23/2015
Topic: Principles of Natural Selection Case Study
Class: Biology
Objectives:
B5.1d Explain how a new species or variety originates through the evolutionary process of
natural selection.
B5.1e Explain how natural selection leads to organisms that are well suited for the
environment (differential survival and reproduction of chance inherited variants, depending
upon environmental conditions).
I can explain how natural selection works to form a new species.
Activities: 60 minutes
10 minutes: Journal Question: Describe an example of natural
selection that you see in everyday life. It can be something we have
talked about in class or something you have heard or seen elsewhere,
but you must describe the process of natural selection in detail!
5 minutes: Explain to students that they will be reading a popular
media current event article to see how natural selection works even
now! It is not just something that happened a long time ago or in
Charles Darwins day. Have a student pass out copies of the article
and the graphic organizer.

Materials/Equipmen
t:
http://www.wired.c
om/2015/03/jayevolving-weird-way/
Some sort of
graphic organizer?
ML? Questions?

20 minutes: Students read through the article, annotating as

necessary, and answer the questions alone.
10 minutes: Students discuss with their table partners or groups
around them to share what they understood from the article and gain
insights from others.
15 minutes: Discuss as a class what they extracted from the article
what species are we talking about? What was the selection pressure?
Why is this important?
Assessment: (Embedded or Formal)
Why might variation be important to a population? Why cant everyone be the same?
Reflections & Notes:
Modifications for third/sixth hour work with a table partner throughout

Unit: Classification & Natural Selection

Date: 3/24/2015
Topic: Evidence for Evolution/Stations Lab
Class: Biology
Objectives:
B2.4A Explain that living things can be classified based on structural, embryological, and
molecular (relatedness of DNA sequence) evidence.
B5.2a Describe species as reproductively distinct groups of organisms that can be
classified based on morphological, behavioral, and molecular similarities.
B5.2c Trace the relationship between environmental changes and changes in the gene
pool, such as genetic drift and isolation of subpopulations.
B5.2c Trace the relationship between environmental changes and changes in the gene
pool, such as genetic drift and isolation of subpopulations.

I can explain the molecular evidence for evolution.

Activities: 60 minutes
Skip journal question!
Evolution Stations Lab even though I would be doing this alone,
I feel pretty confident. I will look at it in more detail tomorrow.

Materials/Equipment:
Evolutions Stations
Lab

**Highlight to students at the beginning of the class period that

this is a ONE-DAY lab! They will be turning this it at the end of the
hour
Assessment: (Embedded or Formal)
Students will turn in their completed stations lab sheets/packets at the end of the hour.
Reflections & Notes:
Adaptations for third/sixth hour Unit: Classification & Natural Selection
Date: 3/25/2015
Topic: Molecular Evidence for Evolution
Class: Biology
Objectives:
B2.4A Explain that living things can be classified based on structural, embryological, and
molecular (relatedness of DNA sequence) evidence.
B5.2a Describe species as reproductively distinct groups of organisms that can be
classified based on morphological, behavioral, and molecular similarities.
B5.2c Trace the relationship between environmental changes and changes in the gene
pool, such as genetic drift and isolation of subpopulations.
B5.2c Trace the relationship between environmental changes and changes in the gene
pool, such as genetic drift and isolation of subpopulations.
I can explain the molecular evidence for evolution.
Activities: 40 minutes
10 minutes: Journal Task: What was the most important piece of
information about evolution you learned from the stations lab
yesterday?

Materials/Equipment:
Evidence for
Evolution text
Graphic Organizer

30 minutes: Students read through the Evidence for Evolution

text and complete the graphic organizer (a modified ML where
one side is the evidence for evolution and the other is how this
relates to natural selection and the theory of evolution the
bigger picture)
Assessment: (Embedded or Formal)
Students will turn in their graphic organizers.
Reflections & Notes:
Adaptations for third/sixth hour we will fill out the graphic organizer as a class.

Unit: Classification & Natural Selection

Date: 3/26/2015
Topic: Speciation
Class: Biology
Objectives:
B5.1d Explain how a new species or variety originates through the evolutionary process of
natural selection.
I can describe how the process of speciation works.

Activities: 60 minutes
10 minutes: Journal Question: What does the word species
mean to you? You are a human, how does that differentiate you
from a bumblebee, a cat, or a bear?

Materials/Equipment:
Blank paper for
drawings

5 minutes: Share out big ideas and highlight important points

from student responses. We should define what species means
before they start on their comic strips.
45 minutes: Students have the rest of the hour to illustrate the
process of speciation somehow. Students will need to fill at least
one regular size sheet of printer paper and use COLOR in their
illustrations. If there is time at the end, I will allow students to
share their drawings and explain their thought process over the
ELMO.
Assessment: (Embedded or Formal)
Students will turn in their comic strips/drawings

Reflections & Notes:

Adaptations for third/sixth hour guided highlighted reading & questions?

Unit: Evolution & Classification

Date: 3/27/2015
Topic: Peppered Moths
Class: Biology
Objectives:
B5.1c Summarize the relationships between present-day organisms and those that
inhabited the Earth in the past (e.g., use fossil record, embryonic stages, homologous
structures, chemical basis).
I can describe evolution using real-life examples.
Activities: 60 minutes
60 minutes: Students watch video and make
connections through video guide to things weve done in
the unit previously.
**Can we exempt students who are behind from the
guidesheet & have them work on missing work during
the video? It seems like that is valuable time that we
could use better for them
Assessment: (Embedded or Formal)
Students will turn in their video guide.
Reflections & Notes:
Adaptations for third/sixth hour see above

Materials/Equipment:
PBS CoEvolution?
Why Sex?
**I will watch both this week
to decide which we should
use.