Teachers' Page - Take a Trip With Charles Darwin

Goals & Objectives Curriculum Standards Thinking & Communication Skills Teacher References

Goals & Objectives

Target audience: This "virtual field trip" has been designed to meet the needs of each student in my 7th grade Life Science classes. Each of my four classes includes a wide array of ability levels - enrichment students are mixed with general education, classified, LEP, Read 180 and hearing impaired students. Since class size varies from seventeen to twenty-five students, students will be assigned to the twelve department-shared laptop computers to work cooperatively in pairs, with few triads. However, each student must complete their own log sheet and submit their own work.

Topic: This activity is intended for implementation within our Evolution unit, specifically targeting the principles that Charles Darwin devised to explain his theory of evolution by natural selection. Prior to performing this activity, discussion of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is imperative. Vocabulary development and guided reading with thorough discussion of the text (McDougal Littell Life Science, pgs. B21-25) will be completed, as "Take a Trip With Charles Darwin" can then be utilized as an additional interactive activity to reinforce material covered. Since seventh grade students generally have difficulty comprehending the conceptual material involved in the Evolution unit, this virtual field trip should be implemented to supplement existing lesson plans.

Goals:
1. Students will be able to explain how Darwin developed his theory of natural selection.
2. Students will be able to describe how new species arise from preexisting species.
3. Students will be able to recognize the evidence that Darwin used to support his theory of natural selection.
4.   Students will be able to apply the principles of natural selection - adaptation, variation, overproduction and selection - to the success of a well-adapted organism.
5.   Students will be able to explain how natural selection benefits the survival of a species.
6.   Students will be able to explain how natural selection may result in the extinction a species.

Concept & Performance Objectives:
1. Students will convey understanding of natural selection by completing direct, but interpretive questions on the observations that Charles Darwin made while travelling on the HMS Beagle.
2. Students will create an artistic interpretation of how natural selection can benefit, or be the detriment to, a species.
3. Students will work in cooperative pairs (and, if necessary, triads), to work through the concepts involved in the web activity, communicating their findings and clearing misconceptions.

Student Outcome:
1. Each student will successfully complete, and submit, their own log sheet.
2. Students will illustrate how natural selection benefits certain species while resulting in the extinction of other species.

Curriculum Standards
NJCCCS - Science
5.1.8.A - Habits of mind
                1. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data, claims and
                    arguments.
                2. Communicate experimental findings to others.
                4. Recognize that curiosity, skepticism, open-mindedness and honesty
                    are attributes of scientists.

5.2.8.A - Cultural contributions
                1. Recognize that scientific theories develop over time; depend on the
                    contributions of many people; and reflect the social and political
                    climate of their time.
          B - Historical perspectives
                1. Describe the impact of major events and people in the history of
                    science and technology in conjunction with other world events.

5.5.8.B - Diversity and biological evolution
                1. Compare and contrast kinds of organisms using their internal and
                    external characteristics.
                2. Discuss how changing environmental conditions can result in
                    evolution or extinction of a species.
                3. Recognize that individual organisms with certain traits are more likely
                    to survive and have offspring.

Thinking & Communication Skills

Throughout this web activity, the students are continually asked to think critically as they answer questions at each stop on their voyage. Since they are working cooperatively, each student is required (and thusly evaluated accordingly) to communicate how he/she arrived at their log sheet answer with the other members of their group. Sharing the use of technology with other students requires appropriate teamwork skills, as each student traditionally would like to be able to navigate through the web activity periodically. Working with a partner or partners always requires compromise, as no one student can get their way after any dispute. Finally, the nature of a web activity requires the students to refine and call upon their technology navigation skills, as there is always some problem-solving involved (nothing ever goes 100% smoothly!).

Additionally, each stop along the HMS Beagle's voyage incorporated their own series of thinking & communication skills:

Santiago - students are required to make inferences linking material previously discussed in class (overproduction) with a picture prompt, engaging the more visual of learners.
Salvador - students not only make inferences based on the video clip presented, but are prompted to think critically about how changing the environment of such a well-adapted organism would affect its survival rate.
Galapagos Islands - students are asked to differentiate between adaptations developed for food supply and adaptations made for natural environments. Additionally, they are required to categorize the 10 species presented in the visual prompt according to slight differences in characteristics.
Australia - students will make inferences based on a visual cue.
St. Helena - students are able, through trial and error, to discover how variations in a population can be beneficial or detrimental. The simulation involved requires the students to problem-solve creatively, adjusting variation populations to reach the desired result. The simulation is very visual in nature, but requires full participation of the student, making it equally interactive.

Finally, the illustration of two variations of an organism requires the student to creatively produce a visual representation of how natural selection truly affects an individual organism.

Teacher References

Content and Links:
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"Evolution: Library: Evolution of Camouflage." Teachers' Domain. 2001. WGBH Educational Foundation and Clear Blue Sky Productions, Inc.. 3 Feb 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/quicktime/l_011_03_56.html>.

"Evolution: Sex: Sex and the Single Guppy." Teachers' Domain. 2008. WGBH Educational Foundation. 4 Mar 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/sex/guppy/>

Hansen, Carl and Knowlton, Nancy. "Teachers' Domain: Allopatric Speciation." Teachers' Domain. 2001. WGBH Educational Foundation and Clear Blue Sky Productions, Inc.. 3 Feb 2008 <http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/tdc02/sci/life/evo/allopatric/assets/tdc02_img_allopatric
/tdc02_img_allopatric_jpg.html>.

Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage01.html>.

McDougal Littell Life Science. Pgs. B21-25. Evanston, IL: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.

"New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards - Science." State of New Jersey Department of Eduation. 2006. New Jersey Department of Education. 4 Mar 2008 <http://education.state.nj.us/cccs/?_standard_matrix;c=5>.

"Teachers' Domain: Adaptive Radiation: Darwin's Finches." Teachers' Domain. 2001. WGBH Educational Foundation and Clear Blue Sky Productions, Inc.. 3 Feb 2008 <http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/tdc02/sci/life/evo/adraddarfinch/assets/tdc02_img_
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Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage01.html>.

Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage03.html>.

Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage04.html>.

Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage08.html>.

Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage09.html>.

Leff, David. "AboutDarwin.com - Beagle Voyage." AboutDarwin.com - Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin. February 10, 2008. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage10.html>.

"Meet the Good Bugs - Gardening - How-To - This Old House." Home Improvement and Remodeling: This Old House. 2007. 3 Mar 2008 <http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,1553785,00.html>.

Muskopf, Shannan. "Evolution." The Biology Corner. 4 Mar 2008 <http://www.biologycorner.com/bio1/evolution.html>.

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