2/27

Our focus for the week was how scientists classify living organisms. Our first activity of the week was to organize some "random things found in Mrs. Wagner's room." Students had to practice the principles of classification by putting these objects into groups based on the similarities between them. We also learned about the eight levels of classification (remember "Dear King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda?") and discussed how scientific names are formed. In our "Shape Island" activity, students had to give different organisms a scientific name based on their physical characteristics. Students had to use the proper Latin and Greek roots, suffixes, and prefixes in order to design the scientific names of each.

On Friday, we worked together to identify and describe how living things are classified. We identified the the three domains (Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya), the six kingdoms (archaebacteria, eubacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals), and the characteristics of each one. Next week, students will be challenged to use their knowledge of classification to create a classification scheme for some "creepy critters."

2/20

This week, we discussed other pieces of evidence that support the theory of evolution. We talked about the fossil record, geologic time scale, plate tectonics, and vestigial structures. In our lab, students practiced using relative fossil dating techniques to find the estimated age of different fossils. They had to arrange "rock samples" in order, based on their fossil components. Students were also required to create a timeline of their fossil record after putting them into the correct order. We spent Friday reviewing for our evolution test, which we will take on Monday. The test and binder check will be included as some of our final grades of the second trimester. Next week, we will begin our discussion of classification.

2/13

Students presented their "designer animals" to the class on Monday. They were interesting to see because students came up with some very unique adaptations for their animals! For the remainder of the week, we used examples to reinforce the idea of natural selection (white lizards, quiet crickets, resistant insects, tuskless elephants, etc.). We even did a "peppered moth simulation lab" after the reviewing the controversial experiment that was done in Manchester, England with pale and dark peppered moths. According to the story, the pale variety of moths were more common before the 1850's, because they blended in with the lichen-covered trees. As the industrial revolution began in the 1850's, the trees became covered in smoke and soot, and gradually, the dark variety of moth became more common. In our lab, we used two different colored backgrounds to represent the non-polluted (pale) and the polluted (dark) tree trunks. Small circles were cut out to represent pale and dark moths. Students became predators (birds), and had to use tweezers pick up as many "moths" off of each background as they could in 20 seconds. While some students struggled as predators (I know it was difficult!), others excelled!

Next week we will wrap up our evolution chapter. We will discuss other evidence for evolution (the fossil record, comparative structures, vestigial structures, and plate tectonics). We will also do a lab that will test the students' ability to determine the relative age of fossils. We will have our chapter test on Monday, February 23rd!

2/6

After reviewing for and taking our DNA quest, we spent the remainder of the week discussing the basics of evolution. Students were introduced to the concepts of adaptations, evolution, and natural selection. We discussed the voyage of Charles Darwin and the important discoveries that he made on the Galapagos Islands. We spent two days in class doing a "Designer Animal Activity." In this activity, students were given four environments to choose from, and they were required to design an animal with the adaptations necessary to survive and thrive in the chosen environment. Students had to consider what their animal would eat, how it would defend itself, maintain body temperature, care for its young, find shelter, etc. After designing everything, students had to choose a card that determined how their environment had changed (volcano eruptions, global warming, meteorites, shift in planetary rotation, etc), and then decide whether their animal still had the right adaptations to survive. On Monday, students will present their "designer animals" to the class. Next week, students will be exposed to several examples of natural selection that occur everyday, and they will do a "peppered moth" lab to simulate how natural selection occurs.