5-E Model Unit PlanDaily Lessons

Title Through Darwins Eyes

(DAY ONE)
Purpose/Rationale To better understand natural selection, evolution, and fitness
through the experiences of Charles Darwin.

Community Resources Classwork will be differentiated by class level (i.e. honors vs.
and meeting needs general) and discussed with Cooperating Teacher and Special
students Education teachers/aides.

Students in General Biology will work in groups of 3-6

students and 1 teacher (either myself, my CT, or a Special
Education teacher) to keep the students on track, help clear up
any questions or misunderstanding about new concepts, and
give tailored help to each student. Many of these students
have a reading level that is much lower than their grade level
and working in these smaller groups gives the students more
time to read and gain comprehension from the assignments.

Students in the Honor Biology class are quicker to complete

assignments, freeing up time to either go more in depth into
the curriculum or bring in new ideas and concepts. The
Honors students are less likely to have questions for the
teacher, but when there is any misunderstanding, it is easy for
the students to find helpeither from myself or a classmate.
Some assignments will be modified to include more analysis
about key concepts from the curriculum.
Virginia Science SOLs BIO. 1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of
scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science by
planning and conducting investigations in which
i) appropriate technology including computers, is used for
gathering and analyzing data, communicating results,
modeling concepts, and simulating experimental conditions;
k) differentiation is made between a scientific hypothesis,
theory, and law.

BIO. 7 The student will investigate and understand how

populations change through time. Key concepts include
b) how genetics variation, reproductive strategies, and
environmental pressures impact the survival of populations;
c) how natural selection leads to adaptations;
d) emergence of new species.
INTASC/NSTA Standard 1: Learner Development
Students are able to work at their own pace on the computer
to complete assignments as well as work with a partner, if
 extra assistance or instruction is needed. Students are able to
work with manipulatives to understand more complex
concepts.
Materials Laptop, pencil, Exploring Through Darwins Voyage activity
sheet, Who Wants to Live a Million Years? Activity sheet,
Finches Beaks Activity sheet
Safety and Class Students will be reminded that they must stay on appropriate
Management Issues internet sites needed for each activity. Students will use
beaks appropriately and properly for the Finches Beaks lab
activity.

Procedures for Teaching (include time frame)

Engage Students will come into the classroom and write down the
Define problem activity sheets/notes that will be accomplished that day in
(10 minutes) their Table of Contents (which they picked up at the back of
the room). They need to write the number (i.e. 1F, 2F), title,
date given, and date due on the Table of Contents for each
new entry.
The teacher will have this up on the Smartboard when the
students come in so they can accomplish this quickly and
have a warm-up on Google Classroom that will serve as the
Engage portion of Day 1.
The warm-up today is How do you think pigeons came to
look like this? with images of Darwins Fancy pigeons.
Explore Who Wants to Live a Million Years? Activity
Planning, Modeling, - Teacher will hand out activity sheet and tell students
Testing to get their laptops out. Throughout the activity, the
(25 minutes) teacher will be walking around the classroom,
assessing understanding and making sure that specific
vocabulary will be addressed by the students
- Students will complete the activity sheet by going
through the game Who Wants to Live a Million
Years?.
- Survival of the Fitness
- Natural Selection
- Species
- Variation
Explain Exploring Through Darwins Voyage
Explanations of - Students will complete the activity sheet that
Concepts accompanies the Exploration through Darwins
(30 minutes) Voyage. This will be taken up for a grade.
- Teacher will be walking around the room to make sure
that students are understanding the concepts brought
up by Darwin and his voyage.
Elaborate Finches Beaks Activity
Reflect and Redesign - Students will complete the Unique Beak Physique
(25 minutes) activity sheet as they work through the lab activity.
Students will hypothesize which tool will work best to
pick up which food. Students will have 30 seconds to
pick up as much food as possiblegroups of 3-5
students can go at one time. Students will answer
questions about the class average of food eaten.
- Teacher will have food and tools ready for
students to choose from at the beginning of the
activity. Teacher will remind students to keep on task
and use their beaks only for good (for the activity).
Teacher will have the students write up how much
food was eaten by every student so that the students
can answer analysis questions. At the end of the class,
the teacher will create a discussion about fitness and
natural selection.
Evaluate
Formative Throughout the activities, the teacher will be walking around
the classroom assessing the understanding of the students (i.e.
asking more in depth questions, answering or clearing up
questions from students, bring up older concepts to solidify
understanding from students).

Who Wants to Live a Million Years? will be taken up for a

participation gradeanswers will be read and corrected if any
incorrect answers are seen. Then handed back out the next
day.

Exit Slip
Summative Exploring through Darwins Voyage and Unique Beak
Physique will be taken up as a grade to determine
understanding and need for short lecture on any confusing
material.
Activity Sheet Who Wants to Live a Million Years
Exploring the Galapagos Islands
Unique Beak Physique
Name:_______________________________ Date:_____________________ Block:_______

Who Wants to Live a Million Years?

Purpose: To better understand evolution, natural selection, and Charles Darwin.

Click on: LEARN ABOUT NATURAL SELECTION

Part 1: Every species exhibits variation

Define the following terms:

Species

Variation

Part 2: Many traits are passed from their parents to their offspring.
Define the following terms:

Traits

Offspring

Describe what specific variations bird 3 received from its parents = bird 1 and bird 2?

Bird #1 =

Bird #2 =

Part 3: Life in the wild is competitive, and organisms with the most beneficial traits will
prosper. This is commonly known as survival of the fittest.
Define the following term:

Survival of the fittest -

Or if you dont have the right traits they die out or become extinct.
Now play the survival game

Object of the game: You will be choosing different traits of the same species to reproduce and
make a population. If you have good traits then your species will survive. If you want you can
use a genetic mutation life preserver to add another trait variation into the experiment. You
can do this twice in the game. If your population doesnt have enough variation they might not
survive the changes to their environment. Make sure to read all instructions and refer to this
worksheet. Begin playing!

Select your population! Draw a picture of the three trait variations you will have for your
population then hit proceed.

Did your species survive? If no try again!!!!! If yes, draw what your new population looks like
(three pictures).

What changes occurred to the environment did your species have to survive?
Play one more time.
How many years did you make it? (Look at the top right to find time.)

Quiz Questions Under QUIZ!

Your Answer Correct Answer

1. _______ 1._______
2. _______ 2._______
3. _______ 3._______
4. _______ 4._______
5. _______ 5._______
6. _______ 6._______
7. _______ 7._______
8. _______ 8._______
9. _______ 9._______
10. _______ 10._______
Name:____________________________ Date: _________________ Block:__________
Exploring the Galapagos Islands

Stepping onto one of the beaches of the Galapagos Islands you find yourself
surrounded by dozens of sunbathing sea lions lying about on the sand like sacks
of potatoes. Walking along rocky shorelines, you encounter blue-footed boobies
laying eggs, not showing the slightest concern at your presence. Trace Darwin's
journey to see how the islands sparked his thinking about evolution. The
Galapagos Islands, a remote archipelago off the coast of Ecuador, may be the
birthplace of our scientific understanding of evolution.

Go to:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/explore-galapagos.html

Launch Interactive

Click on Explore
Click on Show Island names

Using the above map, label the names of each of the islands of the
archipelagos.
Click on: Explore the Islands
Click on the

1. Marine Iguana:
a. What do they eat?

b. Why do they limit their time on the water?

c. How do they increase their body temperature?

2. Galapagos Giant Tortoise:

a. How old and how much can they weigh?

b. What occurred to decrease their numbers?

c. How are the different species identified on each of the islands?

3. Galapagos Penguin:
a. What other species are they related to?

b. What special adaptations do the penguins have that make them

environmental sensitive?

4. Flightless Cormorant:
a. Why did they lose the ability to fly?

b. What do they feed on?

5. Blue Footed Boobies
a. What do they rely on for food?

b. What rituals do they perform?

6. Darwins Finches
a. How many species exist on the islands?

b. What makes each species unique?

7. Sally Lightfoot Crab:

a. What does opportunistic mean?

b. What adaptation help defend them against predators?

8. Sea Lion:
a. How are sea lion pups similar to humans?

b. What are predators to the sea lions?

9. Coral Reef:
a. What occurred that killed off a large portion of the coral reef?

Click on the What Darwin Saw tab

#1 First Impression
What idea did Darwin think about regarding his journey to the Galapagos?
What was the landscape that made up the islands?

#2 The Collector
What types of information and items did Darwin collect?

What did he notice about the species he collected?

#3 Tortoises
What did the crew do with the tortoises?

What was unique about the tortoises that the Spaniards knew?

#4 Darwins Finches
When studying the finches, what did he discover after returning to England?
(about the finches)

Why did the finches all look so different?

#5 The Big Picture

What did Darwin figure out regarding the following?
a. Species

b. Evolution

c. Geology of Earth

Based on what you have observed on the Galapagos Islands, would your conclusions have been
similar to Darwins? Explain.
Name: ___________________________________ Date: ___________________ Block:______
Unique Beak Physique
In August 2006 in the Journal Nature, a group led by Harvard biologist Clif Tabin showed that
the beak shapes of Darwin's finches are due to slightly different timing and spatial expressions of
a gene called calmodulin. Calmodulin is used by the developing embryo to help lay down
skeletal features (including the beak) and using microarray data and early embryo staining from
each of the species, this groups could show how the different beak shapes were obtained. His
article does not explain how adaptive radiation may have changed calmodulin expression, only
that this was the way that the beak changes were reached.
INSTRUCTIONS
Today you are going to participate in an activity designed to demonstrate how different
adaptations help different birds in collecting different types of food.
You will be given a tool used to represent a bird beak and will be asked to collect as much
food as you can in a 30 second period. Then you will compare what how birds with different
beak adaptations are better at collecting different types of seeds.
**Use your beaks only to collect your foodany using of beaks in as aggressive or defensive
devices will result in loss of beak, activity grade, and participation.**
BEFORE STARTING YOUR EXPERIMENT:
Which beak will pick up which food most efficiently? Check the box to complete your
hypothesis.
Spoon Fork Clip Tweezers Chopsticks
Styrofoam

Large seeds
(M&Ms)
Small seeds
(Nerds)
Tooth picks

DATA COLLECTION
My tool _________________
Data table 1.
How many I collected:
______ Large Styrofoam beads
______ Large Seeds
______ Small seeds
_____ Tooth picks
Class data
Average collected by each tool
Spoon Fork Clip Tweezers Chopsticks Total
Styrofoam
Large seeds
Small seeds
Tooth picks
Total
ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
1. Which tool collected the most seeds on the class average?

2. What type of seed was it best at collecting?

3. How do these different tools represent different adaptations?

4. Which type of seed was the bird that collected the least amount of seeds best at collecting?

5. If the environment changed such that the seed type from question #4 was more abundant, what
do you think would happen to the population of that bird? The populations of the other birds?

6. Does having a different shape beak (or different tool) help reduce competition between the
birds searching for food? Explain why or why not.

7. After Ms. Jarrett comes around and changes your environment/food, did your tool still work?
Were you more or less successful than the first time (how much did you eat)?
Name: _____________________________ Date: ______________________ Block: _______
Exit Slip
1. What is one thing that you learned today?

2. What is one thing that you do not understand from the concepts you learned today?

3. What is one thing you would like to talk about more?