Week 27

2/12-2/16

Agenda 2/12

• Wrap up Evidence of Change
• Artificial Selection

​

HW - Evidence of Change Summative Assessment tomorrow 2/13

Questions for discussion with your group… (3 min)

• What caused the sticklebacks to change? What was the effect?
• What are some patterns you saw in the changes in the stickleback populations? What could have caused those patterns?

What story does the graph tell?

Class Discussion (8 min)

​

​

​

​

​

• What was the time frame of the change?
• How do you explain some layers with stickles vs some without stickles?
• What are the causes (both environmental and microscopic/genetic) that might result in those effects?

Discuss these questions & record notes (4 min)

• What do you notice about the data you collected, as well as the complete data set?
• What do you notice happening between the layers?
• What could have caused those differences?

​

​

Explain the change

As you watch the next clip from “Making of the Fittest,” add to your explanations from your group discussion: the film says, “this used to be a lake full of sticklebacks.”

​

How can it be possible that stickleback fossils are found in a place where there are no lakes?

Fish but NO lake!

You should be able to answer these questions:

What happened to the lake?

How did the fossils form in layers?

How can you use this image to explain the sticklebacks?

Let’s switch gears

Create a small t-chart in your notebook

I notice… I wonder…

Observation Protocol

When finished, share with your group

Be prepared to share yours or someone else’s

1

2

3

4

5

Answer in your notebook and be prepared to share.

• What traits are selected for?
• What are some limitations of the models?
• How could you make the models more accurate?

Dog Breeding Clip (2 min)

Construct an explanation of how humans can breed dogs and vegetables.

How were humans able to create new types of dogs and new types of vegetables?

Summative Assessment

Put your phones in the holder on DND, airplane, off, etc.

Desks in rows please

You need a pencil/eraser

Good luck!

Agenda 2/13

• Assessment
• Return Climate Change Assessment
• Rock Pocket Mouse

​

HW - None

What’s next?

We saw how changes in traits can occur with human influence.

How can these changes in organisms happen in the natural world without human intervention?

Valley of Fire Battlefield

Based on what you saw in the video and the pictures, make some claims about what caused the dark substrate in the desert.

What does the picture tell you about the topography and geology of the area?

Make a prediction in your notebook about what the causes are of this phenomenon.

Share out!

Our animal focus: What are Rock Pocket Mice?

• 170 mm
• 15 g
• Sonoran Desert (southwestern US) - 2 major substrate colors
• Light-colored sand
• Dark volcanic rock
• 2 common varieties
• Light-colored
• dark-colored

Rock Pocket Mouse Chronology and Data

• Record the data for the number of each type of mouse in each location.
• Put the pictures in chronological order from longest ago to most recent.
• Explain why you think the pictures are in the correct order.

Break

Rock Pocket Mouse Clip 2… during clip, think about #7

Revise your mouse order if necessary

Make a data table in your notebook to record the correct order and the number of mice and type. (see activity guide for example)

Agenda 2/15

• Rock Pocket Mouse
• Descent with Modification
• Hot Spots
• Finch Groupings Revision
• Model - process 1 becomes 13

HW - Natural Selection Assessment Thursday, 2/22

Mathematical representation

Create a mathematical representation using the rock pocket mouse data to represent the distribution of the mice at locations A and B through time.

Be sure to provide an appropriate title as well as additional labels and legends where appropriate.

Gallery Walk (3 min)

You should be looking for a mathematical representation that you think shows the pattern the best.

Table Discussion (3 min)

Discuss with your table which group’s representation helped you understand the pattern of mouse survival.

Write the group number that you think has the most effective representation AND write your rationale for choosing that group. (Why is it most effective?)

Write your name as well.

Final Questions… (15 min)

• Explain why a rock pocket mouse color influences its overall fitness.
• Explain the presence of dark-colored mice at location A. Why didn’t this color mouse become more common in the population?
• Write a scientific explanation that describes the changes in the rock pocket mice populations at location B. Be sure to include:
• A description of how the population changed over time.
• An explanation of what caused the changes, and
• A prediction that describes what the population will look like 100 years in the future. Base your prediction on trends in the data you have organized. You can assume that environmental conditions do not change over the 100 years.

Finally… (5 min)

Explain natural selection using one of the examples we/you have looked at.

Why are mutations random, but natural selection is not?

​

Share 1 (2 min)

Find another person who has the same color shoes as you. Share (not read) your explanation. Be an active listener. Their explanation could help you adjust your explanation. Take notes in your notebook.

Share 2 (2 min)

Find another person who has the same birthday month as you. Share (not read) your explanation. Be an active listener. Their explanation could help you adjust your explanation. Take notes in your notebook.

Share 3 (2 min)

Find another person who has same favorite subject as you (no you can’t choose lunch). Share (not read) your explanation. Be an active listener. Their explanation could help you adjust your explanation. Take notes in your notebook.

Revise (5 min)

Now, revise your explanation about natural selection underneath your original explanation.

(If you feel you can’t or don’t need to revise, you were not an active listener.)

• What does each dot represent?
• What does each color represent?
• How can fitness explain the image (a cladogram)?
• How does fitness relate to sticklebacks?

​

Discussion (10 min)

​

What is the meaning of “descent with modification”?

Descent = to come from (like relatives)

Descent/Descend = to go down

How have these cars been modified? (15 min)

Think of at least 3 ways. More importantly, discuss WHY these cars were modified. What type of selection is this most like?

1900s

1950s

2000s

The type of selection for the cars was…?

• What types of things do you modify? Do you ever modify your outfit before you come to school?
• Now think about descendants. Do you have descendants? Who are the descendants of your grandparents?
• Now think about Descent with Modification. How might it be connected to, or dependent on, natural selection?

Record your thoughts in your notebook.

What Darwin Never Knew (4 min)

Take a look at the diagram. Based on your prior knowledge and experience with these diagrams, as well as your discussion about descent and modification, summarize what you think this diagram illustrates.

Why do some lines continue throughout the diagram, and others stop?

Noticing Patterns (20 min)

• Examine the cards of the Galapagos finches.
• Discuss ways to arrange the species into groups based on their characteristics.
• You cannot have fewer than 2 groups
• Each group must have at least 2 finches
• Each group must have a rationale for the grouping
• Write your groupings and rationale in your notebook now (you’ll notice the finches are numbered to make that easier).

Gallery Walk (6 walking + 4 discussing = 10 min)

1 person stays behind to explain rationale

All others leave and look for:

• Similarities and differences in groupings
• Anything you didn’t think of that you might want to add to your own ideas

​

After the walk…

Return to your group, and review the above.

​

Break

Discussion

How do islands form from hotspots?

Beak of the Finch (stop 5:34)

• What do the different beaks tells us about the different finch species?
• What evidence did scientists use to determine that the 13 species of finches on the Galapagos arose from a single common ancestor?
• What was the alternate explanation?
• How did scientists discount that?

Discussion

Finch groupings revision (10 min)

Working with others in your team, rearrange the bird groupings if necessary, and revise your group names and evidence using information from the film. Answer:

• What did you change?
• What evidence from the film convinced you to make the change?
• What do the different groups of finches that you created represent?

Beak of the Finch (5 min)

• How did one ancestral finch population give rise to 13 species, each with different characteristics?
• What evidence is there to support the statement?
• How did ecology and geography shape the finch?

Discussion

Create a model (15 min)

With your group, create a model of the process that led to 13 different finch species. You may use the cards with the finches to construct your graphic. Use a whiteboard.

Prepare your representation like a museum exhibit, so it will stand alone without you needing to explain it.

However, you can include a written caption, like they do in museums.

Gallery Walk (7 min)

Look for ways to revise your own model.

(Things to add, mistakes you may have made, etc.)

Revise your model. What do you need to add? What do you need to take out?

Record in your notebook.

What is the story this diagram is telling you?

Discuss with your group and record. Do you need to revise your finch groupings?

Revise

Homology Lab (remainder)

• Visit each station (there are 5).
• Follow the instructions at the station and analyze any data or articles provided.
• Answer the questions on your activity sheet.