Are You My Mother?................
Animal Evolution Project
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For this project you will research the evolutionary history of a modern organism. Your choices are whale,
elephant, horse, rhinoceros, manatee, giraffe, bear, or sloth
You will work in groups of 1-3.
You will be expected to find the modern organism’s earliest ancestors and describe in general terms an
intermediate species that connects its earliest ancestors to its current form.
You will be completing this as a Google doc with your partner(s). This will be in the Google Presentation format,
(like PowerPoint) and will include the following on each slide:
Slide Number
1 (Title Slide)
2
Full Biological Classification (all 7 levels, kingdom through species)
3
Identify the organisms habitat and provide a picture of that habitat, describe the
organisms diet and the organisms adaptations for its habitat
4
Earliest Ancestor of your organism
Name of the early ancestor organism & fossil image or artist representation
Compare & contrast the early & modern organisms
Describe the evidence used to establish a relationship, classify the evidence as analogous,
homologous & vestigial structures, DNA, embryonic etc. and provide a picture
Intermediate Ancestor of your organism
Name of the intermediate ancestor & fossil image or artist representation
Compare & contrast the intermediate & modern organisms
Describe the evidence used to establish a relationship, classify the evidence as analogous,
homologous & vestigial structures, DNA, embryonic etc. and provide a picture
Closest Living Relative
Name the organisms closest living relative
Describe the evidence used to establish a relationship, classify the evidence as analogous,
homologous & vestigial structures, DNA, embryonic etc.
Provide a picture of an evolutionary (phylogenetic) tree showing the relationship
5
6
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Information
Name and picture of your organism
Group members names & block
DON’T FORGET TO CITE YOUR WORK! You may include citations on each slide, or include an
additional citation slide(s) that breaks down the citations on a slide-by-slide basis.
DON’T FORGET TO SHARE YOUR DOCUMENT! You must share your document with your
group members so that you can all work on it, but you must also SHARE IT WITH ME ONCE
IT IS COMPLETE!
It must be shared by the Due Date: A-day: Monday, Jan. 27th B-day: Tuesday, Jan. 28th
FORMAL GRADE – 65% - Late or incomplete = 70%
Grading Rubric
4
3
2
Literacy
Written description on each
slide is easy to understand
and uses appropriate
scientific vocabulary.
Written description is
incomplete; information is
missing, vague
vocabulary/many errors.
Written descriptions are
missing, vague or incomplete
Biological
Classification
The biological classification
is correct and complete
Written description is
mostly complete, some
sentence structure is
difficult to understand,
some vocabulary
missing/some errors.
The biological classification
is mostly correct/complete
1
Habitat/Adaptations
Diet
The organisms habitat, diet
and adaptations are
completely described and a
picture is provided
3 of the 4 requirements are
present and complete or all
4 are present, but are
lacking some detail
The biological classification is
not provided or is completely
incorrect for the organism
1 of the 4 requirements is
complete.
Evidence
Complete evidence is
described and classified as
to its type and picture
provided
Most evidence is described
and classified as to its type
and picture may be provided
The biological
classification is mostly
incorrect/incomplete
2 of the 4 requirements
are present and complete,
or the items that are
included lack sufficient
detail
Little evidence is
described, classified,
picture may not be
provided
Legal Dept
All images and
information are properly
cited
Most images and
information is cited
Few or information
images cited
No images or information
is cited
Evidence is not present or not
classified, no picture provided
HOW TO CREATE A GOOGLE DOC PRESENTATION:
1. Go to drive.google.com
2. Sign in using your gaggle information
3. Click on the orange “Create” button on the left side and choose “Presentation” from the list
4. Choose your presentation format and click ok.
HOW TO SHARE A GOOGLE DOC:
1. Click on the blue “Share” button in the upper right hand corner.
2. A screen will pop up asking you to name your document before sharing. Name it “Animal Evolution
Project” and click Save.
3. A screen will then pop up asking you who you would like to invite. On the bottom there is a box
that says “Invite People,” you will invite people by typing in their name, and then clicking on their
email address. Once you have added your group members, click Done.
4. To invite me, you must use my lisaj.sarnelli@cms.k12.nc.us email address. Please only share with
me once your project is 100% ready to be graded!