Activity Template
Subject Area(s)
Life Science
Associated Unit
None
Associated Lesson
Activity Title
None
Classification: The Tree of Pasta
Header
Image 1
ADA Description: ___?
Caption: Cladogram of the vertebrate chordates
Image file name: cladogram_1
Source/Rights: http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Zoology/Biologicaldiverstity/Classi
fication/cladogram_1.gif
Grade Level
7 (6-8)
Activity Dependency
None
Time Required
One period (52 minutes)
Group Size
2
Expendable Cost per Group US $0.75 (materials can be reused, replacing broken
pasta)
Summary
Students learn about classification and how species are classified based on
evolutionary ancestry. Students map traits (shared derived characteristics) onto
branching diagrams and then examine different “species” of pasta and classify them by
traits and construct a branching diagram or tree of pasta.
Engineering Connection
Engineering Category
Choose the category that best describes this activity’s amount/depth of engineering
content: (1) relates science concept to engineering, (2) relates math concept to
engineering, (3) provides engineering analysis or partial design, or (4) provides
complete engineering design process. Or (5) does not include any engineering content.
1 – relates science concept to engineering
Level of Inquiry
2 – Confirmation: students confirm a principle through an activity in which the results are
known in advance.
Keywords
Branching diagram, branching tree, cladistics, cladogram, shared derived characteristic
Educational Standards
State science: 7.3.d – Students know how to construct a simple branching diagram to
classify living groups of organisms by shared derived characteristics and how to expand
the diagram to include fossil organisms.

Pre-Requisite Knowledge
Students should be familiar with classification and branching diagrams.
Learning Objectives
After this activity, students should be able to:
 Classify organisms based on shared derived characteristics
 Look at a branching diagram and describe how the organisms are related and which
ones are older and younger evolutionarily
Materials List
Each group needs:
 Ziploc bag with pasta including:

1 lasagna sheet

2 linguine sticks

2 pieces penne

2 pieces penne (colored with marker or buy colored pasta)

2 pieces macaroni

2 pieces rotini
Introduction / Motivation
Vocabulary / Definitions
Word
Definition
Branching
Classification of organisms based on shared derived characteristics
diagram/tree
Cladogram
Branching diagram that is based on the presence of derived
characteristics shared by all members of a group – represents
evolutionary tree of life – from Greek work klados meaning branch
Cladistics
Classification of species based on evolutionary ancestry
Shared
Characteristics that 2 or more kinds of organisms share with their most
derived
recent common ancestor
characteristic
Procedure
Background
Before the Activity
 Assemble Ziploc bags with pasta in them
 Need 1 bag per group (2 students)
 Make overheads and copies of worksheets
With the Students
Start by talking about how you classify organisms (anatomy (current and fossil),
behavior, DNA) and why you classify organisms.
Talk about branching diagrams and cladistics. Use the attachment
“ExampleCladogram_Overhead” to go over how to interpret cladograms and how you
can map traits onto the diagram. This diagram is from the book and students should be
able to think of shared derived characteristics for each organism – write in the trait on
the branching diagram as students think of them. Also talk about how time is
represented on the diagram and how you can determine which organisms are the most
recent (evolutionarily). You can also talk about how the nodes of the cladogram
represent most recent common ancestors.
Next you can show the overhead attachment “ComplexExampleCladogram_Overhead”
to show students how branching diagrams can be much more complex. This example
shows the canid (dog-like family) phylogeny based on DNA sequences (taken from
Lindblad-Toh et al. (2005) Nature 438, 803-819).
Describe the procedure for the activity – students will split into groups of 2 and complete
the worksheet (“CladisticsWorksheet”). The advanced worksheet is the same as the
other worksheet except for in Question 3b, there is no blank cladogram drawn for them.
Students will first write in shared derived characteristics for a given cladogram. Possible
answers: 2a) all belong to Kingdom Animalia, are all eukaryotes, 2c) all vertebrates,
have lungs, mammal, 2d) ant. Students will then make their own cladogram of pasta
“species” by examining and classifying pasta based on certain traits.
If students finish early you can have them draw their pasta cladograms on a blank
overhead and share it with the class (for examples, see attachments “PastaReults1”
and “PastaResults2”). You can talk about how they made it and whether there are any
differences among the groups and why. The pasta cladogram should go in the order
from oldest to youngest of: lasagna, linguine, rotini, macaroni, penne, colored penne.
The table below shows the correct classification.
Trait
Penne
Linguine
PASTA
Macaroni
Dried pasta
X
X
X
Shaped like
a tube
Fresh, not
dried
Grooved
with lines
Less than 1
inch wide
Colored
X
Less than 6
inches long
X
Lasagna
Colored Penne
Rotini
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
5
X
2
4
1
X
X
6
3
TOTAL “X”s
Image Insert Image # or Figure # here, [note position: left justified, centered or right
justified]
Figure 1
ADA Description: ___?
Caption: Figure 1: ___?
Image file name: ___?
Source/Rights: Copyright © ___?
Attachments
ExampleCladogram_Overhead
ComplexExampleCladogram_Overhead
CladisticsWorksheet
CladisticsWorksheet_Advanced
PastaResults1
PastaResults2
Safety Issues
 Students should not eat the pasta
Troubleshooting Tips
If students get stuck on question 3b, give them a hint that the youngest species should
have the most number of traits in the table. You could also show them this looking at the
diagram in Question 2 and having them count up how many traits each animal has and
the giraffe should have the most.
Some students had trouble with the traits of the pasta and didn’t understand what they
were exactly (grooved or tubular). You may need to explain this is more detail
individually or with the whole class.
Investigating Questions
You could ask students why there is debate about the evolutionary relationships – talk
about homologous and analogous structures and the issue of homoplasy.
Assessment
Pre-Activity Assessment
Title: ___?
Activity Embedded Assessment
Title: ___?
Post-Activity Assessment
Title: ___?
Activity Extensions
Activity Scaling
 For lower grades?
 For upper grades? You could have students come up with their own traits to classify
the types of pasta. Ask them how they would differentiate the types and come up
with a table of their own to fill out.
Additional Multimedia Support
References
Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Life Science. Austin, TX: Harcourt Education Company,
2007.
Lindblad-Toh, K et al. (2005) Nature 438, 803-819.
Other
Redirect URL
[For TE submissions only]
Owner
Katherine Pease, UCLA Science and Engineering of the Environment of Los Angeles,
NSF GK-12
Contributors
This activity has been classroom tested in the 7th grade classrooms at Emerson Middle
School within the Los Angeles Unified School District under the guidance and help of
teachers Elvia Park and Brian Gabrich.
Copyright