Brett Moser
Unit Lesson Plan
11-20-13
Day 1- Lecture/Mostly Discussion
Objectives:
- Students will be able to explain the meaning of a scientific theory.
- Establish a “definition” for the term evolution
- Establish what misconceptions students have about evolution and try to correct them
- Students will be introduced to the criteria required for evolution to occur
Questions:
- What is a theory? What is a hypothesis?
- What is evolution? Do you think you can see evolution happen in your lifetimes?
- What needs to be present in order for evolution to take place?
- Can humans cause evolution to happen to other species?
Vocabulary/Lecture/Discussion:
- Theory
- Evolution
- Variation
o Not all organisms are able to survive and reproduce the same way
o Mutations
- Heritability
The main goal of this day is to determine what the students know about evolution and what they don’t.
I also want to establish what misconceptions the students have and address them.
Day 2- Lecture and Natural Selection Simulation game
Engage
What traits make an organism more likely to survive in its environment?
How are these traits beneficial and/or detrimental?
Explore
- Process skills used
o Observing
o Comparing
o Recording data
Take students to the computer lab and have them log onto
www.nysci.org/charlieandkiwi_finches/. Have them begin and follow the instructions to play
the natural selection game with the finches. Have them record which finches thrive when little
to no rain is present and which ones thrive during a wet season.
Explanation
Concept: Natural selection is the main mechanism of evolution. Something as little as a few millimeters
can have a large impact on the survival of the finches.
- Competition
- Natural selection
o Reproductive advantage
Brett Moser
Unit Lesson Plan
11-20-13

-
Some organisms are capable of producing more offspring and having more
mates. This increases the chance of their genes being passed on and remaining
in the gene pool
Artificial Selection
o Humans are doing the selecting.
o Ask the students if they can think of examples of this
 Dogs, corn, cattle, horses, chickens
Day 3Expansion
Come back to the classroom and have the students tell me what they gathered from the natural
selection game. Adaptation is an important result of natural selection. Adaptations are passed on to
offspring because they are heritable. Some organisms are able to adjust to gradual changes in their
environment. This ability is called acclimation. Acclimation is not passed on to offspring because it is
the adjustment that an individual organism makes during its lifetime.
Evaluation
Hand out the acclimation vs. adaptation worksheet for homework. Worksheet retrieved from
www.lessonplansinc.com/lessonplans/adaptation_ws.pdf.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to explain natural selection and how it drives evolution
- Students will be able to discuss the advantages of adaptations
- Students will be able to explain how populations change over time
Day 4Engaging questions:
- Why is the theory of evolution still so widely accepted by the scientific community?
- What do you think is the most convincing evidence in support of evolution?
Objectives:
- Understand the types of evidence that support the theory of evolution
Vocabulary/Lecture/Discussion:
- Homology
o Inherited structures of 2 different species that came from a common ancestor
- Fossil records
Day 5Engagement
Pictures showing human, dog, and chicken embryos; discuss similarities
Notes
- Vestigial structure
o Structures that had a purpose in an ancestor but are no longer functional in the present
organism
- Embryology
Brett Moser
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Unit Lesson Plan
11-20-13
o Compare the similarities of human, dog, and chicken embryos
Biogeography
o Patterns of species distribution across geographical areas
Day 6
Engaging Questions:
- How do you think new species are formed?
- How long do you think this takes?
Objectives:
- Understand how new species are derived
- Understand the mechanisms of speciation
Vocabulary/Lecture/Discussion:
- Speciation
o Reproductive isolation
- Isolation
o Continental drift
o Mountains
o Lakes
o Environmental changes
 Could use this time to discuss the environmental changes in the Great Rift Valley
that could have led to the evolution of our species
Day 7
Vocabulary/Lecture/Discussion
- Overproduction
o All organisms are capable of producing more offspring than the environment can
support. Not all of these offspring will be able to survive.
- Reproductive advantage
- Lead into discussing the branching process of speciation (i.e. phylogenetic tree) as an
introduction to what is coming up next in Day 8
Day 8- quiz (Natural selection and evidence of evolution worksheet) and Lecture
Objectives/Lecture/Discussion (after the students are done with the quiz):
- Discuss taxonomy briefly
- Understand that biological classifications are based on how organisms are related
- Know how similarities in classification are related to the changes in organisms over time
Day 9- Morrill Hall Activity
Engage
Do all living organisms share certain traits?
What do you and a single-cell organism have in common?
Materials needed: Notebook and pen
Brett Moser
Unit Lesson Plan
11-20-13
Explore
-
Process skills used
o Observing
o Predicting
o Comparing
o Recording data
o Making hypotheses
Take the students in the evolution room upstairs, and have them walk around and make
observations about the different organisms on their own without discussion with their classmates. Have
them make observations and hypotheses before they read the information about the different
organisms and after they read the information. Compare similarities and differences of the organisms
as well as their hypotheses before and after reading the information at each station. How did the
hypotheses change?
Explanation
Concept: All life has certain characteristics in common that make us able to classify an organism as
“living”.
Using inquiry, encourage students to reflect on the observations made by their peers and
themselves. Allow them to draw their own hypotheses and help them see how it is okay to reject a
hypothesis. Ask questions such as:
- Were you surprised by some of the observations of your classmates?
- Are there any similarities that you all agree would be a characteristic of all life?
- What were some similarities that only one person noticed?
o Why do you think this similarity wasn’t noticed by more people?
- Is it as easy to define “living” as you previously thought?
Encourage them to conclude that some characteristics are easily observable while others require some
inference about the organism. Also help them to realize how similar all life seems when thinking in
terms of the “big picture”.
Day 10
Expansion
-
Process skills used:
o Observing
o Comparing
o Recording data
o Drawing conclusions
Have the students take virtual tour of evolution room in Morrill Hall and observe and record
adaptations of each organism at each station without discussing with their classmates. After a sufficient
amount of time discuss as a group once more having the students present their adaptation observations
one by one. Have students discuss one of the organisms in depth. Have them identify another organism
that is closely related to this organism, but not highlighted at any of the stations in the room. How do
Brett Moser
Unit Lesson Plan
11-20-13
you know these two organisms are closely related? What characteristics of adaptation do these
organisms share? Which ones do they not share? Do these organisms live in the same environment? If
not, how does the environment in which they live in affect their behavior?
Questions about the organisms highlighted at the booths
Why do these organisms have these adaptations? Are some adaptations easier to observe than
others? Were you surprised by any adaptations that your classmates brought up that you didn’t notice?
How does the environment affect the way these organisms express their adaptations? Which
adaptations are passed on genetically? Which adaptations are learned by living in the family
environment? How do you think evolution works? What would you say the mechanism is that drives
the process of evolution?
Day 11
Discussion/lecture
After completing the activities from the previous day, students should be able to:
- Explain why certain organisms have certain characteristics
- Identify the traits shared among all living things
- Identify certain organisms that adapt better than others
- Explain how adaptations play a role in evolution
- Determine how some adaptations are inherited genetically and some are learned
- Make a connection between the similarities of organisms
o Especially the organisms discussed that are closely related
Day 12
Students will be assigned a project as a summative assessment. Students will choose an animal that is
not a primate. They will then have to trace back to the last common ancestor of this animal and
humans. When they have identified the last common ancestor, their task will be to go through each
animal in the phylogenetic tree previous to Homo sapiens and identify adaptations that each animal has
that allowed it to prevail in its environment and fill its particular niche. Finally, they will have to name at
least 5 adaptations that humans have that have allowed us to prevail in and manipulate our
environment.
Days 13 and 14
These two days will be spent working on their project.
Standards used:
Biological adaptations- Organisms are amazingly resilient and can adjust to better survive in a particular
environment. The ability to do so is called adapting. This is an important aspect of evolutionary studies.
Biological evolution- The frequency of genes in a species changes over generations. These changes are
what we describe as evolution.
Brett Moser
Unit Lesson Plan
11-20-13
Inherited traits- Every organism needs instructions for the expression of certain traits. Heredity is the
passing down of these instructions from one generation to another.
Characteristics of living organisms- In order to be considered a living organism, seven characteristics
must be fulfilled. These are: Organisms are composed of cell(s). Living things have different levels of
cellular organization. Living things use energy for maintenance and growth. Living things respond to
their environment. Living things grow through cellular division. Living things reproduce in order to pass
on genetic information. Living things adapt to their environment.
Day 15Students will present their projects to the class.
Day 16- Study Guide and Review Day
Objectives:
- Students will fill out the study guide
- Go over the study guide in the last half of the period
Study guide retrieved from
http://www.lessonplansinc.com/lessonplans/evolution_study_guide.pdf
Day 17- Test
I have allotted a little over three weeks for this unit, but I am sure that there will be some things that
come up during this time that does not allow me to cover all of the material that I want to get covered in
these days. Also, I have allotted some days for me to clarify misconceptions and misunderstandings
prior to the test, so this unit will probably end up taking a little over four weeks.