Thursday, March 11, 2010

Seating Chart!

Ryan Allison

Kilyn Morgan

Jobie Aubrey

Andrew Jonah

Julia Jazmyn

Andres Alanna

Griffin Riley

Tomas Ryan Q

Annika Kellee

Stuart Wyatt

Rebekah Anna

Kyle K Graden

Lexi Hailey

Collin Peter

Sarah Barbara

Plan for the day!

1. Beak Lab! 2. Changes over time: What accounts for the

diversity of species on our earth?

PROJECTS = AWESOME

Journal: What are you doing for Spring Break?

Natural Selection Lab

Count off into groups of 4.Follow the directions available in the sheet

protectors.

Gather materials for your team!

One “environment” (piece of cloth).A small piece of each color paper (5 total).A hole punch.3 different “beaks” (tweezers, clothespin,

etc…)4 plastic cupsLab worksheet for each team member!

Directions 1

1. On worksheet: write down the problem you will be researching, and then come up with a hypothesis.

2. Choose 3 team members to be birds, and one to be the “stork” (recorder).

3. Punch out 20 dots of each color paper and put them all into a cup. There are now 100 pieces of “food” in the cup.

4. Stork: carefully mix up the “food” and then scatter it onto the environment cloth.

Directions 2

5. Birds: using your “beak”, pick up 25 pieces of food (any color) and puts them in their “stomach” (cup).

The last one to get 25: dies and needs to get the same beak as the bird who finished first. This represents the reproduction of the most fit species.

6. Everyone helps the stork count the number of each color food remaining on the cloth (there should be 25). Write those numbers in the survivors row of your data table.

Directions 3

7. A new generation of prey will be made by multiplying the survivor number of each color by four. The total should always add up to 100.

8. Group needs to now punch the colors needed to restock the prey (from last row).

9. With the new numbers for beginning population, being round 2 (repeat steps 4-8). Record results in your data table.

10. Complete rounds 3 and 4. Record in data table.

11. Complete laboratory worksheet.

Changes Over Time

Charles Darwin: who was he?1831 set sail from England on a trip around

the worldNaturalist: studies the natural worldObserved plants and animals and asked

questions about why they were different in different parts of the world.

Darwin’s Observations

Diversityspecies: a group of similar organisms that can

mate with each others.1.7 million species on Earth!

FossilsPreserved remains of an organism that lived long

ago.He observed fossils of sloths that were much

larger than those he saw in the 1830’s. What happened to these creatures?

The Galapagos

Darwin compared animals on The Galapagos to those in S. America.

They were very similar, but also had important differences!

In Darwin’s shoes

Data: Iguanas Galapagos: large claws, main food source: seaweed.S. America: small claws, main food source: leaves

high in the trees.

*Be the scientist. These reptiles are similar, yet different. Describe how each kind of iguana may benefit from the type of claws that it has.

Adaptations

Darwin compared the animals on the different Galapagos islands. He noticed differences in the tortoises and finches (birds).

Birds were similar, but had different shaped beaks.

Adaptation: a trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce.

Variation: any difference between individuals of the same species.

Darwin’s conclusions

Years after his trip around the world, Darwin started to make some conclusions.

“He reasoned that plants or animals on the Galapagos faced conditions that were different from those on the mainland. Perhaps, Darwin hypothesized, the species gradually changed over many generations and became

better adapted to the new conditions” (page 142)

Evolution: gradual change over time.

Natural Selection

So how does evolution occur in nature?

Natural selection: the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce than other members of the same species.

“survival of the fittest”

Other important concepts

Competition

Selection: organism’s with helpful traits are “selected” to become parents of the next generation.

Environmental change

Mutations lead to variation.

Extended Journal: Investigate and Report

Imagine that you are a 19th-century reporter interviewing Charles Darwin about his theory of evolution. Write three questions you would ask him. Then write answers that Darwin might have given.