Animal Adaptations

Unit Topic: The Galapagos Islands

Grade Level: Middle School

Basic Concepts: Evolution, survival, change

Content Areas: Science, Language Arts, Art

Time: 1 1/2 hours - Day 9, 1/2 hour Day 10 - (presentations)

Objectives

• Students will gain an understanding of natural selection through the study of some of the unique animals that inhabit the islands.
  
  
• Students will hypothesize about how species have survived the changing environment.

Activity

Materials:

• Poster board
  
  
• Markers
  
  
• Magazine- Discovering Galapagos Animals
  
  
• Library with resources and the Internet

1. Each group will be creating a Tree of Life about a Galapagos animal. The Tree of Life is a concrete representation of the changes that an animal goes through over a period of time in order to survive. It would be helpful to review other topics that have been covered in the unit such as island formations, tourism, and the effect of El Nino, because these are some of the issues contained on the tree. (Refer to the sample tree).

All of the issues on the tree include:

2. Divide the students into groups of 3 or 4 students. Each group should choose a Galapagos animal they didn't study that was written about in the magazine. They can use the article in the magazine to begin their research. Once they have gotten a general idea of the animal from the magazine, the students can continue their research using various sources in the library, and the Internet. The students should look for information about the animal and the issues on the Tree of Life about which they have to hypothesize.

3. Students will talk amongst themselves, and come up with hypotheses for how the animal they studied adapted to the various issues that were presented. They will also hypothesize about the question "How did your animal arrive on the island?"

4. Each group can create their own tree, representing the issues and hypotheses. They are encouraged to develop any type of tree representation they want, it shouldn't completely resemble the sample. They will present the tree to the class.

Assessment: The groups will receive the Tree of Life Rubric, so they can keep in mind what the teacher is looking for. The students with in the groups can give one another feedback if they are meeting the criteria in the rubric or not. The teacher can also observe the groups as they work, and offer feedback as to how they are doing.

Evaluation: The teacher will be using the Tree of Life Rubric to evaluate the groups on this project. In order to be successful, the groups need to receive 3s or 4s on this project.

Extensions:

• The teacher could bring in excerpts from Darwin's journal to discuss why the Galapagos Islands helped to form his theory of the Origin of Species.
  
  
• Students may wish to do a scientist study on the life of Darwin.