Author |
Grade Level |
Time Frame |
Featured Picture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sabrina Sahlstrom
Delta Charter High School at Cabrillo College |
10th-12th Grade | Students worked on their projects over a 4-week time period during and outside of class. |  |
Driving Question
Which animals migrated across the Isthmus of Panama in the Great American Biotic Interchange?
Learning Goals
- Students will construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
- Students will evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
Anchoring Event
Students watch the National Geographic video “Clash of the Americas.” This documentary describes the processes that formed the Isthmus of Panama and the migration of many different species across the Isthmus of Panama and the interactions between these animals from North and South America.
Collaborations
Students will work in groups to create a PowerPoint presentation that describes the migration of a chosen mammal that migrated either North or South across the Isthmus of Panama. As well, students will present their presentation to the class, and 3D print a significant fossil that they will be able to pass around during their presentation.
STEM Integration
Science:Reading Scientific Articles, researching their chosen Animal.
Technology:PowerPoint, 3D printing and scanning.
Math: Geologic time.
Assessment
Students will give PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goals. The presentation will be assessed by following Buck Institute’s PBL Rubrics: bie.org/objects/cat/rubrics
Both, formative and summative assessments will be implemented to assess student understanding of the 3 dimensions of learning – disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific/engineering practices.
- Formative assessments: The teacher will ask questions and observe discussions during group work and the class discussions.
- Summative assessment(s):
- Students understanding of the documentary will be evaluated by grading the questions on the handout about the documentary.
- Students understanding will be evaluated by their ability to summarize the article with the given graphic organizer.
- In Groups, students will complete a Powerpoint presentation about a chosen mammal that migrated across the Isthmus of Panama. Students will present it to the class. Students will be evaluated by the this rubric.
Procedure
Students will watch the documentary “Clash of the Americas” and complete a handout with questions about the movie.
Students will participate in a class discussion about the documentary.
Students will read the article “Land Mammals and the Great American Exchange” by Larry G. Marshall, 1988, complete a graphic organizer used to help summarize the article.
Students will participate in a class discussion about the article.
Students will work in groups and create a PowerPoint presentation. Each group will pick an extinct animal that migrated north or south after the forming of the Isthmus of Panama, or one that was affected by it.
Each PowerPoint presentation should include a slide for each of the following topics:
- The animal’s migration: Did the mammal migrate North or South?
- What is the timing of their migration?
- The animal’s characteristics, including diet, size, extinct or living relative, ecological role
- The scientific paper chosen to analyze: Describe the study; What was the study’s conclusion? What was the study’s evidence?
- The significance of your chosen fossil to 3D print, Reference Page.
Next Generation Science Standards
HS-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
Performance Expectation |
Connection to Lesson |
|---|---|
| HS-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations. |
Students will construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations. |
Science & Engineering Practices |
Connection to Lesson |
| Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions | Students will evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species. |
Disciplinary Core Ideas |
Connection to Lesson |
| LS4.C: Adaptation
Some kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere. (3-LS4-1) Natural selection leads to adaptation, that is, to a population dominated by organisms that are anatomically, behaviorally, and physiologically well suited to survive and reproduce in a specific environment. That is, the differential survival and reproduction of organisms in a population that have an advantageous heritable trait leads to an increase in the proportion of individuals in future generations that have the trait and to a decrease in the proportion of individuals that do not. (HS-LS4-4) |
|
Crosscutting Concept |
Connection to Lesson |
| Cause and Effect Empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects. (HS-LS4-4) Connections to Nature of Science Scientific knowledge is based on the assumption that natural laws operate today as they did in the past and they will continue to do so in the future. (HS-LS4-4) |
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
Craft and Structure.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.6
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9
Resources & Materials
- “Clash of the Americas” Documentary
- “Land Mammals and the Great American Exchange” by Larry G. Marshall, 1988
- “Land Mammals and the Great American Exchange” Graphic Organizer
- 3D Printer
- Computer
- Projector
- 3D files found at : www.morphosource.org/MyProjects/Dashboard/dashboard/select_project_id/294
Key Academic and/or Scientific Language
- Paleontologist
- Plate Tectonics
- Migration
- Evidence
- Land Bridge
- Cenozoic
- Miocene
- Niches
- Genera
- Fossils
- Taxa
- Evolution
Prerequisite Knowledge
Before starting this project, students have learned about the processes that formed the Isthmus of Panama, as well as the theories given by Paleontologists for the timing of the formation of the Isthmus of Panama and their evidence.
Lesson Extension
Want to add more reading and debate? Dissecting Battle of the Americas is a wonderful lesson that takes students into deep analysis of published data providing a great opportunity for analyzing and interpreting data and constructing explanations based on evidence.