Fossil
& Evolution for 7th Grade Life Science
Estimated total time for lesson: Half day, full day, half day
(one-hour periods)
Source: Maggie Pfeffer, maggiepfeffer@hotmail.com,
3b) Reasoning used by Charles
Darwin in reaching his conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of
evolution.
3c)Evidence from geology,
fossils, and comparative anatomy for evolution.
4e) Fossils provide evidence of how life and
environmental conditions have changed.
7b) Use a variety of print and electronic resources
(including the World Wide Web) to collect information and evidence as part of a
research project.
For national standards: Click to Standards.
Specific Lesson
Objectives(s):
- Students will understand how fossils are formed and how they provide evidence of evolution.
- Students will understand why there are so many gaps in the fossil record, and why there are few fossils of organisms or body parts made of soft tissue.
- Students will get experience using the Internet.
Requirements:
Students need access to Internet using Netscape 4x or Internet Explorer 4.0 and above that is JavaScript enabled. To get the full technical requirements from the site itself: Click to Technical Requirements.
It is ideal to have individual or pairs of students at a computer, but the entire class could go through the site if the teacher has a digital projector to show the site on the class overhead screen.
Background
Knowledge about Content
Not much background is needed. I teach this at the beginning of the evolution unit (chapter 8 in the Holt Life Science textbook). Understanding fossils is a foundation for understanding a key piece of evidence for evolution and how we have developed our knowledge of the history of life on the planet.
Activities (listed
in sequential order)
Day One (or homework assigned before web quest)
Students read textbook sections on fossils. For Holt, pages 178-179 of Chapter 8 Evolution and page 202 of Chapter 9 History of Life.
Students complete the left side to the worksheet (see resources below), giving their best answers or guesses. Emphasize that they must try to give a reasonable answer; there is not penalty for reasonable guesses.
Day Two:
Walk through class to make sure every student completed the left side.
Get students on website (see resources below) and go over have to navigate.
Students work individually or in groups to go through web site and completer right side of worksheet.
Day Three (about 20 minutes)
Review answers with students
Show overhead (see resources below) having students tell me the process an organism must go through to become a fossil. Emphasize how unlikely this is!
I have several examples of fossils that I pass around for students to touch and explore.
Follow –up
I have them go on to additional evidence of evolution, by taking notes from lecture and textbook using an Evidence of Evolution Graphic Organizer (see resources below). I actually print this two-sided, with the other side a on the Process of Natural Selection Graphic Organizer.
The Geologic Time portion of the “story’s website is great to focus on history of life and give more detail to standard 4e: “Fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
Students can be assigned to write a paper on a recent fossil discovery: Where it was found, what it revealed about the organism and the environment the organism lived in. I emphasize how new discoveries are constantly adding to, and revising, our knowledge of the past.
The web site has provided additional activities: Click to Activities.
Grouping of students
I like to have individual students fill in the left side. Your grouping needs to fit the number of computers you have available. I have pairs of students team up to do the web quest and fill out the right side.
Modifications and Accommodations
Use your grouping strategy to help and English learners or special needs students. For instance, have a beginning English learner join a trio. Special needs many only have to fill out selected questions on the worksheet.
To differentiate: Spend more time reviewing fossils for students who need it while the others create a one to two paragraph essay on additional information from one of the four story choices.
Assessment:
Pre-assessment: See how well they fill out the left side of the worksheet.
Checking for understanding: Circulate while they fill out web quest. Students perform self quiz at end of web quest. Check the responses during review the next day.
Summative assessment: I have copied the quiz questions at the end of the web quest and include several of those as well as questions from the worksheet in my unit test. The site also provides a great review activity showing the process it would take for a frog to get into the fossil record: Click to review activity.
Instructional
Materials/Resources
Word Documents
– Click on image to open document in a new window.
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Student version of web quest |
Teacher version of web quest (with answers) |
List of quiz questions |
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Overhead of Process to Discover a Fossil |
“Evidence of Evolution Graphic Organizer” |
“Process of Natural Selection Graphic Organizer” |
In addition, the web site has a number of documents that can be downloaded: Click to handouts.
Websites: – Click
on image to open site.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/fossil/index.html
(used to fill out worksheet) Level
One is written for grades 5-8 and is what this lesson plan uses. Level Two is
written for grades 9-12. The website is well paced.
Students can not advance unless the slide show has completed one cycle, or
until students have clicked each option. Clicking Review Page will replay that
page only. Need to use browser back arrow to repeat a prior slide.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/stories/middle/intro.html (used for filler for those who finish early. Offers four stories and has a GREAT overview of geologic record in the Geologic Time story.
Also Helpful
Fossil samples students can touch to understand they are stones, not shells or teeth for example.