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Teaching Guide
Goals
and Objectives
Welcome to a web quest created in Summer, 2004 by Anne MacGlashan.
This is a biology lesson for high school students. It addresses evolution
of the bird and its link to the dinosaurs and reptiles, using fossil records and comparative anatomy and cladograms.
This lesson should only take one or two class periods to complete.
This web quest is for 9th grade students or first year high
school biology students. The student is to investigate the evolution
of birds from reptiles. This includes the structural adaptations
of the bird body from reptile to modern day bird and the behavioral
compatibility of both phyla of animal. It is part of a unit that
investigates the relationships of amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs and
birds. It has been my experience, that 14 year old children just accept information and rarely question it. I believe that this is easier than actually having to think. My goal is for the students to understand an evolutionary relationship between reptiles and birds and to question why they think this may or may not be true. This also happens to be a state goal as well.Click here to return to Menu As was stated in the rationale, I try to get the students to think and not blindly accept information. They know what reptiles look, as well as birds but do not see the evolutionary connection between the two species. The following are the state goals of Illinois that this activity addresses: 12.A.4c - Describe processes by which organisms change over time using evidence from comparative anatomy and physiology, embryology, the fossil record, genetics and biochemistry.12.B.4a - Compare physical, ecological and behavioral factors that influence interactions and interdependence of organisms. Click here to return to Menu This audience is 9th graders, freshmen honors biology. These students must have achieved over 80% in their 8th grade grammar school testing in the areas of reading and math. There are only three sections of honors biology, approximately 75 students, therefore only the top scoring students are accepted into the program. Click here to return to Menu The prerequisites of this lesson are minimal. The students must know how to use a computer to complete a lab exercise. The first week of the school year, a basic computer skills quiz, and a technology quiz must be given to determine the level of computer knowledge. This enables the teacher to work on remedial computer skills before the web quest is assigned. The student must be mature enough to go to the site directly, not other places on the Internet to waste valuable lab time. Click here to return to Menu This lab has three separate sections for investigations. These topics have not been covered in the classroom setting. The first section has to do with fossils and evolution of flight. The second topic uses cladograms for the appearance of skeletal features in evolution. The third topic is again using cladograms for the appearance of feathers in evolution. Click here to return to Menu This lesson is designed to use one 55 minute classroom period. The students are to report to the computer lab directly from the class before it, to save time. At the door, the students will be given a handout which "walks" them through the lesson. I find this essential, otherwise, I repeat myself over and over. The website the students are directed to is: www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explotime.html The students refer to the handout to navigate through the three sections of subject matter. There are 3 five question quizzes at the end of each chapter. The students are responsible for all material covered in this lesson. They will be given a chapter quiz in two days to test for understanding of the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. Click here to return to Menu The materials include a computer with Internet hook-up, pen and paper if they want to take notes. Click here to return to Menu Assessment and Evaluation The three quizzes that the students take online, are in pairs. This is due to the fact that we have 15 laptop computers, so we must double up the number of students on each machine. As the quizzes are not graded by the teacher, it is a self evaluation. This must be stressed as some of the students will not care if they understand the material because the other student is answering the questions. However, some of the same questions also appear on the chapter test. I did this on purpose, so in the future, the lab exercises will not be taken lightly. There will also be a chapter test which reviews amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs and birds. Click here to return to Menu The teacher must analyze the student skills at the beginning of the year. This would include a basic computer skills quiz and a technology quiz. If given to the students right at the beginning of the year, it gives the teacher time to implement remedial computer skills to the student. There are two ways of accomplishing web quest lessons. The optimum ways is to the computer lab, which must be signed up in advance for the particular hour that you have that web quest lesson. There are 15 laptop computers, so students must work in pairs. The students may use the computer labs at school, before and after, on their own so that they can work by themselves, if need arises. For my particular web quest, it is required to be accomplished in pairs of students. If the student wants to review by themselves, they can access the web quest from home. There will be handouts of the directions, for ease of the students. As a backup, paper handouts of the web quest will be available. Review the computer lab rules and have all students locate the website, so there is a common jumping off point. They must keep track of the quiz scores, the teacher will randomly print quiz scores of students (to keep them honest). No food or drink is allowed in the lab. If the computer time is running out (50 minutes), the student must finish the assignment separately at their home computer, or before or after school the following day. There is also RAM period, the last 35 minutes of the day, in which the student can go to the computer lab. One week before class, the teacher will check the links to make sure they are working in proper order. Resources www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explotime.html www.mhhe.com/raven6
The following is a list of sites used in creating the artwork contained within the web page: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/5049/construct.html Click here to return to Menu There are several terms that the students might not be familiar: Saurischian -
Theropod -
Maniraptoran- n : advanced theropods including oviraptorids and dromaeosaurs and possibly even modern birds [syn: Maniraptora, suborder Maniraptora]
Click here to return to Menu
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