Learning Links
Civilization / Computers / Language / Agriculture / Artistic Design / Music / Knowledge / Communication / Travel / Exploration / Communities / Culture / Revolution
Related Concepts
Life Changes / Adaption / Natural Selection / Physical and Chemical Change / Radioactive Decay / Erosion
Demonstrators should be read from top to bottom, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Observe and communicate change over time (evolution).
• Identify and predict small and large scale changes.
• Describe the sequence of steps in a change process.
• Investigate variables that influence change over time (evolution).
• Describe situations where one change causes another change.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Illustrate evolution in a variety of contexts (e.g., biological, physical, social).
• Investigate evolutionary change, and evaluate factors (e.g., random and predictable) responsible for change.
• Predict the future state of an evolving system.
• Evaluate the impact of a disruption on the evolution of a system.
High School Demonstrators
• Demonstrate how sequence and rate affect change in a system.
• Analyze factors that influence the evolution of a system.
• Evaluate how change in one system influences change (e.g., small and large scale) in another.
• Propose and defend a change that redirects evolution.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Collaborative Process: Reciprocal Teaching / Community-Based Instruction: Service Learning / Continuous Progress Assessment: Portfolio Development, Anecdotal Records, Self-assessment / Graphic Organizers: Flowchart, Storyboard / Problem Solving: Brainstorming, Future Problem Solving / Whole Language Approach / Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources:
• Invite a grandparent to class to share photographs of his/her family members' personal characteristics, clothing styles, and hair styles, and how these have changed over time.
• Survey the community for changes in architectural styles of homes, office buildings, and schools.
• Invite a retired physician, a practicing physician, and a recent graduate to discuss differences in medical diagnoses and treatments.
Core Concept - Evolution
Sample Elementary Activities
• Examine and discuss drawings of M. C. Escher (tessellations). Create a drawing or word puzzle that shows minor changes which become more evident over time or space. PE, P
• Conduct an environmental impact study on the location selected for a new school. PE, P
• Investigate the effects of placing ice cubes in different locations for melting (e.g., in a cup, in water, in sunshine, on the table, in your hands). Construct an ice cube keeper, evaluate its effectiveness and communicate the results. PE
• Take pictures or collect artifacts or other data which shows the decay of a leaf, food, log, or tree. Illustrate the role of decomposition in the food and mineral cycle. P
• Compare a person's present physical characteristics to his/her baby picture. P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Variation on a theme: Evolution of the Individual
Language Arts
• Analyze changes in a character from the beginning to the end of a novel. PE, OE, P
Mathematics
• Create a time line of events in your life. PE, OE, P
Social Studies
• Identify and predict short-term and long-term changes in yourself. OE, P
Arts and Humanities
• Prepare a photographic biography or autobiography. P
Practical Living
• Develop a personal plan for physical conditioning and chart the results over time. PE, P
Vocational Education
• Investigate the changes in equipment for sports or personal physical fitness in a 20-year period. PE, P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Investigate a physical change in the local environment; document (e.g., series of pictures) the changes; measure the rate of change; describe the causative agents, and predict future changes based on the investigation. PE, OE, P
• Design and conduct an experiment to examine the effect of various factors (e.g., sunlight, water, vinegar, air) on the rate of decay of different kinds of trash (e.g., plastic, paper, organic). PE, OE, P
• Predict and model the possible location of the earth's land masses one million years from now. Defend your predictions using computer simulations. OE, P
• Predict the size of a tree, in five-year intervals, based on tree-ring data and climatic influences. OE
• Illustrate the evolutionary process of ocean sand as it makes its journey from a mountain rock. OE
• Collect fossils and compare them to similar organisms found today. Infer conditions which caused observed changes. P
• Locate and describe examples of evolutionary changes in our world today (e.g., technology, political systems, populations). OE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Create an exhibit of changes in fads among teenagers over the past 50 years. Include written explanations. P
Mathematics
• Compare the present graduation requirements in mathematics to requirements before 1980. P
Social Studies
• Trace a fictional or historical person's family tree to analyze the evolution of cultural practices, changes in customs, family lifestyles, or parenting routines through successive generations. P
Arts and Humanities
• Hypothesize the effects of acid rain on architectural structures. Design an investigation to test the hypothesis. PE, OE, P
• Use a "morphing" computer program to change images of objects or people in your class. P, PE
Practical Living
• Brainstorm to identify items (e.g., telephone, television, cars, computers) that have evolved quickly. As a result, examine how each has improved or changed human life significantly. OE, P
• Research the evolution of common products, trends, and fads. P
Vocational Education
• Chart the evolution of the computer. Predict possibilities of applications of computers in the future. OE, P
• Prepare a time line of types of communicatons (e.g., percussion, written, electronic) from prehistoric times to the present. P
• Research the history of some aspect of health (e.g., anesthesia). Prepare a mural, series of cartoons, or drama showing stages of development. P
Sample High School Activities
• Write a proposal requesting research funds for a town that has an epidemic health problem related to mosquitoes and an environmental problem related to insecticides. P
• Predict the issues which might be encountered by a research team in 2061 that has discovered, through bioengineering, a way to extend the human lifespan by approximates 25 years. Debate the economic, health care, cultural, political, and ethical ramifications of publishing and implementing the technique versus destroying your work. PE, P
• Predict how the depletion of the ozone layer is likely to affect you at age 50 if the present rate continues. Present the predictions in the form of a short story. P
• Do a qualitative analysis on an effluent of a local industry. PE, OE, P
• Investigate an existing system (e.g., economic, technological, political) in your community; analyze factors influencing its evolution, and communicate the impact of the change on the community as a whole. P
• Examine and illustrate graphically the correlations of a stream's velocity and width to its age. P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Chronicle the evolution of the detective mystery story. P
Mathematics
• Graph a mathematical function to demonstrate entropy. P
Social Studies
• Interview representatives of governmental agencies to assess the changing role of government since l9OO. Compile the interviews into a single video. P
• Debate whether scientific advancements solve problems or create new ones. PE, P
• Correlate the evolution of manufacturing, communication, and travel to the changing lifestyles of Americans over the last 200 year's. P
Arts and Humanities
• Create a photo essay or a documentary which depicts the evolution of something of personal interest (e.g., world history, communication, entertainment, science). PE, P
Practical Living
• Research the evolution of incidence of HIV/AIDS among teenagers. Present your data graphically from various predictions based upon the possible social approaches to the problem. OE, P
• Create clay models depicting the stages of prenatal development. PE
Vocational Education
• Examine the changes in procedures used to improve specific characteristics in breeds of various animals and plants. P
• Research and report on the historical development of the concept of preventive medicine. Analyze past practices in light of present knowledge. P