UC Berkeley
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- Martindale, Rowan and Goldsmith, David
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 30-50 minutes
Overview
This activity uses a simple puzzle to get students to use cladistic thinking without bogging them down with terminology.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] Similarities among existing organisms provide evidence for evolution. (LS4.A)
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] Anatomical similarities of living things reflect common ancestry. (LS4.A)
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] Not all similar traits are homologous; some are the result of convergent evolution.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] Similarities among existing organisms (including morphological, developmental, and molecular similarities) reflect common ancestry and provide evidence for evolution.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] Not all similar traits are homologous; some are the result of convergent evolution.
- [Studying evolution: Grades 9-12] Evolutionary trees (i.e. phylogenies or cladograms) portray hypotheses about evolutionary relationships.
- [Studying evolution: Grades 13-16] Evolutionary trees (i.e., phylogenies or cladograms) portray hypotheses about evolutionary relationships.
- [Studying evolution: Grades 13-16] The principle of parsimony suggests that the phylogenetic hypothesis most likely to be true is the one requiring the fewest evolutionary changes.
- Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
This is a great introductory activity for a unit on phylogenetic.