OpenSciEd Unit 8.6 · Lesson 13 · 13.A
Look for: Species of penguins with the least number of…
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
13.A Use patterns in shared body structures resulting from natural selection and mutations to develop a model to explain how modern penguins are connected to ancient penguins.
What to look / listen for
What to look and listen for
Discussions and models should include the following ideas:
Species of penguins with the least number of differences on the data strips (and the most similarities) will have lived in the same environment together most recently and will share a more-recent common ancestor than species of penguins with more differences on the data strips.
Similarities and differences in body structures (on the data strips) are used as evidence to support the relationship between ancient and modern penguins. (Since there are a lot of missing data, there is more uncertainty in these explanations, so it is expected that these proposed relationships will vary greatly among groups.)
What to do
Remind students to use the sticky notes to record the number of differences they count between the species they are comparing. Body Structure Similarities and Differences between Modern Penguin Species is available for teachers to be able to quickly see if students are correctly assessing the number of differences in body structures between each of the species. However, if students have miscounted, don’t worry about correcting them; it is more important that they are using the ideas correctly and grouping the organisms based on the number of similarities and differences.
If students are struggling to participate, assign them a pair of species to analyze. Ask questions that require students to think about the patterns they are seeing in the data strips as they organize their Penguin Ancestry Model.