CH.1 FINDING SPECIES SIMILARITIES Lesson PDF/Evolutionary History/1.2_… · Evolutionary History The Evolutionary History Unit explores the history of life on Earth. You will use

CH.1 – FINDING SPECIES SIMILARITIES

EH: 1.2.1 WARM-UP

On the right is a drawing

of a fossil that is millions

of years old. This fossil

was just taken out of the

ground, and no one

knows what kind of

organism it is. One way

scientists decide what a

fossil might be is to

compare its bones to

bones of other animals.

Make observations about a drawing of the upper body of an unknown species, called the

Mystery Fossil. (5 min)

EH: 1.2.1 WARM-UP

On the right is a drawing

of a fossil that is millions

of years old. This fossil

was just taken out of the

ground, and no one

knows what kind of

organism it is. One way

scientists decide what a

fossil might be is to

compare its bones to

bones of other animals.

Make observations about a drawing of the upper body of an unknown species, called the

Mystery Fossil. (5 min)

EH – VIDEO: PLACING THE MYSTERY FOSSIL IN THE MUSEUM

Evolutionary History

The Evolutionary History Unit explores

the history of life on Earth.

You will use fossil evidence in this unit

to investigate how species change over

millions and even billions of years.

This will help you explain the similarities

and differences you see in different

species.

Students view a video about dig sites and museums and are introduced to the fictional

organization for which they will work. (5 min)

Unit Question:

Why do species, both living and

extinct, share similarities and

also have differences?


Let’s Project and play the video

Placing the Mystery Fossil in the

Museum.

You will now watch a video that will

explain your role in this unit.

• A new fossil was found at a dig site and brought back to the Natural History Museum;

• The director of the museum needs to know where to place the fossil in the museum.

• Museums often decide where to place fossils based on an understanding of evolutionary

history.

What are some ideas about the

problem presented in the video?


The fictional nature of the

video.

The museum director and the

paleontologist were played by

actors, these roles are based on

real-life ones.

The Mystery Fossil is based on an

actual fossil that was found in

Pakistan.

EH: 1.2.2 DISCUSSING THE STUDENT PALEONTOLOGIST ROLE

Students learn about their role as student paleontologists and consider an image of the

Mystery Fossil they will help place in the museum. (5 min)

Dr. Siddique, in the video is a paleontologist.

Vocabulary: paleontologist - a scientist who studies fossils in order to understand

the ancient history of life on Earth


Your Role: student paleontologist

You will take on the role of student

paleontologists.

Your work will help the museum director decide

where in the museum to place the Mystery

Fossil.

To decide where to place the Mystery Fossil in

the museum, you will need to learn how

paleontologists think about and understand the

history of life on Earth.

You will be examining the drawing of the

Mystery Fossil throughout the unit.

The reliance on bones when

thinking about fossils.

There isn’t much left to examine aside

from bone structures once an organism

is a fossil, as the Mystery Fossil

drawing shows.

This is why paleontologists rely on

comparing bone structures to find

similarities between different

organisms, living and dead.

Chapter 1 Question.

Where in the museum does this new fossil

belong?


EH 1.2.3: FINDING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SPECIES

You will consider the body structures of many different species, living and extinct, and group

them based on similarities. (20 min)

Your first task as a student paleontologists will be to consider a variety of different

species and to think about how you might put them into groups.

Use whatever criteria you would like to put species together for this activity.

In order to start thinking about organisms in the same ways that paleontologists do,

let's do a short activity focused on grouping organisms.

You will put these organisms in categories that make sense to you and your partners.

Over time, we will learn more about the principles that paleontologists use, and you will

be able to group organisms in other ways.

Why do paleontologists look for

similarities.

When paleontologists discover a new

fossil, they compare it to other known

fossils and living organisms.

Paleontologists are interested in how

fossils are similar to other extinct

species and to species that are alive

today.

Vocabulary: species - a group of organisms of

the same kind (in one or more populations) that

do not reproduce with organisms from any other

group

In this unit, you will be investigating many

different types of living and extinct organisms

(talking about many different species).

• examples of different species are

lions,

chickens,

apple trees

EH - 1.2.3: FINDING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SPECIES

Finding Species Similarities instructions


Let’s demonstrate

making a grouping

with the Three

Species Cards.

These are three cards

from a set of cards you

will get in a few

minutes.

Do you have any ideas

about how these three

organisms could be

grouped together

based on similarities.


What is one thing these

species seem to have in

common?

Do you think the

similarities we have

identified are enough to

put them in a group

together?

Do they have other things in

common?

Do you think two of these species belong

together while the other species belongs in a

different group? Why?


One possible answer is

that all three species

could belong in a group

of animals…

• that live on land

• with four legs,

Only Pakicetus and Titan

otylopus could go in a

group of extinct animals.


Camel, Side 2 (Back of Card)

Each card has another object

next to the skeleton.

• a soccer ball

• an apple.

These objects are put there

because they are familiar to

you, and they can help you to

think about how big the

organism is or how big parts of

its body are.

This side of the card shows

the skeleton of the organism.

For example, I might use this soccer ball to estimate

that the camel’s leg is about the same size as 4–5

soccer balls piled on top of each other.

You can utilize the back side of

the cards to also sort the species

into groups with similarities.


Utilize the Species Cards and with a partner begin to

sort the cards. (8 min to discuss and sort).

Finding Species

Similarities instructions


Let’s discuss groupings as a class.

Student pairs –

• Explain 1 grouping that you made.

• I will use the large Species Cards to

replicate your groups that you

describe.

• Explain exactly why you made the

observations and groupings that

you did.

Organize card sets at your table.

Thinking about body structure similarities is

where your work will begin in the next

lesson.


Some work was

recently done to

help narrow down

which organisms

could be grouped

with the Mystery

Fossil at the

museum.

New information

about the

Mystery Fossil


The claims about the Mystery Fossil.

Your job will be to group the Mystery Fossil with other fossil exhibits somewhere in the

museum and that these three claims describe possible sections of the museum where

it could be placed.

What are some of your ideas about how you would know whether the Mystery Fossil is

more like whales, wolves, or crocodiles.


EH – 1.2.4: HOW PALEONTOLOGISTS MAKE OBSERVATIONS

You will learn about the importance of making careful observations when examining body

structures. (10 min)

Vocabulary – body structure: a part of an organism (for example, one or more bones)

In this unit, we will often be

examining body structures

from organisms that are

extinct, or no longer living on

Earth.

All we have left of these

organisms are their fossilized

bones. Because of this, we will

mostly be comparing bone

structures of different species.


Let’s discuss Comparing Body Structures

of this image.

What is one body structure that is very

similar between these two animals?

Their backbones

When we look at the backbone,

identifying how these organisms

are similar seems simple, but it

might take careful observation to

find how they are different.


The bones of the hands, pelvis

What is a body structure that both of

these organisms have but that is very

different between the two?


For each organism, the hands look very

different and are different sizes, so it is more

challenging and takes careful observation to

identify the ways that the hands are alike.


Even trained scientists often find it challenging to compare body

structures between very different organisms.

In order to make your work more accurate and easier to share

with other scientists, paleontologists use certain, precise methods

for making observations.

Their techniques are more complicated than those we will use

and practice in class.

This is because scientists have more advanced tools and more

knowledge of their subjects than we do.

However, the principles you will use are the same as those that a

paleontologist might use.

It is difficult for scientists (and students) to find similarities in body structures.


The Evidence Criterion.

Careful, precise observations are

very important when thinking

and sharing information about

body structures in paleontology.

Let’s look at a quick exercise to

show how important it is to be

precise in your observations.


• Can you tell which organism this

observation is discussing?

• It should be impossible to tell for sure.



The more precise language in the

second observation helped you to

know exactly which organism the

observation was about.

It also gave more precise information about the legs of the Titanotylopus, which could

be helpful if you were sharing this information with one of your peers.


These guidelines will

be helpful when you

are asked to make or

think about

observations later in

the unit.

EH - 1.2.5 HOMEWORK

Students read an article called “Jefferson’s Big Mistake," which is about the

importance of careful observations.

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CH.1 FINDING SPECIES SIMILARITIES Lesson PDF/Evolutionary History/1.2_… · Evolutionary History The Evolutionary History Unit explores the history of life on Earth. You will use