Student-centered plan for teaching

[Jen]

By request :) (and thanks - I wouldn't have thought to do this....), sharing a plan for my AP evolution unit this is limited on lecture, and uses a lot of different activities/labs/whiteboards to get students interacting with the unit. This unit is taking me (we are still in it) about 13-14 days including all labs. I'm probably spending a little more time - but it's evolution, so I'm feeling it's pretty critical. I've only done 3 days of lecture - and I use a SmartBoard to make them more interactive (I will post example PDF files later - on another computer).
Day one: "Cricket Evolution" Cartoon from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/sneakermales_01 - "Survival of the Sneakiest" - I printed (in color) 8 sets of these, so kids have to share, but it works fine. They must answer the questions at the end AND
Day one/two: Article of the same: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/061201_quietcrickets and students must also look up Darwin's observations & inferences in their book and explain how the article/cartoon demonstrate Darwin. They must also answer Bullets #3 & #5 in the "For Teachers" section on this same page.
Day three: I have two articles (and I'm sorry - I can't remember where I got them - they are PDF - it's probably from the Evolution @ Berkeley site or Kim Foglia) that describe Darwin's theory & Lamarck's theory. They then use whiteboards in groups to make a diagram to compare/contrast the two theorists - this is then put on the SmartBoard up front and I post it on my website (http://mysite.cherokee.k12.ga.us/personal/jennifer_forsyth/site/pag...) for them to print/copy as needed.
Note: still no lecture
Days four/five: Kim Foglia's Strawfish lab - end of day 5 - we start discussing/some lecture by me of what we've done so far
Day six: lecture on Evolution - darwin (review) and population genetics/hardy-weinberg equations and theory
Day seven: finish up lecture (as needed - usually more discussion) - review lab info for the actual AP lab 8
Days eight & nine - AP lab 8 (mating takes us a while for some reason......)
Day ten: WBs on Types of Selection (Stabilizing, Directional, Disruptive) - attached
Day eleven: Lecture - speciation, macroevolution - again more interactive with smartboard
Day twelve: wrap up of speciation (allopatric, sympatric, parapatric) and final info on evolution
Day thirteen: Salamander speciation lab - this is from: http://www.nescent.org/media/NABT/ go to Macroevolution & its the first article/lab from the BSCS curriculum. I'll attach my "clean" student copy below. The site has the teacher info on it.
Day fourteen: Cladograms activity using smartboard and something called "cladisticules" activity - if you search online you'll find it in a couple of places I'm sure. You could also use this: http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/mclad.html#anchor95195 from ENSI
Day fifteen: I'm playing around with this idea - a working timeline around my room for the rest of the year using http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/pre... and making a chart paper for each major era/time period - then linking them with major events listed on each one. As we move through kingdoms/plants/animals - adding in major events and tying them back to the time period so we can see the evolution/development of major events throughout time (i.e. endosymbiont theory, plant development to land, etc.) Also, neat "Evolution in 60 seconds" video: http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_evolution_of_life_in_60...

that's it :) Hopefully this helps show how a massive amount of content can be done, with minimal effort on my part as the "teacher" - I'm starting to view myself more as a facilitator - and the lectures are there to delve into more info that I can't fit in through activity, but also to stimulate class discussion.

I'll try to do another post once all the evolution smartboard stuff is done and re-post as PDF here :) Jen

[Sean Nash]

This... is inspiring. This is the type of open interaction and sharing that made me want to create this site in the first place. I will certainly be back to roll through this a little more carefully. At first glance... the sneaker males cricket cartoon... brilliant, Erin & I use that as well!

Keep up the good work... (it's a sick day at home for me today with my almost-three-year-old)
I'll be back!
;)

[Kate D. Holland]

I like your lesson plan ideas. I feel sometimes the role of a "facilitator" is just as or more important than that of a teacher. Also, I had never seen the Cricket Evolution Cartoon, I saved that to my delicious acct. Thanks!

[Jon Freer]

Brilliant.  Jen (and everyone) how can we go about developing a year-long curriculum like this?  A place that we (and others) can turn to for student-centered, interactive units that can be put together however the teacher sees fit.

 

I come across bits like this (this may be the best), but spend so much time searching that it gets tiresome.

 

Jon

[Jen]

Jon -

Thanks for the compliment :) I would also be willing to work together to make year-long curriculum that resembles this. I'm moving more and more towards this type of structure. Unfortunately, I'm in the minority in my department for things like this - most are still teacher-oriented/lecture/didactic models. I'm trying something COMPLETELY different with my kids this year as well - and it seems to be working. will have to share when I have more results :)

We can use the synapse for this - what are your thoughts? Or anyone's thoughts? Jen