Lesson 7: Macroevolutionary Patterns
What We're Going to Learn and Why it Matters
By now you've seen all kinds of examples of evolutionary change, some of which can happen quickly enough to measure in a few seasons. But the fossil record suggests long periods, sometimes millions of years, where species don't seem to change much at all. Hmm . . . that's funny. At other times species seem do disappear overnight only to be replaced by completely different ones. Is there a pattern to all of this? Does evolution have a direction? Are humans changing the course of evolution on the planet--both for themselves and other creatures?
By the end, you should be able to identify nine macroevolutionary patterns.
By the end, you should be able to identify nine macroevolutionary patterns.
Predict
(3:00 minutes)
What types of trends would you expect to find when looking at evolution from a "zoomed-out" view?
Answer on Google Classroom.
What types of trends would you expect to find when looking at evolution from a "zoomed-out" view?
Answer on Google Classroom.
Individual Investigation
(20:00 minutes)
Use your text and reliable internet sources to complete the assignment called "Patterns of Macroevolution"
Use your text and reliable internet sources to complete the assignment called "Patterns of Macroevolution"
Whole Group Consensus Discussion
(10:00 minutes)
In your small group, prepare a three minute presentation on your assigned macroevolutionary pattern that
In your small group, prepare a three minute presentation on your assigned macroevolutionary pattern that
- explains the basic ideas in terms that a distracted 5th grader could understand
- provides an example to illustrate the idea
- discusses the implications of the ideas or explains why they might be important
Individual Summary
(4:00 minutes)
Take a moment to post individually on Google classroom and reflect on your learning in this lesson. You may do this in several ways.
Take a moment to post individually on Google classroom and reflect on your learning in this lesson. You may do this in several ways.
- Summarize what you've learned about macroevolutionary trends in three or four key ideas.
- Speak briefly about how this learning has changed your understanding of evolution.
- Reflect on how this knowledge might be important.
- List questions or confusions about this that still remain.
- Any combination of the above.