Blended Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: How did we get here? Evolution and Diversity of Life.

Objectives:
 Students will be able to summarize the process of natural selection.
 Students will be able to explain how genetic processes result in the continuity of life-
forms over time.
 Students will be able to identify the diversity within a species and how it increases their
chance of survival.

State Standards:
Standard B-5: The student will demonstrate an understanding of biological evolution and the
diversity of life.

Indicator B-5.1 Summarize the process of natural selection. B-5.2 Explain how genetic processes
result in the continuity of life-forms over time. B-5.3 Explain how diversity within a species
increases the chances of its survival.

Context:
In the last standard, the students focused more on biology; the study of life. They took a deeper
look at environments and different species in each environment. The students can now explain
the difference between a species, population community, ecosystem, and environment. This
previous standard will flow seamlessly into our present B-5, which will focus on evolution and
the diversity of life. This is lead to the next standard of genetics and heredity.
Students already have an understanding of the environments and how didn’t species work
together in a specific environment to survive. In this lesson, we are going to dissect the very
beginnings of life and examine how scientists view evolution while looking at the diversity of
life. To do this we will analyze the reasoning behind the theory of evolution and how the
scientists thought the world came to be.
Materials:
Ipad and headphones: To take notes on and answer questions during guided discussion portion of
class and to access educational apps.
Science notebook and pencil: To take notes on as an alternate to using ipads and for answering
questions at independent digital station
Video Clip: How Life Began - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHEAnPX59Y
Imovie- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id377298193?mt=8
Video: Before Time- https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/history-of-life-on-earth/the-
diversification-of-life/v/human-evolution-overview
EVO- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evolution-app/id1210898168?mt=8
Kahoot Application: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kahoot-play-learning-
games/id1131203560?mt=8

Procedures:
Introduction (5 minutes):
I will start the lesson by introducing to the students that we will be learning about the
process of evolution. I will then proceed to explain thoroughly what the students will be
doing at each of the stations. Posted on the classroom board I will have groups of five
students assigned. The groups will be based off of academic performance. Students who
seem to be having trouble will be groups together and start off at the teacher directed
station with me. Students who have a general understanding of the content in the previous
standard will start at the collaborative station. Students who are excelling will be grouped
together and start at the independent digital station. I will also explain to the students how
to use the different applications.

Teacher Directed (15 minutes):

I will start off the teacher directed station by showing a brief synopsis video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHEAnPX59Y) about how life began and the
theory behind evolution. Before beginning the video, I will ask students to right down
any words that they are not familiar with in the vocabulary section of their science book
for this chapter. Upon the completion of the video, I will ask the students what words
they did not know and help them define the words. Then I will begin an interactive
lecture explaining in greater detail the process of evolution. We will also discuss the
basic diversity of life.
 Collaborative (15 minutes):
In this station, each student will be assigned a prominent scientist who has a theory based
upon evolution. The scientists will be: Charles Darwin, Jean-Bapitiste Lamarck, Alfred
Russel Wallace, Stephen Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins. Once they arrive at the
station, there will be five cards laying face down on the desks; they are to choose one of
the cards. When they flip the card over there will be a picture of one of the scientists and
it will have different facts about them and their experiments. The students will then
review the card. Then they will use the application iMovie on their ipad to act out how
they believe the 5 scientists would have interacted with each other, including their
similarities and their differences.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id377298193?mt=8

Independent Digital (15minutes):

In this station, students will watch a video about the diversity of life.
(https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/history-of-life-on-earth/the-
diversification-of-life/v/human-evolution-overview) At the end of the video, a quiz
review will appear on the screen. The students will complete the quiz component of this
video and write the questions and answers in their science notebook. If time allows,
students are permitted to go to the application call EVO and read more about the different
scientists and plat educational games that go along with evolution.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evolution-app/id1210898168?mt=8

Closure (5-minutes):
The class will meet back together as a whole group. We will then use the application
called Kahoot to complete a ten question interactive assessment in which the students
compete against each other. Once the game is over, they will do an exit slip with a
question that will appear on the board. The students who place in the top ten of the game
do not have to complete an exit slip. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kahoot-play-
learning-games/id1131203560?mt=8

Rationale:
Video Clip: How it all Began- Evolution.
 This piece of multimedia is used in the teacher directed station. This piece of
multimedia benefits the lesson because it explains the content at a basic level and
incorporates graphics in a way that is engaging and exciting for students. It will
 allow students to have a brief introduction to the topics and vocabulary words that
they have not heard before and have a hard time understanding.
Imovie:
 This app is used in the collaborative station. This application benefits the lesson
because it allows for students to be fully engaged and create a product out of
creativity. The tool enables students to explain how each scientists felt through a
multimedia- a video in this case. This will introduce and familiarize students with
this application, which is helpful because they will be using this app to complete
their unit assignment for the course.
Video Clip:
 This piece of multimedia is used in the independent digital station. This piece of
multimedia benefits the lesson because students are able to visualize how the
theory was formed, with reinforcement questions upon completion of the video.
EVO:
 This app is used in the independent digital station. This application benefits the
lesson because it enables the students to be immersed in the content through an
interactive app. This app allows students to play games that revolve around the
content at hand. It allows the student to have the independence to choose the
game they wish to play and go over the content that they need extra practice with.
Kahoot:
 This app is used during the closure section. This application benefits the lesson
because it promotes fun interaction between students, which makes the level of
engagement increase among the class. It helps the students with the retention of
the content presented to them throughout each of the station. This app is fun of all
grade levels and the students love it.