Updated January 2022

Name: Sam Polk Date lesson taught: N/A

Content Area: Biology

Course Title & Grade Level: Biology, 9-10th grade
Standards:
● SC.HS.10.5.E Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1)
increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction
of other species.
Objectives:

Content— Students will evaluate scientific evidence regarding fossils to show that environmental changes lead to the emergence
of new species over long periods of time.

Language— Working individually and with a partner, students will evaluate scientific evidence to show that environmental
changes lead to new species emerging by watching a video over ancient types of fish, filling in a character chart completely with
correct answers, and by writing correct answers to at least 4 out of 5 discussion questions.

Student-friendly— I can evaluate scientific evidence regarding fossils to show that environmental changes lead to the
emergence of new species over long periods of time.
Assessment:
● While reviewing content from the previous class, gauge student understanding by calling on specific students to answer
questions about evolution (formative).
● Students will fill out a character chart over three types of ancient fish, correctly filling out 12 boxes of their character
chart. Students will also write correct answers to discussion questions. Questions 1 and 2 do not have to be completed in
sentences, questions 3 and 4 should have 1-2 complete sentences, and question 5 should have 2-3 complete sentences
(formative).
○ If students did not have a correctly filled out character chart and/or did not answer at least 4 out of 5 discussion
questions correctly then they did not meet the objective for this lesson.
● If 50% or less of the students did not meet the objective for this lesson, plan to reteach how environmental changes can
lead to the emergence of new species (Future Plans).
● Students will turn in their character chart sheet with answers to the questions on the back (Data collection).
Proactive Management:
Expectations:
● Students should be paying attention during direct instruction and modeling, with students following along with the
instructor on their own activity sheet.
● Specifically tell students the expectations for each part of the lesson, i.e. telling them to quiet down when doing direct
instruction.
Voice:
● Students should be quiet and listening during direct instruction, except where they are told to do turn-and-talks.
● Students should be quiet and listening during the video, but should be quietly working with their partner when the video is
paused.
Movement:
● Students should be up and moving when asked to find a partner to talk to during class.
● Students should not be moving around the classroom during instructional time.
Task:
● Ask students to repeat instructions back after they have been given to the class.
● Give explicit instructions for the students as to how to complete the character chart.
Instructional Strategies: Instructional Strategies are listed in blue in the lesson section.
Strategies:
● Turn-and-talk
● Cloze notes
● Anticipatory set
● Direct instruction
● Modeling
● Homework
Literacy Strategy: Students will be using the character chart strategy to get the main ideas from the video.
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Note Taking Strategy: Students will continue to use their cloze notes sheet that they have been using for the evolution unit.
During instruction, students will be told if they need to write down any additional points along the side of their notes sheet.
Questions: Specific questions are listed in green in the lesson section.
List:
● What are the four postulates that Darwin came up with about natural selection (VISE)?
● What animals did Darwin study during his time in the Galapagos Islands?
● How can natural selection lead to adaptation of populations?
● What is adaptive radiation?
● How do you think scientists gain information from looking at fossils?
● What do you think the environment of the earth was like when this animal lived?
● What evidence did scientists look at to discover this information about these ancient animals?
● What is a tetrapodomorph?
● What organ did fish have that could have evolved into lungs? How could it have evolved into lungs?
● Describe the environment on land during the Devonian period. How did this environment affect oxygen levels in the
ocean?
● How did these oxygen levels allow for the evolution of these fish that breathed air and walked onto land?
Beginning of the lesson:
Anticipatory Set:
● Review: Go over the different factors of natural selection that were taught in the previous classes.
○ “What are the four postulates that Darwin came up with about natural selection (VISE)?”
○ “What animals did Darwin study during his time in the Galapagos Islands?”
○ “How can natural selection lead to adaptation of populations?”
○ “What is adaptive radiation?”
● Preview: State the student friendly objective for the students, telling them that today they will be learning about ancient
types of fossilized fish and the first fish that ever breathed air.
● Hook: Show the picture of the fossil of the fish Tiktaalik (1.2). Let students ponder for a moment, then ask them to stand
up and partner up with someone from across the room and answer the question:
○ “How do you think scientists gain information from looking at fossils?”
○ The partner closest to the door is partner A and will have 30 seconds to answer, then partner B will have 30
seconds to answer the question as well.
(About 7 minutes)
 Updated January 2022
The Lesson:
Transition from the anticipatory set to direct instruction by passing out the activity sheet and telling students to get out their notes
sheet to continue working on it.
● Give students the expectations for direct instruction.
● While doing direct instruction over evolution, bring up fossils that have been found in Nebraska. Also bring up how
paleontology can be a career (7.2).
(About 7 minutes)

I do:
● Transition from direct instruction to the activity by pulling up the video (5.1) and reminding the students about the fossil
that was shown was a transition fossil.
● Ask students “What do you think the environment of the earth was like when this animal lived?”
● Show the character chart and begin to explain to students how they will be completing the chart during class.
○ During this time, give the students the expectations for the video.
● Start the video, stopping at 1:41.
○ Model for the students how to complete the character chart by completing the environment and anatomy section
of Eusthenopteron’s character chart.
○ Tell students that you will be pausing the video (6.3) every so often and telling them which parts of the character
chart can now be answered.
(About 5 minutes)

We do:
● Pause the video at 2:12, students can answer the environment and anatomy for Ichthyostega.
● Pause the video again at 3:04, so that students can answer for environment and anatomy for Tiktaalik.
○ Give students time to think after each pause, so that they can come to an agreement together as a class.
○ Ask specific students to shout out their answers to each piece of the character chart, after doing a turn-and-talk
(8.3) with their neighbor.
● Pause video at 5:20, students should answer Eusthenopteron’s skull opening and breathing section.
● Pause video again at 5:50, students should answer the skull opening and breathing section for both Tiktaalik and
Ichthyostega.
● By this point, all students should have completed their character chart.
(About 10 minutes)

You do:
● Transition to students working individually or in pairs on the rest of the video.
● Students should answer questions 1 and 2 with their partner before going on to finish the video. Give the students time to
answer these questions.
○ Pause the video at 6:33, 7:28, and at 8:39 to allow students to answer questions 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Students
may discuss these questions with their partner if they are working with one.
● Questions:
○ What evidence did scientists look at to discover this information about these ancient animals?
○ What is a tetrapodomorph?
○ What organ did fish have that could have evolved into lungs? How could it have evolved into lungs?
○ Describe the environment on land during the Devonian period. How did this environment affect oxygen levels in
the ocean?
○ How did these oxygen levels allow for the evolution of these fish that breathed air and walked onto land?

Closure:
Procedural— Ask students to put away their materials for the day and to turn in their character chart assignment sheet. Students
that did not finish this assignment should complete it as homework.
Content Summary— Restate the student friendly objective and what was learned during the day. “Today our objective was
[student friendly objective]. We learned about different types of ancient fish and how environmental changes lead to the emergence
of new species.” Give a short preview of the activity for the next class.
References: Handout created by me.
Youtube video:
PBS Digital Studios. [PBS Eons]. (2018, June 19). When Fish First Breathed Air. [Video]. Youtube. www.youtube.com/watch?
v=E1h4kgt2520

Lesson Plan Reflection (required):

 Updated January 2022
1) Highlight Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) components within your lesson.
Write a paragraph (3-5 sentences) elaborating on the intentionally planned CRT components of your lesson. How did you
demonstrate high expectations (be specific on what this looks like), make learning relevant, and motivate students?

For the CRT components of this lesson, I focused on keeping students engaged during the lesson by giving them
time to have their individual voices heard. Additionally, I gave students information that could be relevant to them, since they
live in Nebraska. Another aspect of CRT in this lesson is keeping students motivated by chunking out the video to let the
students know exactly where they need to answer certain questions. All of this contributes to a lesson that exemplifies CRT
in the classroom.

2) Italicize Universal Design for Learning (UDL) components within your lesson.
Write a paragraph (3-5 sentences) elaborating on the intentionally planned UDL components (representation, action &
expression, engagement) of your lesson. How did you differentiate to meet the needs of ALL learners?

For the UDL components of my lesson, I focused on giving students multiple different representations of
information. For example, I showed them a picture of a fossill and also a video, which are alternatives to print sources of
information. Pausing the video and chunking out the information helps students to not get too lost trying to answer too many
questions at once while watching the video. This also helps keep students focused, since they won’t just tune out the video. I
also made the learning relevant to students by bringing up the types of careers they could pursue in paleontology.