Lesson 1

Name: Elizabeth Tkaczynski

Topic(s) of lesson: Charles Darwin and His Finches

Grade Level: 7th Grade

Goals/Lesson Objective(s):

SWBAT analyze primary sources IOT make inferences about what Charles Darwin
observed in the Galapagos finches.

SWBAT analyze graphs showing change in a population over time IOT see the
Evolution of finch beak size.

Standards:

ELA/Literacy:

RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical
texts.

RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary
sources.

Assessment:

Students will have written responses to questions about the primary source excerpt
they read as well as participating in a discussion about the reading.

Students will have written responses to questions about the graphs and will participate
in discussion in a class following up on this lesson.

Warm up and exit slip Plickers will give me a quick look at what the students know
and have learned in order to prepare for the following lesson.
Classroom Arrangement/ Management Issues:

I may need to help students understand the excerpts from Darwin’s Origin of Species
and understand the graphs. I will scaffold both materials within the worksheets I
provide to go along with the assignments. Students may not have their plicker sheets
with them and will not be able to participate in the warm up. Students will be sitting at
their tables so group work will be easily manageable.

Materials:

- Computer (for warm-up and exit slip Plicker)

- Excerpts from Darwin’s Origin of Species
- Questions for students to answer about their excerpt
- Finch Evolution Graph and worksheet
- Marker Board
- Markers
- Eraser

Before (Introduction and Hook): (5 minutes)

● Plicker question about what makes the Galapagos Islands special for studying
evolution. (5 minutes)

During (Learning Activities): (35 minutes)

● Students read excerpts from Darwin’s Origin of Species with some directed
questions for them to think about and write responses to (22 minutes)
● Group discussion on what Darwin noticed in the finches including defining variation
and adaptation (10 minutes)
● Start independent graph analysis of how the finches changed over time and why
(will be continued next class) (5 minutes)

If students need more time to work with the primary sources, I will assign the graph for
homework and start the next class discussing what they learned and had questions
about.
After (Closing): (3 minutes)

● Plicker exit ticket about Darwin’s finches (3 minutes)

Anticipated Student Responses:

I think students may have some difficulty analyzing the graphs and primary sources so
I will have to be careful in how I present this information and scaffold it. I anticipate
that students may recognize some of the vocab like “adaptation”. I think students will
know the name “Charles Darwin” but may not know much about the actual studies he
had done.

Accommodations:

I will have edited versions of the primary sources and simplified questions for the
special needs students in the 7th grade. I will also allow students to work together on
the primary sources and graph activities so that all of the students have support
dealing with the materials.