As I wrote in this week’s application paper, in reflecting on this structured inquiry lesson, I found that my students worked incredibly well in their small groups. I tried something sort of differently with this lesson with regard to grouping. Instead of completely directing the flow of the class, as I might have normally done with a lesson such as this, I designated leaders in each small group of 3-4 students to progress the group through a variety of tasks including brainstorming, analyzing data, constructing graphs, and answering critical thinking questions. I saw true growth in my students through this exercise. Not only was I impressed by the group leaders, but also by the attentiveness and respect displayed by other students.
Many of these students brought relevant background knowledge into the lesson as well, which allowed them to relate our study of predator-prey relationships and natural selection to the natural world. This lesson was aimed at interpreting how environmental influences might impact relationships in nature, and how these same influences may be positively or negatively impacting the process of natural selection, at an observable level. This lesson served as a study that can be used for comparison reasons throughout the next few weeks as the topic of evolution is explored more deeply. More specifically, my students walked away with knowledge of specific environmental influences that affect species in nature and how humans are both helping and hurting this impact. We will further analyze how and if these influences are relevant to natural selection at a more large-scale and long-term level (i.e. extinction, genetic variation, long-term species adaptation).
As my students progressed through this case study, of both moose & wolves and humans & the Earth, I could see the connections that they were making to how humans are largely adversely affecting the Earth, bringing up such topics as overpopulation, pollution, and global warming. We were able to discuss, at the end of class, the implications that some of these influences might have on the Earth in the next 10, 50, 100, 1,000 years. I think some of my students’ eyes were opened to how we seem to be pushing along the process of evolution, from a natural selection perspective, thus making it not entirely natural, as it was intended to be.
Hi Jordan,
ReplyDeleteWhat were some of the insights that the students gained from discussion the potential implications of overpopulation and global warming? I have had some interesting discussions with students on the idea of limiting family size (in a general sense, such as, would they consider having less children when they grow up?). Depending on the maturity of your students and your willingness to discuss a potentially controversial issue, a discussion of China's one-child policy could be another potential avenue for exploration. Amy