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  Lesson Plan

  A Pipe Cleaner Model of Animal Evolution

  The evolutionary tree shown here was drawn by Charles Darwin, a scientist who lived more than 150 years ago. It was Darwin, and another man named Alfred Russel Wallace that came up with the idea of natural selection, which is one of the ways that life evolves. Darwin wasn’t the first person to suggest that life evolves, the idea had been around for a while, but he was one of the first to use evidence to explain his observations about life.

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  Lesson Plan

  Cambrian Explosion

  In this lesson, students will watch a short film about the Cambrian Explosion and the extraordinary fossils of the Burgess Shale. Students will address preconceptions and misconceptions about early Cambrian life, and complete a timeline activity that will enable them to better appreciate just how recently—relatively speaking—multicellular life evolved on Earth.

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Sponges

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  Lesson Plan

  Spectacular Simple Sponges

  Students explore unique sponge adaptations through short Shape of Life videos and student-centered activities.

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  Sponges Origins: Questions

  There are three separate lessons here based upon questions.A list of questions about the characteristics of sponges to use after viewing the video Sponges: Origins.A Shape of Life: Sponges worksheet. Students make sketches and write short answers to questions about the amazing world of sponges. This was created by Rachel Miller from Science from Scratch.A Powerpoint with questions to use while watching the video Sponges: Origins. 

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  Lesson Plan

  What Is An Animal

  In this lesson students discuss the definition of an animal. What characteristics do all animals have in common? To introduce the subject the teacher gives a brief discussion of the five kingdoms (see reference below). What evidence is needed to decide that an organism is an animal? Students watch the video Sponges: Origins and reconsider the definition of an animal.

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  Who Was Animal Eve?

  In this lesson students make a guess as to what was the first animal. The class watches the Sponge video from the shapeoflife.org and writes down what evidence they saw that sponges were the first animals. Then the class discusses what evidence they need to figure out what might have been the first animal. They watch the scientist video “Mitchell Sogin, Evolutionary Biologist: Proof of the First Animal” and write down the evidence that is presented for the sponge being the first animal.

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Cnidarians

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  Lesson Plan

  Cnidarian Adaptations

  Students explore the origins of muscles, nerves, and animal adaptions through of study of the fascinating phylum Cnidaria.

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  Cnidarians: Life on the Move Questions

  There are three separate lessons based on Questions.A list of questions about the characteristics of cnidarians to use after viewing the video Cnidarians:Life on the Move.A Shape of Life: Cnidarians worksheet. Students make sketches and write short answers to questions about the amazing world of cnidarians. This was created by Rachel Miller from Science from Scratch.A Powerpoint with questions to use while watching the video Cnidarians: Life on the Move.

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Flatworms

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  Flatworms: The First Hunter Questions

  There are three separate lessons here based on questions.A list of questions about the characteristics of flatworms to use after viewing the video Flatworms: The First Hunter.A Shape of Life: The First Hunter worksheet. Students make sketches and write short answers to questions about the amazing world of flatworms. This was created by Rachel Miller from Science from Scratch.A Powerpoint with questions to use while watching the video Flatworms: The First Hunter. 

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Annelids

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  Lesson Plan

  Annelid Adaptions + Art

  This lesson begins with students engaging in the practice of science -- observing the phenomena, describing their observations, and making sense of what they see. They observe annelid behaviors using a Shape of Life video with the audio turned off. They try to figure out what the phenomenon (the behavior) is, how it might help the organism survive, and how it might impact the environment. Working with a partner, they make hypotheses about what they are observing and organisms' adaptions that allow it to perform the behavior.

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