Content:
For this project, we had to begin by pretending that we were archaeologists who recently discovered a treasure trove of fossils and different species of our predecessors. In reality, these were different pieces of hardware, ranging from screws to washers, but for our intents and purposes, we assumed that they were living organisms that, at one point, dominated the Earth and inhabited certain locations. The next part of our project was to show the relationship between each species, or groups of hardware, based off of certain physical features that range anywhere from the prevalence of the thread, the size and color of the nail, and what sort of shape that it has. We would arrange these species on a cladogram, organizing it by starting with general features and then gradually distinguishing each group from one another based off of one discriminating feature. An example of this is present in our Prezi below. The second part of this project was to create a story and a presentation to explain how one organism evolved from another and allow us to effectively show this information to Ms. Mathews. This required us to isolate a specific reason for the evolution of one organism to the other, which helped us gain an understanding of why organisms evolve, and what this process depends on.
Our Presentation:
For this project, we had to begin by pretending that we were archaeologists who recently discovered a treasure trove of fossils and different species of our predecessors. In reality, these were different pieces of hardware, ranging from screws to washers, but for our intents and purposes, we assumed that they were living organisms that, at one point, dominated the Earth and inhabited certain locations. The next part of our project was to show the relationship between each species, or groups of hardware, based off of certain physical features that range anywhere from the prevalence of the thread, the size and color of the nail, and what sort of shape that it has. We would arrange these species on a cladogram, organizing it by starting with general features and then gradually distinguishing each group from one another based off of one discriminating feature. An example of this is present in our Prezi below. The second part of this project was to create a story and a presentation to explain how one organism evolved from another and allow us to effectively show this information to Ms. Mathews. This required us to isolate a specific reason for the evolution of one organism to the other, which helped us gain an understanding of why organisms evolve, and what this process depends on.
Our Presentation:
Key Terms:
Speciation: the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution
Family: is a group of people affiliated either by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence
Genus: a principal taxonomic category that ranks above species and below family, and is denoted by a capitalized Latin name
Species: largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction
Cladogram: a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species
Classification: the action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics
Evolution: the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth
Adaptation: a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment
Natural Selection: survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype
Phenotype:the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment
Genotype: the genetic constitution of an individual organism
Competition: the activity or condition of competing to survive in an environment
Reflection:
This project was probably one of the most unclear projects I have had in the past two years. The reason for this is that it mainly lacked some sort of direction, and between my group members and myself, we weren't able to understand what our primary goal was until one or two days before we had to present. However, my group members were still able to pull through it and keep our work ethic pretty high, and I was quite satisfied with the way it turned out. One of our peaks in this project was how quick we were able to complete the initial stages, which encompassed classifying our organisms into species, putting them into the cladogram, creating the entirety of the story describing their evolution, and a presentation, albeit one that was made on the very last day. However, this leads me into our first pit, which was that we had no idea of how much time we would need, and what exactly our final presentation would have to look like. I think that it was only two days before we presented our Prezi that we learned when we had to give our presentation to Ms. Mathews. Another peak was that we received an extension for a few days, even though it wasn't intentional and it was only because we didn't go on the first day designated for presenting, but I still think that we were able to capitalize on the extra time. Our last pit was that we didn't have much to do in the interim between when we thought we finished and when we learned what the final requirements were, so that was a significant time wasted. Two things that I learned throughout this project apart from the content was how to utilize Prezi and make presentations on it, as well as an understanding of how evolution is evident in other species. Two things to improve on next time is a knowledge of when things are due, and also our time management skills.
Speciation: the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution
Family: is a group of people affiliated either by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence
Genus: a principal taxonomic category that ranks above species and below family, and is denoted by a capitalized Latin name
Species: largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction
Cladogram: a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species
Classification: the action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics
Evolution: the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth
Adaptation: a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment
Natural Selection: survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype
Phenotype:the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment
Genotype: the genetic constitution of an individual organism
Competition: the activity or condition of competing to survive in an environment
Reflection:
This project was probably one of the most unclear projects I have had in the past two years. The reason for this is that it mainly lacked some sort of direction, and between my group members and myself, we weren't able to understand what our primary goal was until one or two days before we had to present. However, my group members were still able to pull through it and keep our work ethic pretty high, and I was quite satisfied with the way it turned out. One of our peaks in this project was how quick we were able to complete the initial stages, which encompassed classifying our organisms into species, putting them into the cladogram, creating the entirety of the story describing their evolution, and a presentation, albeit one that was made on the very last day. However, this leads me into our first pit, which was that we had no idea of how much time we would need, and what exactly our final presentation would have to look like. I think that it was only two days before we presented our Prezi that we learned when we had to give our presentation to Ms. Mathews. Another peak was that we received an extension for a few days, even though it wasn't intentional and it was only because we didn't go on the first day designated for presenting, but I still think that we were able to capitalize on the extra time. Our last pit was that we didn't have much to do in the interim between when we thought we finished and when we learned what the final requirements were, so that was a significant time wasted. Two things that I learned throughout this project apart from the content was how to utilize Prezi and make presentations on it, as well as an understanding of how evolution is evident in other species. Two things to improve on next time is a knowledge of when things are due, and also our time management skills.